Urban Nature Preservation and Conservation Strategies Based on Biophilic Institutions and Governance: A Lesson Learned from Gold Coast City for Indonesian Cities

Biophilic urbanism is considered as one approach to solve the problem of city’s over-development and may provide opportunities for citizens to connect with the natural environment. This research project is using argumentative approach in attempts to analyse urban nature preservation strategy of the Gold Coast City, based on the biophilic urbanism concept, with a focus on institutions and governance aspect, including biodiversity-related action plans, biophilic support organizations, environmental education, budgets for biophilic urbanism projects, and biophilic-related projects and initiatives. Moreover, it also analyses the constraints to implementing good biophilic governance based on the political/legal, economic, socio-cultural, and technological factors. To determine urban nature conservation and preservation strategies for the Gold Coast’s future, a SWOT analysis was undertaken. The results of this study could usefully give a brief reflection on the possibility of implementing the biophilic city concept for Indonesian cities in general.


Introduction
The global urban population in comparison with the non-urban population will increase from 53.9% in 2015 to 68.4% in 2050.As one of the largest countries in the world with more than one-third dessert area, up to 85.7% of Australia's population is concentrated in urban areas [1].This is predicted to gradually increase in the future with only 9% of the Australian population likely to live outside the urban boundaries by 2050.
In general, as the population grows, so does the demand for housing and other infrastructure.Urban systems that support people's necessities and well-being, such as the energy supply, water management, and food security are under strain from these demands.Furthermore, fast population growth often results in a metropolis full of unremarkable structures with drab walls and little options for green spaces and natural surroundings, according to the visual context of the city.The issue of suitable urban space points to the necessity of a system-based strategy known as "biophilic urbanism," which will reduce the negative effects of overdevelopment while fostering chances for human interaction with the environment.
This research project attempts to analyze urban nature preservation strategy of the Gold Coast City based on the biophilic urbanism concept.Although there is already a growing body of literature that explains the concept of biophilic urbanism with many cities around the globe as case studies, researchers have yet to explore the potential for the Gold Coast to become the subject of biophilic city research.The results of this study then could usefully give a brief reflection on the possibility of implementing the biophilic city concept for Indonesian cities in general.

Urban nature preservation and conservation
Urban areas have always faced an unresolved paradox of compromise between the maintenance of urban population growth and a reduction of the pressure of human activities on the natural environment [2].As the global population tends to be more urban, human beings are likely to crave more contact with nature as our daily contact with nature diminishes [3,4].Furthermore, because of 1310 (2024) 012001 IOP Publishing doi:10.1088/1755-1315/1310/1/012001 2 the decreased connection to nature brought about by urbanization, expressions like "going back to nature" have gained popularity amongst urbanists.
The term 'urban nature' is as a part of city that is related to a natural setting space or landscape that can be non-human made and/or partially human made, this including: water bodies or hydrological features, riversides, lakesides, coastal areas, trees on streets, biodiversity corridors reaching outside the urban area, green utility corridors, green major transport corridors, highway crossings and migratory routes, backyard commons, vegetated buffer zones along coastal areas, city forests, green rooftops, urban farming, and green walking trails [3,4].By reducing the impact of the urban heat island (UHI), lowering stormwater runoff, lowering building energy demand, enhancing urban air quality, isolating carbon, lowering glasshouse gas emissions, boosting urban biodiversity, and, from an economic standpoint, raising property values, urban nature plays a significant role in controlling the urban environment [5,6,7].Based on these benefits, urban nature has become an important part of city-based living and needs to be preserved and conserved [8].

