Enhancing Biodiversity-Friendly Built Environments in Line with the New European Bauhaus

A special issue of Land (ISSN 2073-445X). This special issue belongs to the section "Land Planning and Landscape Architecture".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 31 December 2026 | Viewed by 1715

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, University of Belgrade, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia
Interests: eco-friendly built environment; architecture and culture; designing in line with nature
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
Department of Architecture and Planning, Faculty of Architecture and Design, Norwegian University of Science and Techonology, 7046 Trondheim, Norway
Interests: climate responsive urban design; nature-based solutions; revaluing built environment; climate-resilient regeneration; nature and heritage area-based approach; resilient communities

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Guest Editor
Graduate School, University of Nova Gorica, 5000 Nova Gorica, Slovenia
Interests: conservation and management of cultural; environmental heritage

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The acknowledgement of urban biodiversity as a complex phenomenon is imperative for the development of a balanced urban ecosystem. Consequently, the overarching objective of this Special Issue is to enhance critical thinking about ecological and landscape resilience and environmental stability; to introduce air, water, and soil quality improvements; to minimize light and noise pollution; to provide habitat corridors, sustainable food systems, shelter, and nesting places; to enhance well-being; and to implement different eco-social awareness strategies in line with the New European Bauhaus (NEB).

This Special Issue centers on transdisciplinary research (in the form of original research articles and review papers) and design experiences (place- and problem-based design and education), and seeks articles that explore approaches from multiple perspectives including, but not limited to, the following:

  1. Re-naturing measures, nature and built environment protection, conservation and management, supporting biodiversity and reclaiming a critical position in urban, peri-urban, and rural areas and communities;
  2. Creating resilience at multiple scales and avoiding maladaptation in the journey to climate neutrality;
  3. Considering the values and principles of the NEB with a portfolio of participatory, gamified, citizen-science-based methods to engage neighborhoods inclusively;
  4. Implementing healthy principles such as therapeutic urban gardens and new and sustainable urban and peri-urban infrastructure enhancements;
  5. Presenting innovative solutions to transform the environments of tomorrow in a sustainable, inclusive, and beautiful way, thus enhancing biodiversity-friendly built environments.

This Special Issue will welcome manuscripts that link the following themes:

  • Enhancing a biodiversity-friendly built environment in line with the values and principles of the New European Bauhaus;
  • Climate-resilient regeneration and renaturing for, by, and with vulnerable neighborhoods in Europe;
  • Revaluing urban planning and design for nature- and heritage-focused built environment protections;
  • Resilient, inclusive, healthy, and green rural, coastal, and urban communities;
  • Reshaping resilient urban landscapes through green, food-led urban and peri-urban infrastructure enhancement.

Contributors are encouraged to undertake holistic, multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary research and design projects from various disciplinary fields, including architecture, urbanism, planning, geography, ecology, landscape architecture, and the applied arts. Contributions should aim to address creative, eco-friendly, and biodiversity-friendly research and practice solutions of different scopes and scales. Furthermore, they should seek to promote a nature-culture approach, emphasizing the linkages between ecological and social values and the functions of urban land.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Prof. Dr. Ana Nikezić
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Slađana Lazarević
Dr. Marco Acri
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • built environment
  • biodiversity friendly
  • regeneration and renaturing
  • socio-ecological well-being
  • resilient landscapes, urban planning, and design
  • green rural, coastal, and urban communities
  • New European Bauhaus

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

41 pages, 8084 KB  
Article
Beyond Green: Toward Architectural and Urban Design Scenarios for Therapeutic Landscapes
by Jelena Ristić Trajković, Verica Krstić, Ana Nikezić, Relja Petrović and Jelena Ilić Gajić
Land 2026, 15(1), 114; https://doi.org/10.3390/land15010114 - 7 Jan 2026
Viewed by 1210
Abstract
This paper presents the results of an integrated research and design process developed within the Master’s study programme in Architecture at the University of Belgrade—Faculty of Architecture, aimed at exploring architectural agency in conditions of ecological degradation, declining biodiversity, and the urgent need [...] Read more.
This paper presents the results of an integrated research and design process developed within the Master’s study programme in Architecture at the University of Belgrade—Faculty of Architecture, aimed at exploring architectural agency in conditions of ecological degradation, declining biodiversity, and the urgent need for regenerative transformation of the built environment. Moving beyond technologically driven notions of “green design,” the study investigates architectural approaches that support ecosystem restoration, biodiversity enhancement, and multispecies coexistence while strengthening health and well-being. Grounded in a three-phase methodological framework, the research (1) formulates conceptual models of therapeutic landscapes through typo-morphological, place-based, and adventure-based analytical approaches; (2) evaluates these models using the New European Bauhaus (NEB) Checklist to assess their alignment with the core values of sustainability, beauty, and togetherness; and (3) synthesizes the findings into regenerative design scenarios that integrate ecological processes, multisensory experience, and community participation. The results position therapeutic landscapes as a spatial practice in which architecture functions as ecological infrastructure, a metabolic system where natural cycles, cultural meanings, bodily experiences, and more-than-human agencies interact. In this sense, architectural design becomes the basis for re-naturalization, regeneration, ecological care, multisensory experience, and resilience in urban, peri-urban, and rural communities. Full article
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