Sustainability Assessment of the Anthropogenic System in Panama City: Application of Biomimetic Strategies towards Regenerative Cities

Abstract

To understand the sustainability problem for Panama’s metropolitan area, its urban metabolism was investigated. A way to evaluate its current state was obtained by estimating a sustainable indicator based on the Green City Index. With the abstraction of the identified problems, the biomimetic strategy “problem-based approach” was carried out, where different pinnacles of nature were selected as a reference for the design of regenerative solutions. These were inspired by the understanding of the living world and how to include ecosystems in urban designs. Therefore, a framework was proposed for positive generation and natural solutions in cities to take advantage of the regenerative potential in Panama City. Using ecosystem services, a set of indicators were developed to measure regeneration over the years at the city scale. The results indicate that from the 11 selected pinnacles, 17 solutions inspired in nature were proposed to regenerate cities. Consequently, a SWOT analysis was realized along with a questionnaire by experts from different fields. The findings obtained show that the feasible solutions were: arborization, green facades, solar roofs, e-mobility, green corridors, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, and biofilters. This research represents a step towards creating and developing regenerative cities, thus improving the quality of life of living beings and ecosystems present in society.

How bio-inspired solutions have influenced the built environment design in hot and humid climates

“…In contrast, most studies are conducted from a dynamic simulation evaluation at both building and urban scales: the Old-town in Panama City (Austin et al, 2022) using Designbuilder for assessing the cooling needs reduction implications of implementing biomimetic-based roof coating (urban scale), and the heat island effect reduction using ENVImet (Araque et al, 2021). Moreover, the study of sustainability improvement at the city scale using biomimetic approaches (Quintero et al, 2021), where regenerative indicators are proposed, and the proposal of a biomimetic-based energy storage system evaluated under a tropical climate dynamic (Cedeño Quijada et al, 2022).…”

The development of a grey relational analysis-based composite index for environmental sustainability assessment: Towards a net-zero emissions strategy in Saudi Arabia

“… Document Type References Year Action Book Chapter [ 23 ] 2022 Sustainability appraisal and comparison between six selected cities via GCI. Article [ 24 ] 2021 GCI utilization outcomes in Panama City for conducting problem-based research approach, regeneration model, SWOT analysis and a questionnaire survey Article [ 25 ] 2021 A comparative review of seven extant sustainability appraisal tools that include the GCI. Conference paper [ 26 ] 2020 City sustainability assessment via (Asian) GCI Book Chapter [ 27 ] 2019 Analysis of various global sustainability initiatives and the GCI.…”

Energy Storage System based on Biomimetic Strategies: Concept Design and Performance Assessment in Buildings

“…Concrete applications implementing this approach can be found in the literature. For instance, a simple application such as the search for temperature regulation at urban scale based on the Saharan ant and Zebra [7], while more complex applications such as to define regenerative design indicators to evaluate cities ecosystem services based on a vast number of pinnacles [8], and the identification of a bio-inspired model to integrate circular economy to unify the sustainable construction project definition, based on pinnacles for the three sustainability pillars (social behavior of macaques, survival skills of tardigrades, and the symbiosis process) [9]. In contrast, the solution-based approach is based on finding descriptions of biological phenomena that are used to develop solutions to a simple problem [10].…”