Natural Urban Ecosystem Studies
Preserving and buttressing urban ecosystems is an absolute necessity for the urban fabric, both in terms of the intrinsic value of living organisms and the services they provide to humans. Our approach is to involve the water cycle, and ecological continuities and reservoirs in improving living conditions in cities and creating calm and peaceful urban systems based on the study of urban metabolism.
We intervene in the design process as a complement to the specific expertise of ecologists and hydraulic engineers. We co-define the ecosystem services required and the conditions for maximizing them.
Our primary objective is to create or strengthen rich, useful, and resilient ecosystems, which will retain their properties and value even amidst the accelerated rate of climate change we are experiencing. So at every level, we’re looking for the landscape features best suited to the current context (what ecosystem services make sense on a given site?) and to the future (how will the ecosystem function in a warmer climate?).
At the urban level, we bring this perspective right from the diagnosis phase. In addition to identifying regulatory guidelines and their implications (rainwater management and biodiversity preservation), we characterize the existing value of ecosystems in terms of comfort, risk and nuisance management, GHG emission mitigation, etc. In the upstream design phases, we guide the rainwater management strategy and pre-size the structures. We assist landscape architects with their choices regarding space and plant species to maximize the project’s benefits and longevity. We combine this thinking with our bioclimatic studies (sunshine, air flow) and draw on the indicators used in planning documents (SBC, open soil, etc.).
At the building level, our approach begins at the competition/consultation phase when we compile an inventory of regulatory constraints and requirements. At every stage of the project (through design and construction), we track these requirements and guide ecologists through any certification or labeling processes relating to biodiversity [AD1] (Biodivercity, Effinature, etc.). We carry out rainwater abatement calculations.
In addition to the quantitative monitoring of specifications, we cast a critical eye on the landscaping and hydraulic solutions developed: deep interest in thermal comfort, compatibility with construction methods, positioning in relation to the site’s sun exposure, earth movements, preservation of existing plants, opportunities for creating local substrates, and more.
Our value is expressed in our role as a “systems integrator”: rather than replacing the expertise of ecologists and hydraulic engineers, we question and guide their work in view of achieving a resilient urban or architectural project by working together.