Belonging and Co-Creation in the Biophilic City

Wednesday, April 26, 2023

1:30 PM – 2:15 PM CDT

Location: Channel 2

CM | .75

Moderator and Speaker(s)

James D. Brown (he/him/his)

Program Director
Biophilic Cities
Charlottesville, Virginia

Speaker(s)

Ebony Walden, MUEP, UVA; National Charette Institute, Facilitation Certification

Founder
Ebony Walden Consulting
Richmond, Virginia
Elizabeth Gearin, AICP (she/her/hers)

Project Specialist - Urban Planning
University of the District of Columiba
Arlington, Virginia
CW

Catherine Werner

St. Louis, MO

Profound inequities in the accessibility and abundance of urban nature lead to recognizably different impacts on the health and well-being of communities across the urban landscape. Biophilic planning and design can begin to bridge the gaps of urban-nature equity through processes that emphasize co-creation. This is a commitment to inclusion that prioritizes community needs and can establish “belonging.” When it is achieved, community members feel welcome to claim natural space in the public commons as their own and to help shape and maintain it to meet their needs and priorities. Presenters explore projects and programs underway in the biophilic cities network with the aim of inviting belonging and co-creation.

NPC Peer Reviewers assigned this presentation a learning level of Foundational. For more on learning-level descriptions, visit our General Information Page.

Learning Objectives:

Articulate the documented health and welfare benefits of planning for daily contact with nature.
Engage community stakeholders in projects that address local needs and invite broad participation.
Identify opportunities to implement biophilic planning and design at various scales.