What is Life-Centered Design?
Life-centered design is a design approach that aims to serve all forms of life, human and non-human, through design. This approach does not purely aim to create aesthetically pleasing designs, but instead prioritises the wellbeing of all life affected throughout its lifecycle. This approach is often applied in the built environment, but spans across industries and can be applied to any product or field.
It rests on these three pillars, according to Life-Centered Design Lab:
- Inclusivity
- Regeneration
- Responsibility
Human-centered design is designing for human wellbeing. One example that illustrates this is biophilic design. Biophilia does not detrimentally affect non-human life, but other examples of human-centered design sometimes do, and might prioritise aesthetically pleasing features over sustainability, regeneration and wellbeing of non-human stakeholders.
Life-centered design, in contrast with human-centered design, shifts from creating value for a single end-user, to adding value for nature, communities, and the economy. It is closely aligned with biomimicry and means intentionally designing to solve a human challenge, but also taking all life into consideration.
Interested in architecture? Here are our Top 10 Examples of Biomimicry in Architecture
Examples of Life-Centered Design
1. Cheonggyecheon Stream Restoration Project, South Korea
The Seoul Metropolitan Government in South Korea completed a project to transform an auto-centric space in the city into a life-friendly environment by restoring the underground Cheonggyecheon Stream. This project included the demolition of a freeway which was in need of repair, to create the green corridor.
Native willow swamps and marshes were constructed in 29 different locations along the corridor, restoring biodiversity to the area. You can read more about the Cheonggyecheon Stream Restoration Project in Seoul here.
2. Encouraging Eco-Friendly E-Commerce Through UX-Design, Australia
Credit: Damien Lutz
Author and life-centered design expert, Damien Lutz did an experimental behavioural design project with an e-commerce website for grocery shopping and deliveries. The aim was to design the user experience in a way that encourages life-centered, sustainable shopping choices - ultimately choosing the "planet-friendly" option over others.
This included determining key terminology, a product range to push and implementing features like product swapping and recommendations.
You can read the full experiment on Medium.
3. Milan Politecnico University's Expansion Project, Italy
This university in Milan needed to plan for expansion, but was situated next to an urban forest. Together with the Life-Centered Design Lab, teams of designers and students created a plan to accommodate both the expansion of the university campus and the existing biodiversity adjacent to it.
Watch the documentary here:
Interested in urban design? Here are our Top Biomimicry Examples for Urban Design
How is Life-Centered Design Different from Biophilic Design? (And Where Does Biomimicry Fit In)
While life-centered design strongly advocates for a design to benefit all shareholding life forms, biophilic design focuses on benefiting humans and reconnecting humans with nature.
Biophilic design - and its 14 principles - refers to incorporating natural elements into built environments to enhance the physical, mental, and emotional well-being of its occupants. This could include biomimetic architecture emulating form, or simply bringing other living organisms into a built environment like plants, water features or natural building materials like wood.
However, the two approaches may overlap, as a building’s design might be life-centered and at the same time biophilic, for example.
Similarly, a biophilic structure might also benefit the environment, local community, economy and other life forms. It can also still be extremely aesthetically pleasing.
The above terms are not interchangeable with biomimicry, though they might be incorporated in biomimicry. Either of these approaches could lead to designs inspired by a natural system, process or organism that solves a specific challenge, and is then also an application of biomimicry.
Here is a comparison of the three concepts:
Source: ChatGPT. This table is free to use, provided that the user refers to Learn Biomimicry and links back to this article.
How to Apply a Life-Centered Design Approach in Your Biomimicry Project
As a biomimic, you can lead the change towards life-centered design. You can inspire your colleagues and leadership towards a more purposeful way of designing that is both emulating biology, and benefiting it in all its forms.
Here are some guidelines to help you apply life-centered design in your biomimicry project.
- It’s important to keep in mind that when practicing biomimicry, your project should align with biomimicry’s ethos (life creates conditions conducive to life) first, before applying any other design approaches.
- You can then further refine your design by evaluating it against life-centered design's three pillars, mentioned above.
- Look for other corresponding principles evident in both biomimicry and life-centered design, such as designing for circularity and minimising waste, that might serve your design and end goal.
- Include experts in various fields as needed to determine which species and environments will be affected through your project, and how.
Life-centered design, human-centered design and biomimicry are not mutually exclusive, and could even improve the application of each when utilised together. This infographic is free to use, provided the user credits Learn Biomimicry and links back to this article.
If you're planning to do your own biomimicry project, explore the Biomimicry Practitioner Programme, a prat-time, online programme facilitated by experienced mentors.
In Closing
It’s clear that the era of superficial, purely human-centered and ecosystem-agnostic design approaches is no longer the only way forward. There exists several different design practices and approaches that create conditions conducive to life, and it’s important to understand which of them serve your biomimicry project best while benefiting all life forms and allowing for systems thinking to solve your challenge.
If you're new to biomimicry, here are some valuable next steps:
1.) Download our FREE eBook: A Field Guide to Biomimicry
2.) Biomimicry Short Courses - Through these courses, you'll get practical knowledge of how to apply Biomimicry to your own design, get a learn biomimicry certificate which is recognised globally (and endorsed by the Biomimicry Institute), and so much more. Check out our biomimicry courses here today.