A Framework to Unveil Design Decisions in Ecological Urbanism

Ecological urbanism offers a framework for landscape architecture to address the challenges posed by dynamic infrastructure projects in the face of changing climates and human impacts. As Nature-based Solutions (NbS) become more prevalent, the role of aesthetics in these solutions becomes increasingly important. However, there has been a lack of systematic approaches to assess the design aesthetics of landscape architecture in practice. This study aims to fill this gap by providing a rapid assessment framework tailored for landscape architecture practitioners. Drawing from the concepts of regenerative design and ecological urbanism, the framework comprises three sections: Ecological Function (EFx), Anthropocentric Function (AFx), and Anthropocentric Form (AFm), supported by 27 categories of metrics. The pilot test of this assessment tool on three diverse water-based infrastructure projects in urban and peri-urban environments demonstrates its applicability and effectiveness. The results indicate that the rapid assessment can evaluate projects through the lenses of ecological and anthropocentric functionality, as well as form, with assessors attributing similar scores to respective projects. The categorical phrasing of the metric descriptions seems suitable for landscape architecture practitioners, with most assessments completed within the desired timeframe. This study contributes novel insights by proposing form-based metrics to complement existing functionality metrics, recognizing the importance of aesthetics in the success of nature-based solutions and infrastructure for regenerative urban systems.