BIODLF-25: Bio-design for living futures October 16-17, 2025

Submission link	https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=biodlf25
Submission deadline	July 1, 2025

The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) and Cocoon are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for the international symposium, Bio-design for Living Futures. This global platform invites researchers, practitioners, and innovators to explore the field of Biodesign and its role in shaping sustainable futures for our planet.In a world facing the urgent challenges of environmental degradation, resource depletion, and climate change, Biodesign offers a unique opportunity to reimagine the way we design, produce, and interact with our environment, thinking beyond human-centered design and engaging with more-than-human perspectives, acknowledging the interconnectedness of all living things. Biodesign challenges the extractive, linear practices of traditional resource flows by advocating for closed-loop systems and circular economies. Through the development of bio-materials, living prototypes, and bio-fabrication techniques, this approach reimagines how buildings, products, and infrastructure are made—shifting the focus from consumption and waste to renewal and regeneration. Integrating traditionally distant fields like biotechnology, design, synthetic biology, materials science, and architecture, Biodesign offers innovative solutions and methodologies that span diverse scales and applications.Whether focusing on the local dimension through the use of carbon-capturing living materials and bio-inspired systems for ecological restoration, or addressing entire value chains through the development of renewed governance structures and business models, Biodesign promotes a regenerative approach that strengthens our environment’s life-supporting systems and seeks to re-establish a functioning planetary metabolism.

We call for visionary ideas that reimagine how we design, build, and inhabit our world. The symposium will serve as a platform for exploring and co-envisioning regenerative, life-centered futures that boldly challenge and transform current models of growth, production, and consumption

Submission Guidelines

Participants are invited to submit a paper between 2,000 and 3,500 words in length. All submissions will undergo a peer-review process, and selected authors will be invited to present their work at the symposium. Accepted papers will be published in a digital publication with an ISBN code and included in the symposium proceedings.

Submission format

• Language: English
• Length: 2,000–3,500 words
• File Format: PDF (initial submission); Word or LaTeX (upon acceptance)
• Title Page:
  • Title of the paper
  • Author(s) full name(s)
  • Affiliation(s)
  • Email address(es)
  • 150–200 word abstract
  • 3–5 keywords
• Figures and Tables: Include in the text with appropriate captions; ensure image quality is suitable for print (min. 300 dpi)
• References: Use APA or Chicago style (consistently); include only works cited in the paper

File Naming: Lastname_Firstname_Title.pdf

Fees

• Senior Researchers: 250 €

• Junior Researchers (Enrolled student): 150 €

Details on payment method will be given to all selected authors. The fee also includes the participation to the social dinner for one person.

List of Topics

• Bio-Design | Nature-based solutions | Ecological monitoring | Biodiversity | Ecosystems | Bio-inspired innovation | Decarbonization | Healthy cities | Living architecture
• Bio-Fabricate | Living prototypes | Digital fabrication | Synthetic biology | Bio-labs | Industrialization | Biological construction
• Bio-Materials | Biowaste | Circularity | Natural materials | Embodied carbon | Regeneration | Resource flows
• Bio-Economy | Governance | Policies | Ethics | Knowledge transfer | Bio-regions | Entrepreneurship | Value chain
• Theories of Design with Life | Design with more-than-human | Metabolism | Tools & methodologies | Speculative design

Committees

Program Committee

• Americo Mateus
• Susana Leonor
• Thora Arnadottir
• Jorge Lopes
• Juhani Tenhunen
• Chiara Farinea
• Areti Markopoulou

Organizing committee

• Matteo Ferrari
• Chiara Farinea
• Fiona Demeur

Invited Speakers

The list of speakers will be udated soon. 

Publication

Following the event, a second round of selection will take place. Authors of chosen contributions will be given the opportunity to develop an extended version of their work for inclusion in a forthcoming Springer publication.

Venue

The event will take place in Barcelona, the exact venue of the conference will be announced soon. 

Contact

All questions about submissions should be emailed to matteo.ferrari@iaac.net