Biophilic Business

David and Gabby Locke and the Entire Tech team receiving their Switched on Business Award from City of Armadale Mayor and Chairperson of the South East Regional Energy Group, Ruth Butterfield. They were joined by Cr Aaron Adams (City of Gosnells / SEREG delegate), City of Melville Business Development Advisor Stuart Tomlinson and Sustainability Engagement Officer Jess Sutherland. Photo credit: City of Melville. 

Biophilia is the innate and universal emotional attachment humans have to the rest of the living world. It is our love for and desire to be connected with nature. Biophilic design recognises this affinity and incorporates nature into the design of the spaces we live, work and play in.

Did you know that adding some nature to your workplace or business not only creates a more comfortable and inspiring environment for customers and workers alike, it can also play an important part in creating habitat for a range of plants and animals?

But first, what is biophilia and biophilic design? Biophilia is the innate and universal emotional attachment humans have to the rest of the living world. It is our love for and desire to be connected with nature. Biophilic design recognises this affinity and incorporates nature into the design of the spaces we live, work and play in.

Simply by having green living plants around the office, workshop or other work spaces we can improve mental health, productivity, air quality and general well-being. It can be as simple as some well placed pot plants, or as extensive as a living wall vegetable and herb garden, or even a courtyard garden of native shrubs and trees that will also be used by our city dwelling birds, animals and insects. Anything you do to add nature to your everyday environment improves our city for everyone.

To highlight this philosophy, Switch your thinking recently partnered with Biophilic Cities Perth to host the Biophilic Urbanism seminar focused on embracing nature and creating a green, biodiverse and vibrant city for the future. The event was presented as part of National Science Week 2018 and received grant funding from the Australian Government.

A diverse panel of experts delivered a comprehensive set of inspiring guidelines, tools, approaches as well as real life examples of creating live-able, thriving and diverse cities. With biophilic urbanism as the core theme, presentations ranged from governance, community, water, urban forest, infill to tiny houses and nature pods.

While this is just the beginning of the conversation, the enthusiasm with which people are discussing and enacting the principles of biophilic design suggests that our future city has a bright green future.

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