Public aquatic facilities as enablers of human-marine active interactions: An affordance-based conceptual approach
By Luis Carlos Martins Mestrinho
A key feature of urban regeneration projects along waterfronts is the focus on reconnecting with the wider urban environment. However, the relationship with the aquatic environment is less explored, as are attempts to promote a deeper and more varied connection between urban dwellers and urban blue spaces. This study highlights the potential of public aquatic facilities to facilitate this reconnection, fostering closer and more active relationships with the marine environment and promoting embodied connections with nature. The study reviews a specific aspect of the ecological dimension of using this infrastructure: the conservation of experience between humans and biodiversity, given that existing literature acknowledges the critical importance of the human experience of biodiversity in the conservation agenda. Human–nature interactions are recognised as a critical factor in providing social support for the environmental conservation agenda, and this study first reviews how active engagement with water differs qualitatively from passive enjoyment, triggering distinct responses in individuals and promoting changes in their relationship with the environment at various levels. Despite the recognition that water receives as a fundamental aspect of placemaking, the study points out that the idea of connecting the city (and its inhabitants) with water is still dominated by a ‘horizontal logic’. This logic prioritises enjoyment of water only at a superficial level, such as observing the seascape. However, connections that can be established on the vertical axis, including with what is above and below the waterline, already exist but are much less explored. It is noted that visual, passive engagement is an effective method of capturing cultural ecosystem services provided by blue spaces. Nonetheless, it is also recalled that this form of interaction can be limited when it comes to understanding the environmental quality of the medium, its constituent elements, and the natural processes that occur in the underwater habitat, such as hydrodynamics (currents), temperature, salinity, depth, turbidity, and species variability. Perception of these factors depends on active engagement with the environment, thereby highlighting its importance. The dual nature of the seascape is also discussed as it can be both therapeutic and treacherous and the study sheds light on a research gap concerning the lesser-discussed issue of how to promote beneficial exposure to nature in challenging environments, such as aquatic ones. The stigma associated with waterscapes as dangerous places is highlighted, which could partially explain why most projects do not encourage active engagement with water, instead relegating people to the role of passive spectators. Theoretically based on the concept of affordances, an interactionist view of perception and action, the study suggests that public aquatic facilities could be understood in terms of their capacity to create positive affordances in order to mitigate the negative affordances, whether perceived or actual, brought about by the marine ecosystem for the different users. This would result in public aquatic facilities being conceived as spatial mechanisms capable of actively shaping the relationship between users and their environment, rather than being interpreted merely as recreational or aesthetic facilities, as is more common. In this sense, the design of a public aquatic facility could be interpreted as the design of affordances, as has been proposed in previous literature, with the aim of increasing the likelihood of active interaction with the marine environment. Examples of facilities of this typology, such as harbour baths, sea pools, and swimming lanes, are given to illustrate how these facilities are capable to manage affordances related to the physical aspects of the marine environment, the dynamics of the environmental conditions in place, and the personal characteristics of users. The study suggests that public aquatic facilities are likely to provide positive affordances, such as legibility, accessibility, playability, safety, and swimmability, which could impact how different users perceive and relate to the marine environment. This could enable human–marine interaction under a different set of conditions, where the designed environment could offer benefits associated with contact with the marine environment while mitigating some constraints. Recognising that not all aquatic facilities built at the interface between land and sea are the same, the study recommends further research to identify environmental features that could inform the design of such public spaces. This would help them better serve as surrogates for wilderness experiences. At the same time, readers are advised to note that, despite following the same rationale as studies validating the role of designed green spaces in people’s experience of nature, evidence of this is rarely produced for designed blue spaces. This indicates that empirical research on designed aquatic environments is still in its infancy and requires further longitudinal and comparative investigation.
Co-creativity between human, nature, and artificial intelligence
By Nadezhda Kutyreva and Orlin Davchev
Creativity is an unconditionally unique characteristic of the human brain. This is how it is perceived by the majority of people; this thought is what gives the illusion of human exceptionalism towards Nature. What if Creativity can be expressed by entities having no consciousness or intention? This article explores whether creativity could exist beyond humans. It reinterprets creativity not only as an inherent part of the natural world (which humanity still belongs to), but also as something that does not require consciousness or intent (meaning an author) and can be expressed by natural and digital systems alike.
