Nature-based and Climate Responsive Design for Urban Systems

Cities have entered a phase where climate change is no longer a distant projection but an immediate design constraint. Flooding, heatwaves, coastal erosion, water scarcity, and ecological degradation now shape how cities must be planned, built, and maintained. Responding to these pressures requires a fundamental rethinking of urban systems. Nature-Based and Climate Responsive Design for Urban Systems explores how ecological design innovations can strengthen urban resilience and liveability while reshaping the relationship between cities and their natural environments.

This book is the third volume of a trilogy examining climate-oriented design innovation in the built environment. While the earlier volumes focus on conceptual frameworks and strategic directions, this volume emphasises practical design approaches that integrate natural systems into urban infrastructure and spatial planning. Its central premise is clear: future cities must work with natural processes rather than attempt to control or resist them. Nature-based solutions, blue-green infrastructure, and climate-responsive design are therefore positioned as core components of contemporary urban systems.

Through a diverse set of global case studies, the book demonstrates how ecological design strategies can address challenges such as flooding, coastal vulnerability, water management, and biodiversity loss. Examples from Nepal, Bangladesh, Vanuatu, Mexico, Madagascar, and other regions across the Pacific and Global South illustrate how nature-based approaches support environmental restoration, strengthen community participation, and enhance urban adaptability.

By linking design practice with interdisciplinary research, the book contributes to the growing discourse on climate-responsive urbanism and offers practical insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers working toward more resilient and environmentally integrated urban futures.

Ali CHESHMEHZANGI is a Professor and Head of the School of Architecture, Design and Planning (ADP) at The University of Queensland. He has been in the World’s top 2% field leader since 2021, recognised by Stanford University. He is among the top 20 global scholars in the urban sustainability research area. With a career spanning over two decades, he has made significant contributions to the academic and professional communities, with a focus on sustainable and environmentally conscious design. So far, Ali has published over 650 journal papers, articles, conference papers, book chapters, and reports. He also has 65 other academic books, some of which have received awards at the national, provincial, and municipal levels. He also received international awards and recognition for his research on urban resilience studies and sustainability research, as well as a Vice-Chancellor’s award for his impactful contribution to higher education. 

Jian ZUO is a Professor in Sustainable Construction at the School of Civil Engineering and Construction Management at Adelaide University. His main research interests are related to the sustainable built environment via both technical and managerial means. In particular, he has undertaken extensive research in construction and demolition waste recycling and management. As the lead researcher, he has been involved in a series of competitive grants in Australia such as Discovery Projects and Linkage Projects funded by the Australian Research Council as well as many other national key projects. He has long been engaged in the study of ecological towns, green buildings and sustainable development of the construction industry. Published more than 100 papers in top journals, including more than 80 journal papers indexed by SCI and SSCI.

Ayyoob SHARIFI is a Professor at the IDEC Institute, Hiroshima University. He also is a core member of the Network for Education and Research on Peace and Sustainability (NERPS). His research is mainly focused on urban sustainability, resilience, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. He has published extensively on these topics and is ranked among the world's top 1000 influential authors in all fields according to Stanford/Elsevier's Top 2% Scientist Rankings in 2024. Additionally, he received Clarivate's Highly Cited Researcher Award in 2024. Ayyoob actively contributes to global change research programs such as the Future Earth and has served as a lead author for the Sixth Assessment Report (AR6) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The goal of his education and research activities is to inform actions toward building sustainable and peaceful communities.

Rongpeng ZHANG is a Full Professor and dedicated PhD Supervisor at the School of Architecture and Planning, Hunan University. His primary research pursuits encompass building performance modeling and simulation for intelligent buildings, alongside advanced built environment control for healthy buildings. He was a primary developer of several pivotal modules within the DOE-endorsed EnergyPlus building simulation engine, including VRF-HR, fault detection, and demand response modules. He was a primary developer of Commercial Building Energy Saver (CBES) platform, which obtained the 2019 R&D 100 Award as one of the 100 most significant new technologies in the world. Before joining Hunan University, he led the building science team and conducted a series of research on human-centric built environment control at Well Living Lab, which obtained the 2018 Edison Award. He also served as an assistant professor at Mayo Clinic, and a postdoctoral fellow in the Building Technology and Urban Systems Division at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. He received his Doctorate in Building Performance and Diagnostics from School of Architecture, Carnegie Mellon University and his B.S. and M.S. degrees in Built Environment and Facilities Engineering at Tongji University.

Abbas ZIAFATI BAFARASAT is a Charted Town Planner (MRTPI), Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA), and Senior Lecturer in Town Planning, School of the Built Environment, Oxford Brookes University, where he also leads the Certificate in Spatial Planning Studies. Abbas undertook his PhD in Planning and Landscape at the University of Manchester, and his Post Doc at Technical University of Dortmund. His research interests involve healthy places, strategic planning, and education for sustainable development, with over 40 of his research outputs  published in leading scientific platforms, mostly setting new directions (e.g., SIY Urbanism, Strategic Urban Design) and exploring novel horizons (e.g., bottom-up agenda setting) for addressing complex socio-environmental problems.

Jie ZHAO is a lecturer of architecture in the Weitzman School of Design at the University of Pennsylvania, and President of P3Global, a Dubai-based sustainability, health and smart building advisory firm. He served as Head of Delos Labs and an Executive Vice President at Delos. His research focuses on Human-building Interactions, including healthy buildings, total building performance, occupant behavior in buildings, sensing and controls in buildings, health, comfort, and productivity of building occupants, as well as building energy efficiency and sustainability. He has published 20+ academic articles and serves as reviewers for 10+ top tier academic journals and conferences in the building science field. He frequently contributes to public media as a subject matter expert in healthy buildings, such as Wall Street Journal, CBS News, Forbes and Money. Jie received his PhD in Building Performance and Diagnostics from Carnegie Mellon University and Master’s and Bachelor’s degrees from Tongji University.  

All six editors have previously co-edited and published two books together on “Designing Healthy Cities” and “Designing Healthy Buildings and Communities”.