Healthy City - urban habitats
BIOPHILLY
Established in 2015, it is bioPhilly's mission to promote the important link between human health and the meaningful daily experience of wild and bio-diverse nature in the city. We engage with our fellow citizens towards realizing our dream of an urban habitat tapestry, which reaches across the city - on the ground, on building facades and across rooftops - connecting the Delaware to the Schuylkill River.
Each and every building project represents an opportunity to strengthen public health by mitigating urban heat, absorbing fine particle and noise pollution and supporting native biodiversity via vegetated building envelopes, bird-friendly glazing and bird-and-people-friendly lighting design.
Work with us and let us help you re-imagine your project as a vibrant urban oasis.
BioPhilly is a Philly-focused daughter organization and member of the Biophilic Cities Network. We seek to promote equitable habitat urbanism and biophilic urban acupuncture towards a beautiful and climate-resilient city, universally restorative of public health and well-being for all urban residents, human and non-human alike.
In our advocacy we aim to inspire the City of Philadelphia to join the growing number of Biophilic Partner Cities from Washington DC to Singapore.
BioPhilly is an urban habitat stewardship organization of designers,
naturalists, educators, public Policy professionals, collaborators,
connectors and concerned citizens.
Our goals are to:
• Promote the important links between human health and meaningful daily experience of wild and bio-diverse nature in urban Philadelphia.
• Build the paradigm of re-imagining Philadelphia as a healthy and safe ecosystem, where a diversity of species, human and non-human, can sustainably thrive together.
• Catalyze collaborations, providing biophilic urbanist expertise and support for groups and projects, which promote caring for place and foster a verdant and livable city.
• Advocate for policies, which incorporate biophilic urbanist solutions and values.
BioPhilly is a Philly-focused daughter organization of the International Biophilic Cities Network.
Healthy lives require nature
the biophilic city is physiologically restorative.
Daily joyful engagement with urban wild nature amazes, stimulates, and propels curiosity, exploration, play, learning, wonder & joy.
The Biophilic City is measurably restorative:
• Boosts immune & cognitive function
• Supports hormonal & circadian balance
• Lowers stress levels, blood pressure & pulse-rate
• Decreases cell-aging
Deep place engagement, commitment & stewardship enhance civic life: caring for place is an essential ingredient in caring for one another.
City as a garden
in the tradition of william penn's green country town, biophilly advocates for:
• Urban wildlife corridors & habitats
• Connecting all green dots: contiguous urban habitat tapestry
• Biophilic urban acupuncture
• Living roofs, living facades, edible schoolyards, urban agriculture
• Planting healthy air: heat island & particulate matter reduction
• Precious water: rain water harvesting, rain gardens, sponge parks
• Experience of topography, seasons and weather
• Healthy neighborhood bird song cover
• Dark Skies initiatives
building green bridges
biophilly seeks to build bridges between the design, construction, public health, government, and educational sectors towards our shared goal of biophilic stewardship for bio-diverse urban habitats, human and otherwise.
We seek to:
• Coordinate efforts
• Leverage resources
• Facilitate engagement
• Forge strong, effective networks of partners
• Assemble a library of biophilic resources for partner use
• Provide biophilic expertise & support in design, strategic planning, teaching and engagement
Together we will invigorate the rewilding of Philadelphia towards a contiguous tapestry of bio-diverse and restorative urban habitats.
connecting water to water
philadelphia AS AN urban habitat tapestry
• Connecting all green dots
• Contiguous urban habitat tapestry
• Urban wildlife corridors & habitats
license to vegetate
license to vegetate / city as a garden / challenge 2022
Petition City of Philadelphia to add 220 acres of Habitat Roofs and Vegetated Facades; 1/3 dedicated to Urban Agriculture
1. License to Vegetate: Sidewalk, Facade, Roof Gardening
2. Blooming Alleys, Habitat Streets
3. Green Crossings
4. LandCare Lots to Habitats
5. Blooming Cemeteries