Biophilic urbanism
More than two decades ago, Wilson explored one of the emotional aspects of human needs to affiliate, reconcile, or even harmonize with other living organisms, or in modern words: biophilia [9,10].Historically, the term biophilia describes "the inherent human inclination to affiliate with natural systems and processes, most particularly life and life-like (e.g., ecosystems) features of the nonhuman environment" [11,12].This term was originally introduced by Erich Fromm, a German psychologist, who provided the theoretical foundation for human-nature relations: economic, ethical, physical, and social elements [13,14].Biophilic urbanism itself can be defined as "an emerging design principle for buildings and urban areas, featuring a suite of natural design elements that address multiple pressures related to climate change, increasing urban populations, finite resources and our inherent need for contact with nature".
Beatley argued that the green urban agenda often neglects the importance of 'green' features, focusing only on energy efficiency.Biophilic urbanism, however, can complement the green, blue, and urban sustainability agendas, as there are many aspects that overlap within each concept.Green and blue cities, as other terms of a biophilic city, also have a wide spectrum of impacts on urban population health, including mental health, by providing opportunities to maintain healthy physical activity in an urban area [15,16,17].Biophilic urbanism also forms a natural ecosystem that supports biodiversity.This can likely benefit urban populations through the provisioning of water cycle management, food security (urban farming), and health services.Furthermore, it can help to regulate air quality, reduce the spread of infectious disease, and improve microclimates.One of the most important aspects that biophilic urbanism can contribute is the building of strong social and economic capital amongst its citizens, for instance by providing amenities, increasing property values, and enhancing tourism and recreation.The ultimate output of biophilic urbanism is a biophilic city, which is a city full of nature and biodiversity where people can experience the rich benefits of nature in the normal course of everyday life.

Methods
All information about biophilic urbanism case studies and research was collected and analysed during a literature review stage, including constructing and synthesising indicators of biophilic institution and governance elements on city scale.To determine urban nature conservation and preservation strategies for the Gold Coast's future, a SWOT analysis was undertaken.The Biophilic Institution and Governance Framework will be used to determine strengths and weaknesses based on accessible information in relation to the urban nature conservation and preservation condition on the Gold Coast.Beatley's framework was chosen as there is no another definition, or even, universal meaning for 'biophilic city'.In other words, the Beatley

Gold Coast Urban Development
Gold Coast can be acknowledged as a 'new frontier city' which means 'a city that is not formed by a usual urban formation and cultural practices.From the urban formation perspectives, Gold Coast was formed in 1949 as a part of a series of towns and settlements from South Coast and neighboring Albert Shire after the Second World War [18].Gold Coast city area spreads from the Pacific coast to its nearby hinterland.Its cross-section's dynamic starts in the suburbs to the west, with the dramatic high-rise buildings to the east, as it meets the water.The first high-rise building on Gold Coast was built in 1956.The Gold Coast is strategically connected with other state capital cities by roads and transportation systems, including Brisbane on the north, and Sydney and Melbourne to the south.The city had not only been accredited by its growing population, but also by tourists' arrival and departures [19].In addition, the city had also been branded to have something for everyone: rainforests, beaches, world class theme parks, shopping centers, sporting venues and culinary attractions.

Gold Coast Biophilic Institution and Governance
The dynamic nature of the Gold Coast makes the city in need of a unique approach on urban nature preservation and conservation strategies.An analysis of biophilic institutions and governance is important as it can show how the Gold Coast, as a biophilic city, has been governed.The analysis of the five main elements of biophilic institutions and governance are described as follows: (3) increased permanent protection of land in strategic areas.x Connect and Partner: (1) collaborative partnership efforts contributing to outcomes; and (2) collaborative initiatives undertaken with partners contributing to caring for country.

Biophilic support organizations
Gold Coast already has several municipal organizations that could support biophilic engagement and education, for example the Gold Coast Regional Botanic Garden.The Botanic Garden was established based on a proposal from the Friends of the Gold Coast Regional Botanical Garden in mid-1998, a small group of like-minded citizens who had been enthusiastic to promote community planting.The Friends Centre also acts as a hub for the Friends and the Gardens.This site can be acknowledged as a mini natural history museum, because it has herbarium specimens to help identify plants, a reference library, meeting and workshop rooms, merchandise for sale, even native plants for sale.Gold Coast, however, does not have any specific natural history museum, as the existing museums listed by Gold Coast City Council are related to heritage and military history museums.To learn the state's natural history, citizens can go to the Queensland Museum and Science Centre in Brisbane, which is a world-class research facility in the field of natural history.

