Research
The Biophilic Healing Index Predicts Effects of the Built Environment on Our Wellbeing
by Nikos A. Salingaros Department of Mathematics, University of Texas at San Antonio, United States of America *Originally published in the Journal of Biourbanism, 8(1/2019), 13–34 ABSTRACT: By estimating certain features of the built environment, we can predict positive healing effects that spaces and structures may have on users. This can be estimated before something is built. […] read more
Architecture with Identity Crisis: The Lost Heritage of the Middle East
by Marwa Al-Sabouni This important paper was first published as part of the Journal of Biourbanism Volume V, 1&2/2016 devoted to the epistemology of design (pp. 81–97). We share it separately from that 310-page volume, wishing for a discussion on the specific problems presented by the Author. ABSTRACT: We live in a world that suffers from […] read more
Subcodes in Linguistics and Design: A Comparison about Biophilia and Language
by Stefano Serafini An important principle of biourbanism is that nature and culture do not belong to separated aims but interact on a common ground, whose center is the human body. After the great influence of Robin George Collingwood and of his idealism (Collingwood, 1958), 20th century critics tended to regard art and architecture as […] read more
Housing as a Verb: A Critique of Habitat III’s New Urban Agenda
—AN INTERVIEW WITH ROBERT NEUWIRTH Sara Bissen interviewed writer and researcher Robert Neuwirth in November 2016 on the United Nations Conference on Housing and Sustainable Urban Development (Habitat III), held in Quito October 17−20, 2016. The text in which the interview refers to is the Draft Outcome Document of the United Nations Conference on Housing […] read more
Education
al-ʿĪsawiyya, Jerusalem: Alternative Elements of Safe Spaces
with Arch. Nur Saad al-ʿĪsawiyya, cut off from the other Palestinian neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, suffers from spatial barriers due to topography and military presence. Architect Nur Saad has explored how the al-ʿĪsawiyya inhabitants have developed creative solutions to cope with this situation. This study, directed by Prof. Gaby Schwartz, Arch. Fatina Abreek-Zubiedat, and Arch. […] read more
If Civic Architecture was Language, Then it Would be a Common Good
by Sergio Los Lecture from the first international conference of the National Institute of Bioarchitecture (Istituto Nazionale di Bioarchitettura – INBAR) and the University of Parma, “Architecture as Common Good: Recovering Urban Quality and Well-being” in Parma, Italy, May 3–4, 2018. Originally published in the Journal of Biourbanism Volume VII, 2/2018 1. SYMBOLIC COMMUNICATION IS […] read more