The study observes creativity from different perspectives: classical philosophical definitions of creativity, different typologies of creativity in psychology and neuroscience, including the theory of functional network connectivity of the human brain in creative processes. It examines the differences and similarities in how creativity manifests in self-aware humans, non-conscious Artificial Intelligence, and the collective intelligence of Nature.
Understanding biological and digital creativity can transform creative search and development of innovations across as architecture, design and art. Through Nature-inclusive design enhanced by AI, humanity can work with Nature directly as a partner and build a bridge between natural world and human cultures and mitigate challenges for mutual beneficial co-existence. This opens a new form of collaboration—Co-creativity.
The theoretical part of the article focuses on understanding what creativity is and offers the definition of Co-creativity that includes non-human types of creative processes: Co-creativity is a distributed creative phenomenon in which human cognition, artificial intelligence, and nature’s adaptive intelligence converge and interact as complementary agents, producing novel outcomes that exceed the creative capacity of any single system acting alone.
The practical experiment showcases a framework of Co-creativity between Human, Nature, and Generative Artificial Intelligence. Utilising the complementary properties of the Triad, the paper explores democratisation of AI tools and a personalised dataset to train site-specific Generative AI.
The developed AI-assisted Biodesign workflow is based on suburban metro areas around Portland, Oregon, which has one of the largest urban forests in US. This unique landscape allowed unique proximity to wildlife areas in between suburbia neighbourhoods. The workflow applies the theory of Co-creativity Triad through contemporary generative tools to develop a solution, merging the specific design context and landscape meanwhile focusing on local ecosystem vision and needs.
Generative AI models are trained on very broad amounts of data, meanwhile Nature is always location specific. The novelty of the approach includes the specific treatment of the personalised data set that is a core of the workflow. It allows Generative AI to be more sensitive to architectural patterns in Nature that eventually translated into output.
The core of the workflow is based on a lightweight fine-tuning technique LoRA (Low-rank adaptation), for additional training of a chosen large AI model new concepts, styles, or subjects without retraining the entire model, a personalised data set for LoRA training that represents Pacific Northwest ecosystems that was created by the authors of the article.
After multiple experiments with different settings, it is noticeable that using an additionally trained LoRA on top of the base model helps to achieve more striking visual results tuned to local-specific design intent. The outputs are evaluated by technical generation quality and by how the Co-creativity Triad framework is represented in the proposed solutions.
Forcing AI to see architectural solutions helps to establish hidden connections that eventually bring unexpected proportions and compositions into hybrid bioinspired structures that look purposefully designed. The personalised data set blends a specific aesthetic choice with the acuteness of AI intelligence that follows the prompt and generates solutions that integrate both human-centric and nature-inclusive perspectives on form-finding and problem-solving design strategies.
Even if the human role as facilitator is still prominent, inviting Nature as an ever-present collaborator through the GenAI vision enhances co-created results and helps designers in expressing their ideas through nature inclusive solutions.
Co-creativity offers holistic distributed creative approach to Biodesign with consideration of other species and creates new Earth-centred sustainable solutions that continuously adapt throughout the lifetime of the product to make human material culture neutral or beneficial for Nature ecosystems and Humanity.
Through this lens Earth-centred design is an end goal of human tech. Though it separated humanity from nature, it can eventually build the bridge back and reintegrate humanity with its biological self. Co-creativity emerges when human symbolic reasoning, AI pattern recognition and nature’s adaptive intelligence converge into a planetary computation.
Integrated Computational Fluid Dynamics and Space Syntax simulation of evacuation efficiency and fire spread in informal local markets
By Hadija Mkumbo and Buberwa Mukyamo Tibesigwa
Local markets are important in supporting urban livelihoods and activities, especially in poor and low-income areas. However, local markets are highly prone to catastrophic fires, especially because of poor spatial organisation, lack of proper safety arrangements, and combustible materials. This study seeks to provide an evaluation of the role of spatial design in addressing the risk of fires in local markets.
