EcoResponsive Environments
A Framework for Settlement Design

EcoResponsive Environments integrates our current knowledge of designing for human needs, with a deeper understanding of natural systems. The book offers both a call to action and a comprehensive yet pragmatic framework for practising the art and science of settlement design, called EcoResponsive Design.

Bridging the gap between theory and generic policy on the one hand, and design for specific places and sites on the other, the book is aimed not only at the professionals involved in planning, designing and developing these places, but also the wider range of communities interested in creating better spaces for our everyday lives.

EcoResponsive Design encompasses all scales, ranging from the overall form of settlements and the landscapes in which they sit, to buildings and the detailed design of public spaces. Drawing from projects, places and best practices in many different countries and contexts across the world, it demonstrates how positive changes at the local scale can be achieved for every single site, large or small. The book urges a shift in focus from individual specialisms to collaborative actions, enabling development stakeholders to negotiate a balance between short-term financial viability and longer-term environmental and social values.

New Ways of Thinking 1. Coupling with Natural Infrastructure 2. Linking in Public Space 3. Generating the Plot System 4. Creating Buildings 5. Tuning for Atmosphere New Ways of Practice

Ian Bentley had a background in architecture and property development. In 1985, he co-authored, with Sue McGlynn and others, the publication Responsive Environments, which underlies much current UK urban design guidance, and has been translated into many languages. In 1999 he published Urban Transformations, exploring the financial and political reasons why today’s development takes on its characteristic forms, and suggesting ideas for improvement. In 2007, with Georgia Butina Watson, he published Identity by Design.

From 1980s Ian was involved in the multi award-winning regeneration of Brixton’s Angell Town estate. He has been invited as keynote speaker at conferences in UK, China, Colombia, Australia, Iran, New Zealand, Russia, Canada, Brazil, Mexico and the Czech Republic. He was an emeritus professor at Oxford Brookes University’s Joint Centre for Urban Design until 2011.

Since 2012, Ian with Soham De and Prachi Rampuria ran a series of urban design workshops around the latest EcoResponsive design concepts, in a range of countries that are experiencing rapid urban change. In recognition of his contribution to the field, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award by the Urban Design Group in 2012.

Soham De has a background in architecture and urban design and is driven by solutions that underpin a circular economy and embrace a holistic approach to contextual design and place identity.

Since 2018, he is a co-founding director at EcoResponsive Environments, an award-winning urban design and architectural practice based in London with a singular mission: we design to support health and well-being, today and for future generations. Recent projects include a modern-day Garden City masterplan for a 45-ha expansion site to the north of Letchworth, UK for 900 new homes, amenities, and a primary school; a masterplan for regenerating the 60-acre Heath Business and Technical Park in Runcorn, UK as a mixed us