“There isn’t ‘the future’ that we’re doomed to enact.
There are all kinds of possible futures.
And which one we’re going to get
is going to depend on
what we do now.”

– Margaret Atwood

If we want to make change or create something new so we can bring about a better future for all, we have to be able to imagine what’s possible. Not sci-fi epics or fantasies, but real, better living plans that could actually work.

NatuR&D’s Anne-Marie Daniel was on the team who created the Practical Utopia called Symbiocene, one of the outputs in the published anthology. It’s a collection of narratives developed by the subgroups and a series of illustrations to tell the story of this possible future.

As you read this story, we invite you to immerse yourself in possibility…

That’s just what a diverse, global community of trailblazers and difference-makers collectively did in Practical Utopias: An Exploration of the Possible, a collaborative virtual learning experience led by world renowned author, teacher, and environmental activist Margaret Atwood and powered by Disco, the all-in-one platform that brings together community and learning.

With the guidance of Margaret and an all-star lineup of special guests, 200 Fellows from all walks of life ranging in age from 18 to 75+ and representing over 40 countries across 6 continents came together to boldly grapple with some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity today – the climate crisis and social inequalities being foremost.

Over the course of eight weeks from September to November 2022, Fellows collaborated as a member of one of eight teams and engaged in a highly ambitious collaborative world-building process guided by a facilitator and supported by an illustrator to help visualize their imagined worlds. Their challenge was to co-design a possible future that embraced the following constraints:

• 10 years from our present day
• Specific to a chosen geography
• Sustainable (i.e. carbon negative or neutral)
• Scaleable
• Attractive enough so that people will want to embrace it
• No magic wands: Must leverage solutions that already exist today in some form or have existed in the past

Within their teams, Fellows worked together in smaller subgroups to explore the following topics:

You can learn more about Practical Utopias
and explore the digital anthologies of the other teams of Fellows at

https://atwood.disco.co/

Nature has solved every problem there is in some way.

In its essence, Nature inspired design is about applying what we’ve learned about Nature to the things we design. By observing Nature, we can learn a lot about how to build better products for transportation, energy production, architecture, agriculture, and more. After all, our planet is filled with life that has billions of years of design experience.

In Nature-Inspired design, everybody owns a piece of the puzzle.

Humans are certainly not the only species capable of innovative design. And design thinking isn’t reserved for just designers. The field of Nature inspired design is interdisciplinary, and relies on researchers, scientists and designers with a range of specialties. Together, they’re able to reverse-engineer Nature to solve human problems in the real world via design.

Biomimicry

Biomimicry is learning about design from Nature and creating products, services and systems that have a net benefit to Nature. To understand Nature inspired design is to understand biomimicry. In fact, the two terms are often used interchangeably.

Biomimicry (or biomimetics) is what guides Nature inspired design, representing the bridge between biology and design principles. Biomimicry offers an understanding of how life functions and thrives on Earth. From there, we can decide where we fit in as people. Nature has a strategy for just about every problem, and it’s evident when you take a look at the diverse plants and animals we have on this Earth. There’s a lot to learn…

How Do I Start?

There are 2 ways to engage in Biomimicry Design Thinking. Challenge to Biology is when you have a problem and you look for a solution in Nature’s models. Interface flooring consistently takes this approach in redesigning everything from their tiles to their factory asking How would Nature solve the problem?

Biology to Design is when you find something really brilliant in Nature, and you want to apply it to human built designs. An example of this is the many products that have been inspired by the scales on butterfly wings that create colour without pigment. The new Lexus Coupe uses this technology for a paint that is gentler on the planet.

To learn more, be sure to check out this free resource on Biomimicry Thinking.

According to the Biomimicry Institute, there are three essential elements of biomimicry:

• Emulate: Doing research and learning from Nature to create better and more sustainable design for society.
• Ethos: The philosophy of understanding how life works, and designing things that support life.
• (Re)Connect: The idea that we humans are part of Nature, and that by using biomimicry to influence design, we are re-connecting with our natural world.

The Design Process

Nature inspired design and biomimicry is much more than just using ideas from Nature to build more sustainable products. It redefines our entire thinking and researching process. Below is the 5-step design thinking process used by the Hasso Plattner Institute for Design at Stanford University.

1. It all starts with step 1 – empathize. Here we stop to empathize with all life forms, and include them as stakeholders in our process. All stakeholders must be considered. How will they be affected?
2. The second step is to define the question we’re curious about. What are we researching? What would we like to know? When looking at a Nature inspired design problem, we’ll probably ask something like “How does Nature solve ___”?
3. Next, we ideate. This is where we gather research and ideas from Nature itself. As we think about and design strategies, Nature should be the prime inspiration.
4. Step 4 is for prototyping – where we bring Nature inspired ideas to life for the first time.
5. The fifth and final step is where testing happens. Not only are testing to see if the Nature inspired design is effective and better than what was available before, it’s also the time to test for sustainability. Is it conducive to life? Does it follow Nature’s patterns?

As in any design process, expect many rounds of testing. In that case, return to step 3 – the ideation phase, and start again by re-visiting the design strategies.

Using Nature Inspired Design to Solve Problems

In just about any industry, we can use Nature inspired design to solve problems and design better products. But it’s not just about creating better products. The ethos of Nature inspired design is geared toward sustainability – making products conducive to life and longevity.

Here are some of the industries and areas that have benefited from Nature inspired design:

• Farming

The Biomimicry Institute’s Food Systems Design Challenge produced some interesting ideas – some of which have already seen commercial success. Felipe Hernandez Villa-Roel was a finalist for his product called Hexagro. It started with an idea to help people living in small urban spaces to grow pesticide-free food at home – as efficiently as possible. This idea is inspired by the beehive. It can drastically reduce CO2 emissions and cut water consumption by 90% (compared with traditional farming).

