Posted in News, UWTSD Hub News on Jun 18, 2026.
An article from the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) recently detailed the efforts of Project REPAIR, focusing on how biophilic design can foster sustainable and resilient living.
The REPAIR initiative features a transdisciplinary approach, collaborating with partners including UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES and UWTSD's Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre (ATiC). Notably, students from the Construction Management and Surface Pattern and Textiles programmes have actively participated in this research.
Biophilic Collaboration
The project has since garnered further media attention, with outlets such as Business News Wales and Nation.Cymru reporting on the work. This coverage underscores the growing interest in Swansea’s membership in the global Biophilic Cities Network - to which Project REPAIR is central - and highlights the city's dedication to embedding climate resilience, nature, and well-being into its urban infrastructure.
For those involved in Project REPAIR, this public recognition serves as a testament to the value of partnerships between academic institutions, industry, the public sector, and local communities. It also highlights the tangible impact students can have by applying their creative and technical skills to navigate and address real-world environmental challenges.
The Biome
At the heart of Project REPAIR’s research is the transformation of Swansea’s former Woolworths site into the BIOME. This landmark project serves as the UK’s inaugural retrofitted "living building," where residential, commercial, and communal areas are designed with nature as a fundamental component. By utilising the BIOME as a primary case study, REPAIR investigates how the process of biophilic deep retrofitting can assist urban centres in responding to climate change, while simultaneously enhancing community cohesion, human well-being, and local biodiversity.
Transdisciplinary
The project is rooted in a radical transdisciplinary working model, involving a non-hierarchical, collective leadership structure, guided by the principles of the Thrive model; truly aligning with the core BRIDGES principles and way of working. The sharing of expertise, making the most of individual strengths; inclusive governance; embedding development for all; and engaging in reflexive practice and continuous learning; are all guiding Thrive principles that the project is built on.
Braiding Method
In line with this, underpinning the project is a method that uses the notion of braiding to bring our different disciplines and approaches together to strengthen our findings without degrading disciplinary integrity, which BRIDGES' Dr. Luci Attala helped to develop.
Lived Experience
A vital strand of this work that Dr. Attala is contributing to is the "Lived Experience" thread, which seeks to understand the human side of green infrastructure. By utilising sensory ethnography and artistic approaches, researchers are exploring the nuances of "biophilic" living, the innate human connection to nature. This specific focus investigates how residents actually feel, see, and interact with nature-based solutions in their daily lives, ensuring that future climate strategies are rooted in genuine human experience.
Dr Luci Attala, Deputy Executive Director of UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES, and Co-Lead on the REPAIR project, said: “This is more than redesigning cities. The real challenge is to inspire a rethink of the values that shape them. A biophilic city does more than include nature; it recognises our deep interdependence with it. When communities are meaningfully involved in shaping their environments, we can move beyond sustaining systems that no longer serve us and begin cultivating forms of life that are more just, more relational, and more capable of flourishing together.”
