Exploring Opportunities for Rewilding the Built Environment through Nature-Inclusive Design

Abstract

With the worldwide biodiversity decline and cities that should adapt to climate change, rewilding the built environment to restore biodiversity and increase the degree of natural areas is necessary. Yet, there is currently no established overview of potential rewilding strategies for urban environments. This study explores various opportunities for rewilding the built environment through nature-inclusive design and presents a toolbox that architects and urban planners can implement in the design process to create opportunities for biodiversity and make cities greener and more resilient. Furthermore, the suggested framework can be used to create strategies on the larger scale. Rewilding strategies, however, are highly dependent on the characteristics of a specific environment and thorough site research is necessary to come up with suitable strategies. The typical Dutch post-war neighbourhood Boerhaavewijk in Haarlem is taken as a case study to demonstrate the application of these strategies.