Founded in 2010, Bionic City® emerged as the world’s first design studio, consultancy, think tank, and collaborative laboratory dedicated to exploring nature-inspired design in architecture and urban environments.

Pioneering work across biodesign, biomimetics, biotechnology, and urban ecology, Bionic City® converged state of the science and wider STEM, together with experimental design, and analogue, digital and hybrid arts and media to create visionary concepts for sustainable cities of the future.

Through the application of real-world biotechnological innovations and methodologies such as post-normal science, transdisciplinary research, speculative design, and scenario planning, Bionic City® investigated the future of urban living, sustainability, and resilience. The initiative aimed to foster a symbiotic relationship between nature and the built environment, advancing groundbreaking research and creative practice.

Founded by design scientist and systems theorist Melissa Sterry, Bionic City® collaborated with leading experts in science, architecture, design, engineering, and the visual and performing arts across the globe. With partners spanning the UK, Europe, the United States, Asia, and beyond, it stood at the forefront of biologically-inspired urban design and sustainable development for more than fifteen years.

Bionic City®’s work was featured in numerous international publications and presented at over seventy major global conferences, seminars, and festivals. Over the years, it built a diverse network of collaborators, from students and researchers to industry leaders and global corporations, all united by a shared mission to reimagine how cities could thrive by emulating nature’s design systems.

In 2019, Melissa Sterry founded Bioratorium®, a boutique consultancy specialising in biofuturism and bioinnovation, with Bionic City® becoming its sister project alongside her wildfire resilience research initiative, Panarchic Codex®. While Bionic City® later scaled back its public-facing activities, a curated archive of selected works including essays, articles, art works, and design concepts from 2010 to 2019 remains accessible via external platforms.

Bionic City®’s design studio, consultancy, think tank, and collaborative laboratory now integrated into Bioratorium®, its magazine and select social media continue to share the latest advancements in nature-inspired urban design and biomimetic architecture.