Biodiversity hotspots in urban design: the role of perennial meadows in replacing ornamental turf in institutional settings

Abstract

Recent studies in urban landscape design highlight the importance of green areas in cities, emphasizing their essential role in addressing the climate crisis and biodiversity decline. In recent years, creating urban meadows has been globally recognized as a practical solution for tackling these issues and bringing social benefits. In urban design, perennial meadows represent an ecological alternative to traditional ornamental lawns, often requiring considerable resources and contributing to biodiversity loss. Implementing perennial meadows in institutional spaces, such as university campuses or administrative complexes, can create biodiversity “hotspots”, supporting local species and improving environmental quality. This paper proposes the development of a perennial meadow design to replace the existing lawn in the outdoor space of the Faculty of Biomedical Engineering at the “Grigore T. Popa” University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Iasi, evaluating the success of the initiative by analyzing three key factors: impact on biodiversity, improvement of local climate conditions, and benefits for the institution’s users.