Urban by Nature

In 2014, the 6th edition of the Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, Urban by Nature, looked at the city from the perspective of landscape architecture. Worldwide, more and more people live in urban areas. Most of them do not live in compact inner cities, but rather in large, sprawling urban landscapes, mostly in deltas, close to water. Urban by Nature was based on the idea that global environmental problems can be solved by first solving the problems of the city. 

Urban by Nature explored the relationship between the city and nature, based on the idea that the more we know about this relationship, the more guidance we will have in designing, planning, and managing our complex urban landscapes. If we think of the city as our natural ecology and familiarize ourselves with its structure and metabolism, we can make it more resilient, and thus work towards a more sustainable future.

The sixth edition of the IABR brought together 96 projects in six exhibitions: five at the Kunsthal and one at the Natural History Museum Rotterdam. In the context of this exhibition program, an extensive conference, debate and lecture program was organized.