Can re-imagining the relational nexus between humans and the surrounding space enhance urban resilience? The 2015 International Symposium for Next Generation Infrastructures September 14 - 15, 2015, in Washington, D.C.

Learning to re-imagine space has a transformational power in the way we perceive and relate to our surroundings. Space whether we call it a space of a city, the void of a meditative mind, the space of a womb, or the space of galaxies; provides a "chance for change, growth and manifestation".

I believe given the growing pace of urbanisation and the need for developing cohesive, self-organising, and resilient communities, it is crucial to discuss how we can better engineer the space of our cities.

In so doing, in this paper, I introduce the concept of TopoPhilia (i.e. Love of Space) as an extension of BioPhilia. TopoPhilia in cities proposes an active imagination of the nexus between humans and their surrounding spaces which in return transforms the urban spaces into narratives of change, adaptation, transformation and thriving.

TopoPhilia gives functional value to the inter-subjective spaces that people share with live entities (e.g. people and ecosystems) and with inanimate objects (e.g. infrastructures, organisations, economy). In short, these subtle spaces are considered as explicit parts of the whole complex system of an urban system.

TopoPhilia attempts to facilitate: 1. Introducing a citizen-oriented plan for the Anthropocene. 2. Operationalising resilience thinking in management of disasters. 3. Understanding the essence of living a sustainable urban life. 4. Investing on our individual resilience as well as systemic resilience. 5.Designing mindful policies that invite people to adopt better way of living.