Environmental education
There is no clear evidence that more than 50 per cent of the Gold Coast schools have adopted an environmental education curriculum.Another green building rating system in Australia is NABERS (National Built Environment Rating System), which rates building performance rather than its design.

b) Connected and integrated green corridors
Biodiversity corridors that exist on the Gold Coast already reach outside the urban area.Critical corridors connect South Stradbroke habitats to the Hinterland core habitat, the southern coastal habitat to the hinterland, and along the hinterlands core habitat.There are also coastal dune critical corridors that are managed along the coastal line.Furthermore, Gold Coast City Council also supports initiatives to build green bridges to support active transportation and enjoyment of the waterways, for example between Benowa and Carra, Surfers Paradise and Chevron Island, and Chevron Island and the Gold Coast Centre.The Gold Coast also has about 52 kilometers of Pacific Ocean coastline.Vegetated buffer zones protect coastal areas had been supported by Planning Scheme Policies: Policy 15 Management of Coastal Dunes Area.

c) City forest (or city land area in wild or semi-wild nature)
The Gold Coast has a total land area of 1,334 square kilometers, with almost 31 per cent of its coverage (413 square kilometers) is city land area in wild or semi wild nature.Figure 2 represents the city forest 100 meters buffer zones, based on the map it can be concluded that there is already an adequate amount of wild or semi wild nature in the Gold Coast urban area.

Gold Coast Urban Nature Preservation and Conservation SWOT analysis
The analysis of Gold Coast's biophilic institutions and governance can be further examined for strengths (S) and weaknesses (W) as part of a SWOT matrix, as internal aspects that need to be considered in formulating alternative strategies.To identify the external opportunities (O) and threats (T), there are several factors that need to be considered, including: Political/legal, Economic, Sociocultural, and Technological (PEST) opportunities and constraints (or threats).
Natural hazard impacts and long-term ecosystem changes (climate change events); 2. Continued loss of native vegetation due to a growing city; 3. Finite resources to manage natural assets and achieve multiple benefits; 4.
A number of implemented legal decision which do not favour the natural environment in the city (ex: politically expedient extinction);

5.
Computer-based prediction modelling still take a lower stance than legal documents, means low opportunities for giving research-based inputs to the existing plans within the plan's timeframe; and 6.A modern conflict between screen time (or the advancement of technology) with the time for people to be spent in nature.

1.
One of the most biodiverse cities in Australia;

Conclusions
In conclusion, the Gold Coast City Council and the city's residents already experience biophilic urbanism practices without likely acknowledging them.There are some strategies that should become priorities for the City Council in future policy and planning documents to reflect biophilic urbanism values.These include: stronger policy implementation; establishing green transportation and corridors; promoting active transportation; building a Gold Coast natural history museum; conducting research for climate change adaptation plans and environmental education curriculums; increasing the level of community engagement in planning; integrating biodiverse-related plans and climate change adaptation plans; establishing stronger regulation monitoring and evaluation systems for environmentally related decisions; and involving indigenous people in planning, preserving, and conserving urban nature.

Lesson Learned for Indonesian Cities
Indonesian cities have the potential to apply the biophilic urbanism concept by learning from what the Gold Coast City Council has done.There have been many programs launched by the government related to biophilic city-forming indicators.The biophilic city concept itself intersects with various concepts: sustainable city development, green and blue urbanism, forest city, and healthy city.This is important because not many use the term 'biophilic city' in Indonesia.The results of a simple search from Google Scholar shows that it is still rare to find studies on biophilia in the context of a district/city scale.Most of the research with the keyword biophilia in Indonesia is related to the field of architecture or biophilic design studies [20,21,22].The only research on biophilic parameters for a township scale was conducted by Mardiastuti with a case study in Sentul City, West Java, Indonesia [23].A deeper study needed to find research that has a variable indicator basis that resembles a biophilic city, for example: a green city or a forest city.The remarkable example from this is the plan to build the new Indonesian state capital in Penajam Paser, East Kalimantan, which uses the concept of a forest city rather than a biophilic city, because it is considered more familiar to the public.
In Indonesia's spatial planning regulations, cities in Indonesia are required to have green open spaces covering minimum 30% of the total area of the city/urban area.This is a good statement, because in regional regulations, there are administrative areas that even dare to target higher than the targets set by the national government.One of them is the West Java Province in the Regional Regulation Number 9 of 2022 about Spatial Planning for the West Java Province, which target the protected areas, which are the domains of green open space areas, 45%, and a minimum area of 30% for forest areas in watersheds.In addition, the regional regulation also states that the Provincial Government can provide financial and/or technical assistance to Regency/City Councils by considering the proportion of Protected Area, as the appreciation of the efforts to realize the program to achieve ideal proportion of Protected Area in their territory.
Gold Coast City itself is a sister city of Makassar City in Indonesia which was inaugurated by the MoU in 2019.The two city governments from different countries agreed to establish partnerships including in the environmental sector, creative economic development, human resources capacity building, and tourism.As for the collaboration between the City of Makassar and the Gold Coast in the environmental field, which is related to the concept of a healthy city, one of the intersections of the concept with a biophilic city, is in the field of waste management and treatment and mitigation of environmental damage due to development.

