ABSTRACTCORRELATING PATTERNS IN THE URBAN LANDSCAPE:BIOPHILIA AND LANDSCAPE CONFIGURATIONBy Kimberly DietzelAs the demand for sustainability increases, innovators look towards natural ecology as a source for inspiration in the urban environment (Mostafavi 2010). Designers are attempting to identify connections between biomimicry, inspiration from nature, ecological design principles and biophilia, human beneficial connection and love of nature. This thesis aims to establish a relationship between ecological principles of landscape configuration and biophilic patterns currently existing in urban areas. Focusing on existing public parks and plazas within five European cities, patterns of biophilia were correlated against landscape configuration characteristics and principal components were extracted. This statistical analysis attempts to explain the identified relationships between public spaces and natural patterns, as well as the conditions which are conducive to both human and biological life, biophilic patterns, and cultural appreciation for nature. The purpose of this comparison is: 1) to illustrate how natural features are visually, physically, and spatially portrayed in the current built environment and 2) promote integration of natural ecosystems into urban culture. Ultimately this study acts as an analysis of the biophilic functionality of urban public spaces in addition to a predictive model for a community driven sustainable urban environment. Can metaphorical design successfully integrate complex spatial landscape dynamics into the urban environment, for human and ecological benefit, through the development of a naturally functional urban ecosystem? What extent are these ecological patterns currently existing within the built environment?
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