Using a case study methodology, we collected primary data through interviews, on-site observations, and high-resolution mapping in QGIS. The primary method for data analysis integrated advanced analytical technologies, specifically Space Syntax (spatial configuration analysis) and Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for fire/smoke simulation. While both Space Syntax and CFD modelling have long-established applications in formal building design, this study represents the first integrated application of both methodologies to assess fire safety in informal market contexts within the region. The first was Space Syntax, which assesses the way in which spaces are connected, visibility, and how accessible it is for people to move around and evacuate the space in the event of an emergency. The second tool was Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD), which simulates how a fire would spread, how smoke and heat travel, in the complex space of the market.
The results indicated the weaknesses of the system. Space Syntax analysis indicated a sharply low visual integration, showing that the building was like a maze with tight corridors, dead ends, and scarce escape routes. The CFD and Pathfinder simulation of the building confirmed this, showing that the congested areas would become deadly bottlenecks in the event of a fire. The simulation indicated fast fire spread due to combustible materials, with smoke and heat blocking the exits before the flames even reach them. The firefighting equipment was often difficult to access or ineffective due to the spatial constraints.
Based on the findings of this study, the following spatial measures are recommended: replacing combustible materials with fire-resistant ones, enforcing zoning of high-risk items, rethinking the layout to offer clear, wide, and redundant routes of escape, and introducing signage and training in fire safety.
The study emphasises that informal markets demand a design-oriented and proactive approach in addressing fire safety. It argues in favour of enforcing building codes and safety regulations with mandatory audits and permits. It provides a clear and replicable model that policymakers, planners, and communities can use to mitigate the risk of fires, protect livelihoods, and enhance the economic resilience of low-income urban areas.
Computational Fluid Dynamics-based simulation to analyse viral dispersion and spatial resilience in Tanzania
By Benson Vedasto Karumuna and Buberwa Mukyamo Tibesigwa
This study offers a CFD-based simulation analysis of the airflow dynamics and viral spread at the COVID-19 isolation facility of Shinyanga Regional Referral Hospital (SRRH) in Tanzania, tackling significant ventilation limitations in resource-limited healthcare environments. The main goal of the study is to find areas where airborne contaminants are likely to become stuck and suggest architectural changes that will make these areas more resistant to future respiratory outbreaks. The scientists employed a steady-state k-epsilon turbulence models with an 11×10⁶ element computational mesh to simulate both unoccupied and occupied scenarios at three elevations: 0 m (floor), 1.0 m (bedridden individuals’ breathing zone), and 1.7 m (standing healthcare professional’s breathing zone). Results indicate substantial airflow fluctuation contingent upon height. At 1.7 m, the male ward kept good speeds (1.34–1.33 m/s), which helped get rid of contaminants. But at 1.0 m, speeds plummeted by as much as 57% near bed rails, which means there were dangerous pockets of immobility. When occupied, the triage and ante-lobby had very low inflow (0.08 m/s and 0.031 m/s, respectively). Medical equipment also slowed down local velocities by 25–40% around ventilators. At speeds between 0.71 and 0.72 m/s, the airlock worked quite well. Turbulence kinetic energy was unexpectedly larger at 1.7 m (HCW level; from: Healthcare Worker Categorisation) than at 1.0 m (patient level), indicating that standing staff experience increased mixing while sleeping patients remain in calmer, more stationary zones a key but previously unexplained discrepancy. The paper is new and innovative in three main ways: first, it is the first CFD-based airflow analysis of an active isolation centre in sub-Saharan Africa, bridging a major geographic gap in infection control studies; second, it introduces a height-based risk assessment framework that differentiates HCW and patient breathing zones, showing that current single-height ventilation standards may not adequately protect bedridden patients; and third, it recommends low-cost, context-specific adaptive strategies (hybrid natural-mechanical ventilation, modular spatial alterations, and real-time IAQ sensors) designed specifically for resource-limited environments rather than high-income settings. This research is very important because it provides a replicable, evidence-based technique for inspecting and upgrading existing isolation facilities in Tanzania and other low-income countries. This directly affects public health policies and building design standards. This research connects CFD with real-world infection control by turning CFD results into useful design suggestions. This will help healthcare systems that do not have enough resources to get ready for pandemics and be more resilient in space.