Microbiome-Inspired Green Infrastructure: A Toolkit for Multidisciplinary Landscape Design

Harry Watkins; Jake M Robinson; Martin F Breed; Brenda Parker; Philip Weinstein

doi:10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.04.009

Microbiome-Inspired Green Infrastructure: A Toolkit for Multidisciplinary Landscape Design

Trends Biotechnol. 2020 Dec;38(12):1305-1308. doi: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.04.009. Epub 2020 May 10.

Authors

Harry Watkins¹, Jake M Robinson², Martin F Breed³, Brenda Parker⁴, Philip Weinstein⁵

Affiliations

¹ St. Andrews Botanic Garden, Canongate, St. Andrews, Fife, KY16 8RT, UK; Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK; Bio-integrated Design Lab, Bartlett School of Architecture, Here East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E20 3BS, UK. Electronic address: hwatkins@standrewsbotanic.org.
² Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield, S10 2TN, UK; inVIVO Planetary Health, Worldwide Universities Network (WUN), West New York, NJ 10704, USA; Healthy Urban Microbiome Initiative (HUMI), London, UK.
³ Healthy Urban Microbiome Initiative (HUMI), London, UK; College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Adelaide, SA 5001, Australia.
⁴ Bio-integrated Design Lab, Bartlett School of Architecture, Here East, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London, E20 3BS, UK; Department of Biochemical Engineering, University College London, London, WC1E 6BT, UK.
⁵ Healthy Urban Microbiome Initiative (HUMI), London, UK; School of Biological Sciences and the Environment Institute, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA, 5005, Australia.

PMID: 32402413
DOI: 10.1016/j.tibtech.2020.04.009

Abstract

Incorporating recent advances in environmental microbiome research and policy is a major challenge for urban design. We set out a framework for managing construction projects so that multidisciplinary teams of researchers and practitioners can explicitly consider environmental microbiota in design and construction contexts, thereby increasing ecosystem functionality and public health.

Keywords: biodiversity; green infrastructure; microbiome rewilding; microbiome-inspired green infrastructure; urban design; urban microbiome.

Publication types

Review

MeSH terms

Biodiversity
Built Environment*
Ecosystem*
Microbiota*