Further Studies
The aspect of biophilic institutions and governance in the city of Gold Coast is considered quite straightforward to research descriptively because it is supported by open data.In this exploratory/description case study research, there are several potential limitations related to the methods used including the SWOT analysis.This study is still in need of expert opinion and elicitation (by conducting independent qualitative and/or quantitative research) to improve the selection process for strategic priorities.By using expert opinions, internal strategic factors (IFAS) and external strategic factors (EFAS) can be quantified and analyzed.From the results of the internal and external factors' analysis, strategies in the SWOT's quadrant can be determined mathematically.
On the other hand, there is a rising optimism to study about biophilic urbanism in Indonesian cities, given the various data related to biophilic city can also be collected and analyzed.The thing that might become an obstacle is the lack of understanding of the differences in the main tasks of each district/city level agencies in Indonesia because of regional autonomy.The existence of biophilic city data in one region may not necessarily be the same in other regions.Of course, this can be overcome with debriefing through learning the main tasks of the agencies for the area to be studied.
In addition, there is a need for an understanding of the intersection between the concept of a biophilic city and other urban sustainable development concepts.Furthermore, it is hoped that existing documents can turn out to be valuable treasures for biophilic city research, because the only difference is the nomenclature used, but the common goals are similar.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. Gold Coast city forest and buffer zones d) Urban farming With a total population of almost 600,000 residents, according to Beatley's standard the Gold Coast should have at least 240 community gardens.There are however only 11 official community garden projects, with one group with approximately 40-100 members.This could be improved in the future as it does not adhere to the biophilic criteria.e) Waking trails The Gold Coast has approximately 691 kilometers of recreational trails which is the equivalent of almost 430 miles of walking trails.Based on Beatley's biophilic walking trails standard, a city should have 1 mile of trail per 1,000 population.With 592,330 people living on the Gold Coast, the 430 miles of nature trails that are currently there do not match the biophilic city requirements.f) Water sensitive urban design (WSUD) The Gold Coast City Council is an active member of the Southeast Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership which was previously known as the Moreton Bay Waterways and Catchments Partnership.It is a South-East Queensland LGAs alliance to address water management in the region.The Gold Coast City Council has established the WSUD Guidelines as a part of the Planning Scheme Policies: Policy 11 Land Development Guidelines.

