Chapter 2: The symbiotic city as the sum of beneficial relationships between people and nature

This chapter guides the reader towards ‘symbiotic thinking’ in the future design of cities. Symbiotic cities are dynamic urban landscapes of beneficial relationships between people and nature. Urban actors can work on these beneficial relationships with nature in many different forms. Assumptions of the symbiotic city are therefore optimism, ecocentrism, inclusion, nature based thinking and the importance of embedded networks. The chapter sets out a three-pronged framework with which to understand the symbiotic city. It differentiates between the foundation, the networks and the symbiotic human practices that build the future symbiotic city. The foundation of the city, composed of biotic and abiotic entities such as soil, water and living organisms, needs to re-enter the networks and human practices of the city to meet the definition of the symbiotic city.