Rather than design determinants such as artistic abstraction, as in Hadid’s work or Candela’s modernist structural expressionism, defining form, niche construction reestablishes the connection between environmental design and architecture with its roots: social factors.
The core meaning of being “social” in the SEN framework is that it fosters friendly interaction, community living, cooperation, and a sense of belonging among humans, nonhumans, and ecosystems alike.
Placing social factors at the center of social-ecological processes and treating them as key forces rather than external influences, the socio-ecological imagination explores how our actions ripple through the earth's living systems and delves into the dynamic relationships between humans, nonhumans, and ecosystems, revealing how each shapes the other as both social and biological forces.
Designers often sense the connection between humans, nonhumans, and ecosystems, as shown here. Even Hadid’s design could suggest a river.
These structures are usually built as one-offs, inspired by artistic expression, and lack the scientific rigor that environmental design and architecture strive to achieve by focusing on human-centric well-being: sustainability, technological innovation, and urban density.