Table 1 . Biophilic Institutions and Governance Framework No. Biophilic institution and governance elements Descriptor 1 Biodiversity-related action plan
's indicators is the only source 4 Figure 1.Biophilic institutions and governance elements The Nature Conservation Strategy 2009-2019 aims to demonstrate the Gold Coast City Council's ongoing commitment to conserving the city's natural values.The implementation of the NCS 2009-2019 is funded by city ratepayers and fully projected by the Council's Open Space Preservation Levy (OSPL) 10 Year Financial Plan.There are 10-year and 30-year visions for the Nature Conservation Strategy.The highlights are: (1) native vegetation cover is stable at 50 per cent of the city's land area, demonstrating achievement of the 'no net loss' goal of 2019; and (2) native vegetation covers at least 55 per cent of the city's area, highlighting the success of the 'net gain' goal by 2040.Another vision that has direct contribution in Gold Coast biophilic urbanism is that, by 2019, Biodiversity in urban areas will contributes to the community's sense of place and identity.Urban nature appreciation and awareness can be an approach to help build Gold Coast citizen's character and biophilic lifestyle.Urban nature preservation and conservation goals can be reached through coordinated voluntary conservation programs that are expressed in the NCS 2009-2019 framework.The Voluntary Conservation Agreement and/or Land for Wildlife Schemes cover 3680 hectares of habitat in the city ) City of Gold Coast: Our Natural City Strategy 2032 The Our Natural City Strategy 2032 was formulated with the aim to complement existing Gold Coast City Council Plan 2022-2027.This plan also has a significant contribution towards biophilic urbanism in Gold Coast as it has three measures of outcomes: x Explore and Discover: (1) public outdoor amenity accessibility, (2) value of naturebased experiences, and (3) public understanding of the Gold Coast natural environment.x Protect and Enhance: (1) connectivity of natural assets, (2) native vegetation cover, 6. Biodiversity-related action plansThe governance capacities of a city can be boosted by formulating innovative plans.Biodiversity-related action plans can function as the foundation for developing a biophilic city.The Gold Coast has several plans related to biodiversity protection and conservation, (2.8 per cent of the city's land area).In this plan, it is also stated that 7.6per cent of the city's land area are managed by Gold Coast City Council for nature conservation, whilst 11.3 per cent of the city's land area are protected under state legislation Nature Conservation Act (Qld) 1992.The latter includes national parks, forest reserves, conservation parks, and nature refuges.In conclusion, based on this plan, approximately 19 per cent of the city's land area is protected by either the State Government or the Gold Coast City Council.b) City of Gold Coast: Nature Based Recreation Plan 2015-2025 The Nature Based Recreation Plan 2015-2025 aims to manage outdoor recreation activities in Gold Coast, including: camping, ecotourism, orienteering, trail running, geocaching, adventure racing, kayaking, canoeing, fishing, birdwatching, picnicking, horse riding, mountain biking, and bushwalking.The scope of this plan is to support the development of biophilic activities, attitudes, and knowledge of the Gold Coast's residents and tourists.This plan, however, excludes beach (blue biophilic) activities which can create a positive connection to marine life: swimming and surfing, because these activities are included in the Ocean Beach Strategy 2013-2023.Apart from the Ocean Beach Strategy there are other planning documents which are aligned with this strategy, including: Gold Coast Sport Plan 2012-2023 and Gold Coast Waterways Management Strategy 2014-2023.c

Table 2 . Way Ahead City Budget 2018-2019: Opening Up Our Green Spaces
Hence, Gold Coast City Council made considerable effort in relation to environmental education.Even though not all education programs align with the school curriculum, a flexible service offered by some programs are likely to help schools and teachers to organize their students to be involved in Gold Coast's urban nature preservation and conservation.The programs and services that can be aligned with the school curriculum include: a) Botanic Garden education program for Prep to Year 12; b) Coastal community engagement programs (CoastEd for primary and secondary school student by The City and Griffith Centre for Coastal Management); and c) Koala conservation education for Year 4 and Year 7. d) Other environmental education programs and services by Gold Coast City Council that involve community groups other than students and teachers are the community planting program, NaturallyGC program, Seagrass watch and Platypus watch.The Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) and the National Construction Code (NCC) established the Green Star program in 2003 as a compliance pathway within the National Construction Code, Section J.This is a national rating system for building and fitouts, which aims to ensure sustainable design, construction, and operation.Based on the Green Building Council Australia, there are already 2,200 Green Star-rated projects in Australia.The first 4-star Green Star -Interiors rating in the Gold Coast City was achieved by the Gold Coast 2018 Coast Commonwealth Games Corporation Head Quarters in Ashmore.Furthermore, the first education building to achieve the 6-star Green Star in Gold Coast is the Mirvac School of Sustainable Development at the Bond University.