• Water Systems

In 2005, the University of California at Davis was experiencing algae bloom in their open-air reservoir, due to the changing temperature of the water leaving the ground then settling above. Instead of relying on chemicals or retrofitting, Jay Harman was contracted to look into the issue. Inspired by the patterns and proportions of the Calla Lily, Jay’s solution was able to homogenize the entire one million gallon reservoir so algae could no longer grow – all without using any fossil fuels.

• Architecture

The BIQ Building (AKA the Algae House) in Hamburg, Germany is helping set the bar for sustainable architecture. The panels of the building are not only required for the building’s structure, but they’re used as biofuel. Filled with algae, these panels absorb natural light, warms the water inside the building, and cuts utility expenses.

• Transportation

The original Japanese Shinkansen Bullet train is perhaps one of the more well-known examples of Nature inspired design. The early trains could travel in excess of 180 mph, but they made loud booming sounds that caused structural damage. Inspiration for design improvements came from the kingfisher, a bird that hunts by diving into the water to grab little fish all while causing very minimal splash. As a result of the Nature inspired design upgrade, they were able to eliminate the booming sound, while the trains could travel faster with less electricity use.

• Sanitation

In countries where access to water is limited, dry toilets are a solution worth exploring. There are several issues with dry sanitation, but Nature can help. In a paper published in 2015 by researchers at Oxford University and the Technical University of Denmark, they found various sources of inspiration from Nature that could be applied to dry sanitation to help with the issues of smell, cleaning and flies. There are bird nestlings that wrap their feces in a biodegradable membrane – this helps solve the smell issue. The animal eyeball cleaning principle addresses the cleaning problem. Finally, the pitcher plant offers a solution to the fly issue.

The list goes on…

NatuR&D exists to track towards a world where designers, architects, engineers, artists and creatives see Nature as their ally and inspiration for solving today’s most depressing challenges. From packaging to climate change, Nature is the go-to guru. If your team is looking for it’s next edge in innovation, NatuR&D is here to support you with biomimicry thinking R&D.  What problem do you want to solve?

So…Lytton burned. June’s heat wave was a reminder: You humans are indeed vulnerable to the impacts of climate change.¹

70% of sudden deaths recorded in BC during the heat wave were due to extreme temperatures. More than 1 billion seashore animals were cooked to death.² Shellfish populations were devastated.

That’s not good: these water-filtering creatures clean and maintain the water quality in the ocean every day, free of charge. We humans don’t know how to provide this service, nor could we afford to provide it on the scale at which it naturally occurs.

How are we protecting our fellow creatures and ourselves in the face of climate change? Is there a way to amp up our ability to handle heavy weather? Are there things we can do to help regulate our climate right here? What can we do to cool the city off during the summer?

The Power Of Maps

The Resilient Urban Systems & Habitat (RUSH) initiative is here to help us figure it out. RUSH is a collaboration of smart people working across different sectors who are finding ways to protect our region better, so it can withstand climate change. Because ready or not, it’s here.

Hosted by the Map Shop at the University of Victoria (UVic), RUSH is compiling and delivering data on community and ecosystem health to the local ArcGIS mapping system (Capital Regional District).

Teams engaged in community-based participatory research at UVic are starting with tree cover and pavement data. Where do we need more shading? Where should we convert parking lots to patios and parks?

Teams involved in community mapping are researching ways to connect rain and pollinator gardens across the region. These teams specialize in learning from communities and creating tools that help to find the opportunities and spot the gaps.

With the help of the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network, gardeners will be able to plot their pollinator gardens on the ArcGIS Map. This will show us where bees, butterflies, birds and other pollinators, who are key to growing delicious food across the region, need more habitat to work their magic. The Network helps the public map all kinds of things like Little Free Libraries, sidewalk art and seed banks.

Maps and data are not the whole picture though… Just because we see something, doesn’t mean we understand it. Maps can create divisions and cause us to miss important relationships, features, and dynamics. Learning about this area from Indigenous people is essential in building understanding for what is here, what was here and what is needed to restore the health of the land and its creatures. Indigenous knowing plus years of monitoring and research by local restoration groups will bring deeper meaning to the visuals that the maps offer.

The Power Of Partnerships

At the rate we’re going, we’re on track to becoming a concrete jungle. And many areas across the region suffered because of that during the heat wave.

Our Indigenous communities have been clear in pointing out that the way we’ve developed our neighbourhoods does not improve our relationship with the wider ecosystem. Settlement across the region marginalizes the First Nations and their way of life. Our built environment makes some cultural harvesting and other practices impossible. This needs to change. By restoring and connecting natural areas, we can all take steps to living in a better relationship with the land and Indigenous communities. Partners across sectors are coming together to find a shared language and vision that has urban design supporting Nature in her work of creating the conditions conducive to a good life for all.

Some of our RUSH partners include:

The Capital Regional District–Community Health Network, the University of Victoria, Island Health, Christine Lintott Architects, the Greater Victoria Placemaking Network, Peninsula Streams Society, Seachange Marine Conservation Society and NatuR&D. Together, we have identified the need for a map that helps us see the opportunities and the gaps. Our goal is to figure out what we need to know in order to make communities healthy and resilient to climate change across the region and see the difference we are making with dashboards that will tell us how to be more protected and connected.

Join Us

Starting in 2022, we are inviting everyone who is interested to join us for a mix of field trips, events and online sessions.

Connect to stay in the loop for updates and registration information in 2022.

 

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See also…

Acker, Maleea. “What’s the RUSH? Anne-Marie Daniel’s Resilient Urban Systems and Habitat Initiative.” Focus on Victoria, 10 December 2021.