UWTSD supporting Swansea’s recognition as a Biophilic City and global network member

6 May 2026

The University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD) is supporting Swansea’s successful recognition as a Biophilic City through the involvement of two of its research centres: the Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre (ATiC) and the UNESCO‑MOST BRIDGES Research Centre. Together they contribute research expertise, student engagement and collaborative innovation to help place nature, wellbeing, and inclusive thinking at the heart of urban development in Swansea.

Two students viewing colourful art work on a wall.

Swansea now joins a global network of Biophilic Cities, including Barcelona, Singapore, and Los Angeles, all committed to integrating nature into urban life to enhance health, resilience, and quality of life. The announcement was made at Urban HQ’s Green the City: Adapting to Climate Change conference, which brought together leaders from government, industry, and academia to explore nature-based solutions for urban transformation.

Central to UWTSD’s contribution is REPAIR, an Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)-funded project exploring how biophilic deep retrofitting can help existing buildings and communities adapt to the climate changing. Working with partners across the city, this important initiative demonstrates how embedding nature into the built environment can support more resilient and responsive urban futures.

The project’s flagship case study is the transformation of Swansea’s former Woolworths building, now the BIOME, into the UK’s first retrofitted “living building,” integrating housing, commercial, and community spaces with nature at its core. Using the BIOME as a living case study, REPAIR explores how biophilic deep retrofitting can help cities adapt to climate change while improving wellbeing, strengthening communities and supporting biodiversity.

The REPAIR project brings together a transdisciplinary team from Swansea University, UWTSD and University College London (UCL), alongside public, private and community partners. Students from Surface Pattern and Textiles and Construction Management programmes are actively involved, blending creative and technical approaches to address real-world climate challenges.

Dr Mark Cocks, Dean of UWTSD’s Wales Institute of Science and Art, said: “The initiative reflects UWTSD’s wider commitment to sustainability, green skills development and place-based innovation, enabling students to gain experience while contributing to positive environmental and social outcomes.”

Caroline Thraves, Academic Director for Art and Media at UWTSD, added: “REPAIR gives our students an opportunity to apply creative practice to environmental challenges, strengthening connections between people, nature, and place. This kind of interdisciplinary collaboration helps students see how their creative skills can contribute meaningfully to more sustainable and climate responsive futures.”

Yolanda Rendón Guerrero, Architect and Researcher at UWTSD’s Assistive Technologies Innovation Centre (ATiC) and co-lead of the REPAIR project, said: “We’re committed to shaping a future where the built environment is adaptive, community-led, and rooted in local identity.

“Through the REPAIR project, we’re exploring how we can make this happen by working closely with students and local communities. This approach helps build skills, cultivate creativity, and create a shared vision for climate-ready neighbourhoods. Swansea’s recognition reflects a collective ambition to build a city shaped by nature, partnership, and place-based innovation where people and nature thrive together.”

Dr Luci Attala, Professor of Anthropology and Deputy Executive Director of UNESCO-MOST BRIDGES Global Coalition 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.”

Caption for top image : Samantha McGrath, Surface Pattern and Textiles student, presents Laura Ashley inspired collaboration exhibition to Yolanda Rendón Guerrero, ATiC Innovation Fellow and REPAIR co-lead, at Swansea College of Art’s Dynevor building.

Below image: UWTSD colleagues Gareth Evans and Brandon Roberts from the Construction Wales Innovation Centre (CWIC) and student Robyn Lewis from Construction Management meet with Yolanda Rendón Guerrero, ATiC Innovation Fellow and REPAIR co-lead, to discuss collaboration as part of the REPAIR project.