Designing to Increase Biodiversity

Our natural world is in freefall. Through pollution, destruction of natural habitat, and climate change among other things humans are destroying the very biodiversity and the ecosystems on which our survival depends. Through nine examples, the present paper shines light on how people from creative disciplines such as architecture, the arts, design, engineering, and entrepreneurship work to make space for biodiversity and resilient ecosystems in novel ways. The objective is twofold: to bring attention to the dawn of new, creative initiatives to (re)establish wild nature and to examine what characterizes the creative undertakings within this area – to learn from the ways in which the projects arise and are carried out.
Existing theory on creativity, co–creation, designing, innovation– and sustainable transformation is included to validate and frame the findings. The nine examples form a picture of rich areas of engagement: cleaning up the planet, creating new habitat for wilderness, and transforming human understanding and behavior in relation to nature. The projects are characterized by bottom–up, co–creative work by individuals and small cross–disciplinary groups with a global outlook, who are driven by purpose and meaningfulness, who prototype and narrate their visions for others to see and contribute, and, as it happens, transform themselves in the process. The projects are (still) small in scale compared to the worldwide biodiversity crisis, however, the commitment, action, and results demonstrated by the frontrunners deserve the
attention of design researchers and professionals – to take the baton and launch new projects in practice, research, and education.