Urbanism and dynamics of nature: mapping contemporaneous movements

• Grant number: 19/04037-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2019
• End date: August 31, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Applied Social Sciences - Architecture and Town Planning - Landscaping
• Principal Investigator: Luciana Bongiovanni Martins Schenk
• Grantee: Isabella Godwin Coury
• Host Institution: Instituto de Arquitetura e Urbanismo de São Carlos (IAU). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Carlos , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Grounded in a historical analysis regarding the relationship between humans and nature, and the foundations used to legitimize processes in this context, there is a segregation between human appropriations of natural resources and territories and the principles that govern the natural world. This distancing is embraced and stimulated by the rise of the industrial and capitalist economic model, based on a linearity and a "throw-away society" mentality that maintains the logic of this system. Considering this chasm between human activities and how the environment works, new proposals and solutions for harmonious coexistence have begun to emerge. The development of such theories stems from a global initiative in search of a sustainable future and, currently, explores the possibilities in detail of a congruence relationship between human beings and nature. This link applied to the field of Urbanism and the design of cities, which are organizations highly relevant to human dynamics, consists of very recent reflections in full swing. Based on this context, the aim of this paper is to conduct documentation research into three of these main contemporary initiatives - Biomimicry, Cradle-to-Cradle and the Circular Economy -, their different approaches to the flows of nature and their possible applications to Urbanism, in order to decipher alternative solutions for an urban space in greater harmony with its natural context. Thus, visualizing these new concepts and understanding this still relatively unexplored field shows a potential to encourage debates and reflection on these issues and broaden the range of applications in the spheres of human production, and especially in the case of this research, on the construction of cities.