Architecture as Habitat: Enhancing Urban Ecosystem Services Using Building Envelopes

The practice of reconciliation ecology in urban environments relies heavily on urban green space as the primary source of vegetated habitat in cities. However, most cities lack the quantity, connectivity, and accessibility of green space needed to provide essential ecosystem services for the health, well-being, and resilience of human and non-human species. In reaction to urban densification and the increasing frequency and severity of climate change impacts, this study argues that architecture could strategically provide vegetated habitats to supplement existing urban green space and provide refuges for non-human species during extreme disturbances. A spatial analysis was conducted to test the performance of the existing green space network against targets for human well-being and Indigenous avifauna habitat needs in a 1.93 km2 neighborhood in Wellington, Aotearoa New Zealand, during normal conditions and flooding. The results showed an insufficient quantity and connectivity of green space during both normal conditions and flooding to meet the habitat needs of Indigenous avifauna. Though the per capita green space and accessibility targets for human well-being are met under normal conditions, there is insufficient green space to meet those targets during flooding. During normal conditions, 9% of the roofs in the neighborhood need to be converted to green roofs to achieve the targets for both human well-being and Indigenous avifauna. The amount increases to 17% if the targets are to be maintained during flooding. At least 3% of the roofs need to function as small and medium-sized habitat patches in key locations to increase the existing green space network's connectivity. The study concludes that though ground-level green space is limited, with regenerative architecture strategies and supporting governance policy, the surplus of existing roofs could be used to increase urban habitat provision, thereby enhancing the health and resilience of humans and Indigenous avifauna in cities.