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All over the world, cities and urban areas are experiencing increasing signs of environmental stress, poor air quality, excessive noise, and traffic congestion. More and more citizens are suffering from health conditions related to high pollution levels. Architecture and urban planning based on environmental preservation are the only options for maintaining quality of life and preventing lasting environmental damage. Awareness of these issues and information on possible opportunities existing world-wide are vital to the development of new possibilities and new scopes in restructuring urban and agricultural areas, as well as human settlements in general. Bio-architecture, as promoted by B.I.O., links the appreciation of the environment and biodiversity with urban design and planning. Bio-architecture also promotes the use of materials and techniques which are environmentally sound, culturally sensitive and reliant on local resources and skills. It is based on the application of clean energy sources, cleaner production and environmentally friendly materials, and aims at creating a self-sufficient, aesthetically pleasing urban environment with minimal waste generation and with an active participation of every member of society in the protection of bios.

The promotion of sustainable architecture and urban planning are high on the list of B.I.O. priorities. Since 1985, we have published 14 chapters on architecture that supports and protects the environment in the volumes of proceedings from our international conferences, as well as three major articles in BioNews. A Hellenic-Russian Symposium held in 1991 also focused on models of bio-architectural design. Furthermore, an extensive chapter on "Bio-Architecture" is featured in Bio-Syllabus for European Environmental Education, an 880-page textbook available in print and electronically (CD-Rom). Based on this pioneering material is B.I.O.'s e-learning course on "Architecture and Urban Planning," which is currently available online as part of our extensive e-learning programme in environmental education. Written contributions by B.I.O. on the subject of sustainable architecture have appeared in proceedings from several conferences and events, as well as in the international press.