Events

Generous Cities Summit

A two-day event hosted by the Biomimicry Center that will consider how cities can become purpose-built, net producers of ecosystem services by taking inspiration from the ecosystems in which they are embedded. Keynote speaker: Janine Benyus

How to register

Registration closed, however the event was recorded and can be found at the links below. Please join us.

Generous Cities Summit recordings 

If you have any questions or would like additional information about the Generous Cities Summit, please contact: Olaya Reyes – ovreyes@asu.edu

Generous Cities Summit

The Generous Cities Summit was a two-day event hosted by the Biomimicry Center at Arizona State University April 19th-20th, 2018 that considered how cities can become purpose-built, net producers of ecosystem services by taking inspiration from the ecosystems in which they are embedded.

Between now and 2050, the world will welcome an additional 3 billion people, and the vast majority will live in cities. To accommodate these newcomers, we will need to build the equivalent of one new city of one million people every five days for the next 35 years. Our current building stock already consumes 40% of all global energy used while emitting nearly one third of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. How will these new cities compare?

Imagine “Generous Cities”—urban areas that are purpose-built, with every new design and retrofit, to be net producers of ecosystem services. Our cities should meet or exceed the level of ecosystem services provided by healthy native ecosystems. Buildings, infrastructure, and eco-structure should work together to produce annual per acre goals for clean air, clean water, healthy soil, sequestered carbon, nutrients cycled, erosion reduced, heat reduced, and biodiversity supported.

The Generous Cities Summit brought together sustainability scientists, urban designers, architects, ecologists, software developers, and government and business decision makers to consider how our future cities can meet or exceed the level of ecosystem services provided by healthy, native ecosystems. Invited speakers presented on their work and vision for “Generous Cities,” including a keynote presentation by Janine Benyus, author and co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8 and the Biomimicry Institute.

The goals for the two-day summit include:

• Review the state of the art in applied ecosystem-service science, methodologies, and tools.
• Explore best practices for Ecological Performance Standards, including defining the metrics, designing strategies to meet them and monitoring the results.
• Build a systems map of experts in this trans-disciplinary field while getting to know each other.
• Craft a road map for future collaborations and funding.
• Explore immediate and direct opportunities to apply and test Ecological Performance Standards in the local Rio Salado watershed.

Day One and the morning of day two featured presentations by a wide range of experts, including keynote speaker Janine Benyus, author and co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8 and the Biomimicry Institute. The presentations addressed how the built environment can leverage the ecosystems in which they are embedded as inspiration for becoming purpose-built net producers of ecosystem services. The first day was an open event featuring talks by invited speakers from a variety of fields (e.g., stakeholders, ecologists, built environment experts, modelers, etc.) as well as breakout sessions to identify gaps in our collective knowledge and opportunities for research and collaboration for developing sustainable cities.

Day Two in the afternoon focused on the Rio Salado 2.0 development project proposed by US Senator John McCain to transform the Salt River bottom running through metro Phoenix into an urban and environmental amenity. The session began with talks from stakeholders and researchers working on the Rio Salado 2.0 project, including decisions makers, urban ecologists, architects, and urban planners. A working session followed these talks to discuss opportunities for collaboration to support the implementation of ecological performance standards for the development of the Rio Salado.

Keynote Speaker:
Janine Benyus, Co-founder of Biomimicry 3.8

Summit Speakers:

Kenneth J. Bagstad, Ph.D. Research Economist, USGS Geosciences & Environmental Change Science Center

Peter Brastow, Senior Environmental Specialist, San Francisco Department of Environment

Dan Childers, Ph.D. Professor, School of Sustainability, and Director of the Central Arizona-Phoenix LTER Program, ASU

Paul Coseo, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, The Design School, ASU

Chip Crawford, Architect, Senior Principal for Forum Studio

Jamie Dwyer, Research & Design Principal, Biomimicry 3.8

Mounir El Asmar, Ph.D. Co-director, EPA National Center of Excellence on SMART Innovations, ASU

Chris Garvin – Founder, Biome Impact

Nancy Grimm – Ph.D, Professor and Co-director of Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research, ASU

Kevin Halsey, Principal Consultant, Ecometrix Solutions

Maike Hamann, Postdoctoral Researcher, Natural Capital Project

David Hondula, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, School of Geographical Science and Urban Planning, ASU

Scot Horst, President/CEO, Arc Skoru, Inc.

Bonnie Richardson, Architect/Urban Planner, City of Tempe

Christine Lintott, Architect, Christine Lintott Architects

Glen Low, Co-Founder of the Earth Genome

Melissa McCann, Director of University City Exchange, ASU

Sara Meerow, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, School of Geographical Science and Urban Planning, ASU

Erin Meezan, Vice President, Sustainability at Interface, Inc.

Maibritt Pederson Zeri, Ph.D. Deputy Head – School of Architecture, Victoria University of Wellington

Clint Penick, PhD, Assistant Research Professor, The Biomimicry Center, ASU

Darren Petrucci, Ph.D. Suncor Professor of Architecture and Urban Design, The Design School, ASU

Eric Sanderson, Ph.D. Senior Conservation Ecologist at the Wildlife Conservation Society

Kevin Stack, Ecological Builder & Building Scientist, The Northern Forest

Sissel Waage, Ph.D. Director, Senior Advisor, BSR & Independent Consultant

Quentin Wheeler, President, College of Environmental Science and Forestry

Program

April 19th, 2018 – Memorial Union 230

April 19th, 2018 – Memorial Union 230

April 20th, 2018 – MU 85 Union Stage

April 20th, Rio Salado – Design North CDN 68