The city of future: biourbanism and constructural law

Abstract

Nowadays dynamic elements in urban fabric are often concealed by the insertion of stylish new architecture; real patterns of social life (‘bios’), have been replaced by rigid geometric grids and compact building blocks. New Urbanism and Biourbanism affirm that cities are now risking to be unstable and deprived of healthy social interactions. As an expansion of older historical urban fabric patterns, harmonious architecture can have a positive impact on the fitness of both human body and mind. Not only Biourbanism attempts to reinstate balance and lost values in the urban fabric, but also reinforces human-oriented design emergences in micro and macro scales. As a multifaceted discipline, it embraces laws of physics, such as Constructal Law and acknowledges its noticeable and unremitting influence to urban human behaviours. Urban life and behaviours are based upon systems of human communication formed by dynamic patterns; we are now talking about negotiating boundaries between human activities, changes in geographic mapping and mainly about sustainable systems to support uninterrupted growth of communities worldwide. Therefore, as a vital shift in architectural education, not only Biourbanism offers the opportunity to explore patterns and linguistics deeply imbedded into the built environment, but also enables scholars and communities to come together and participate actively into fast and innovative urban interventions. Projects developed during educational and professional training aim at reinstating memorable and preferential paths of communication, favouring everyday life rituals of the body and mind. Hence, by following everlasting laws of physics and formulas inherited from nature, architectural forms can be considered as the real innovation in urban design and planning of the City of the Future.Nowadays dynamic elements in urban fabric are often concealed by the insertion of stylish new architecture; real patterns of social life (‘bios’), have been replaced by rigid geometric grids and compact building blocks. New Urbanism and Biourbanism affirm that cities are now risking to be unstable and deprived of healthy social interactions. As an expansion of older historical urban fabric patterns, harmonious architecture can have a positive impact on the fitness of both human body and mind. Not only Biourbanism attempts to reinstate balance and lost values in the urban fabric, but also reinforces human-oriented design emergences in micro and macro scales. As a multifaceted discipline, it embraces laws of physics, such as Constructal Law and acknowledges its noticeable and unremitting influence to urban human behaviours. Urban life and behaviours are based upon systems of human communication formed by dynamic patterns; we are now talking about negotiating boundaries between human activities, changes in geographic mapping and mainly about sustainable systems to support uninterrupted growth of communities worldwide. Therefore, as a vital shift in architectural education, not only Biourbanism offers the opportunity to explore patterns and linguistics deeply imbedded into the built environment, but also enables scholars and communities to come together and participate actively into fast and innovative urban interventions. Projects developed during educational and professional training aim at reinstating memorable and preferential paths of communication, favouring everyday life rituals of the body and mind. Hence, by following everlasting laws of physics and formulas inherited from nature, architectural forms can be considered as the real innovation in urban design and planning of the City of the Future