Video (2012) Frauen Wohnen eG in Munich-Riem

Nature can also be experienced in the direct living environment in the city, if planned accordingly. A completely new approach is to consider the needs of animals not only in green and open spaces, but also in the planning of buildings. Because the demands of humans and animals can also be combined in housing construction for the benefit of both sides. This not only creates new living opportunities for city-dwelling animals, but also new forms of experiencing nature for people in their immediate living environment.

This is the most important result of the preliminary investigation into the Animal Aided Design testing and development project. Insights into the planning idea and results of the preliminary investigation will be provided at a symposium in Berlin on 17 January 2019. Organizers are the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the Technical University of Munich and the University of Kassel.

Animal-Aided Design is a planning method designed to help better integrate the needs of wildlife into the planning of buildings and green spaces, both in urban development and in landscape architecture. In concrete terms, this means that animal species desired in the living environment, such as hedgehogs, songbirds or butterflies, are selected at the beginning of the planning process. In this way, their requirements can already be made the subject of the call for tenders in competition procedures and then be concretely included in the design of buildings and open spaces. It does not matter whether the project involves new buildings or renovation measures.

BfN President Prof. Dr. Beate Jessel explains: "Animal-Aided Design uses an interdisciplinary approach involving ecology, zoology, architecture, landscape architecture and planning to show how concrete measures for the protection and development of biodiversity can succeed in an ecologically sensible and aesthetically pleasing way, particularly in urban living environments. For example, by integrating nesting aids for swifts into the facades of buildings, designing flowering and nectar-rich plantings for butterflies, and planting protective groves for sparrows and other bird species. At the same time, this creates new forms of cooperation with actors not only from landscape architecture and green planning, but also from the housing industry and architecture. In this way, important new target groups with a large sphere of influence and responsibility for the area are reached.

Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Weisser, Professor of Terrestrial Ecology at the Technical University of Munich emphasizes: "In view of continuing urban growth, it is crucial to actively integrate measures that benefit biodiversity into urban planning processes. This can make an important contribution to preserving urban nature and its ecosystem services in the city.

In current urban development, however, it often seems difficult to combine human interests with the demands of city-dwelling animal species. This is where Animal-Aided Design comes in, which aims to actively integrate animal needs into urban and open space planning.

Dr. Thomas E. Hauck from the Department of Open Space Planning at the University of Kassel explains: "Animal-aided design focuses on the requirements of individual species and aims to integrate their needs into the design planning. In this way, completely new urban images of nature can be created and experiences of nature in the city made possible. Knowledge of the life cycle of a species and of the needs of animals in all phases of their lives is the key to successful design with animals. In order to have a high probability of permanently supporting or establishing a population of the desired species, planners need to know about the specific needs of the animal in all its life stages and then incorporate this knowledge into the design planning.

At the symposium Animal-Aided Design in the Residential Environment, the results of the preliminary study will be presented and discussed with stakeholders from planning, nature conservation and the housing industry. The results of the nationwide survey among housing companies on the role of wildlife in the residential environment, the designs of ten example projects and the experiences of the housing companies participating in the study will be presented. In addition, the obstacles and potentials for promoting species in the residential environment in new construction, renovation and in the maintenance of buildings and open spaces are discussed. Experiences with species promotion in the everyday practice of urban development and nature conservation and successful international approaches and examples are presented and discussed.

Background

Since the beginning of 2017, the preliminary study for the development and testing project Animal-Aided Design Integration of Animal Needs into the Planning and Design of Open Spaces has been funded by the Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) as a cooperative project of the Technical University of Munich and the University of Kassel with funds from the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU). The focus of the study is on building-related open spaces in residential buildings. Within the framework of the research project, it should be examined for which species, for which projects of residential construction and in which phases of object planning an application of AAD in the city is generally promising.

Source: Federal Agency for Nature Conservation press release, 16.01.2019.

Keywords:
Greening / climate adaptation, Near-natural open space design, Quarters, Wildlife/animal friendly construction