The elephant in the room: biomimetics and sustainability? Available to Purchase

Biomimetics, with diverse origins, has generated a ‘biomimetic promise’ of sustainable design solutions. This promise posits that biological systems are inherently sustainable and emulating these time-tested patterns will result in optimal sustainability characteristics. However, this has rarely been empirically explored and there is little understanding of how biomimetic practitioners are assessing sustainability impacts. This paper examines connections between biomimetic innovation and sustainability theory and investigates how practitioners are approaching sustainability issues. It includes (a) a review of concepts connecting sustainability and biomimetic innovation, highlighting epistemological disparities among disciplines, and (b) an exploratory survey examining practitioners’ use and views of biomimetics for sustainability-oriented innovation. Four findings are that (a) practitioners use a variety of sustainability frameworks with no established system of accountability; (b) there is a disconnection between biomimetics and sustainability agendas at multiple levels; (c) biomimetics is creating new narratives of sustainability; and (d) epistemological variations in biomimetics research and practice contribute to the variety of conceptions of sustainability and need to be considered as an aspect of the biomimetic promise. In conclusion, biomimetics has an important role to play in the evolving conceptualisation of sustainability and measures of success needed to integrate science-based targets and the interests of diverse stakeholders.