tag:theconversation.com,2011:/ca/topics/nature-in-cities-26607/articlesNature in cities – The Conversation2023-06-07T20:06:59Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2069382023-06-07T20:06:59Z2023-06-07T20:06:59ZThe vast majority of Melburnians want more nature in their city, despite a puzzling north-south divide<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530213/original/file-20230605-17-5zryct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4028%2C2681&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When we were asked to survey people in Melbourne about their relationship with nature, little did we know <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320723000848">our findings</a> would reinforce a <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/never-cross-the-river-inside-melbourne-s-north-south-divide-20210527-p57vps.html">well-known cultural divide</a> between those living north and south of the Yarra River. Residents of neighbourhoods to the south were overall less connected to nature. </p>
<p>But perhaps a more important finding was that people in Melbourne overwhelmingly supported the creation of more space for nature in the city. </p>
<p>The City of Melbourne commissioned the study and is already applying its findings in programs that aim to foster residents’ connection with nature.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530020/original/file-20230605-17-10occ9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Colour-coded map show average connection to nature for neighbourhoods across Melbourne" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530020/original/file-20230605-17-10occ9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530020/original/file-20230605-17-10occ9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530020/original/file-20230605-17-10occ9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530020/original/file-20230605-17-10occ9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530020/original/file-20230605-17-10occ9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530020/original/file-20230605-17-10occ9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530020/original/file-20230605-17-10occ9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=756&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The differences in connection to nature north and south of the Yarra River, with green areas being neighbourhoods with higher average connection to nature and yellow areas having lower average connection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320723000848">Selinske et al 2023</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-if-urban-plans-gave-natural-systems-the-space-to-recover-from-the-cities-built-over-them-it-can-be-done-199388">What if urban plans gave natural systems the space to recover from the cities built over them? It can be done</a>
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<h2>What did the study find?</h2>
<p>In our survey of nearly 1,600 residents, commuters and visitors to Melbourne, 86% wanted the city to create more space for nature. Their reasons included:</p>
<ul>
<li>to promote mental and physical wellbeing</li>
<li>to conserve native plants and wildlife in the city</li>
<li>civic pride </li>
<li>a belief that if Melbourne could create more nature it would help attract more visitors and help the city’s post-pandemic recovery.</li>
</ul>
<p>Nearly 75% of respondents had a high connection to nature. More than 75% said they were concerned about climate change and the destruction of nature. </p>
<p>These figures should give heart to anyone promoting greening or conservation actions in the city – the public has your back.</p>
<p>Retirees and university students who had lived most of their lives within the greater Melbourne area had the lowest connection to nature. Despite there generally being <a href="https://www.greenerspacesbetterplaces.com.au/media/163315/where-will-all-the-trees-be-benchmarking-report-2020.pdf">more tree cover</a> and beach access south of the Yarra, residents of those areas tend to have a lower connection to nature than those to the north.</p>
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<img alt="Two kookaburras perched on a metal arch" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530221/original/file-20230606-19-kxvpkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530221/original/file-20230606-19-kxvpkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530221/original/file-20230606-19-kxvpkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530221/original/file-20230606-19-kxvpkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530221/original/file-20230606-19-kxvpkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530221/original/file-20230606-19-kxvpkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530221/original/file-20230606-19-kxvpkd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">City parks with high biodiversity help strengthen people’s connection with nature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>Why promote people’s connection with nature?</h2>
<p>The City of Melbourne commissioned the study as part of its <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/community/greening-the-city/urban-nature/Pages/nature-in-the-city-strategy.aspx">Nature in the City Strategy</a>. Its aim, in part, is to “create a more diverse, connected and resilient natural environment” and “connect people to nature”. </p>
<p>The strategy set this target: “By 2027, more residents, workers and visitors encounter, value and understand nature in the city more than they did in 2017.” </p>
<p>Connection to nature is the extent to which an individual identifies with nature. It stems from a belief that we all have a natural affinity for nature, known as <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/biophilia-hypothesis">biophilia</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-we-love-the-great-outdoors-new-research-shows-part-of-the-answer-is-in-our-genes-175995">Why do we love the great outdoors? New research shows part of the answer is in our genes</a>
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<p>Nature anywhere can offer respite from stresses and be a source of inspiration, creativity and spiritual connection. But individuals have varying levels of connection to nature, which may change during their lifetime. </p>
<p>If you have high level of connection you may feel a real kinship with nature. It’s an important part of your life. People with high connection to nature are more likely to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494418302135">support environmental policies</a>, take part in <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.13381">conservation activities</a> and have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212041614001648">higher wellbeing</a>.</p>
<p>Those who feel less connected are less likely to engage with nature. Their wellbeing can suffer as a result. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530024/original/file-20230605-15-efuzlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Horizontal chart showing extent of agreement or disagreement from respondents about each potential barriers to engaging with nature" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530024/original/file-20230605-15-efuzlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530024/original/file-20230605-15-efuzlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530024/original/file-20230605-15-efuzlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530024/original/file-20230605-15-efuzlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530024/original/file-20230605-15-efuzlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530024/original/file-20230605-15-efuzlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530024/original/file-20230605-15-efuzlj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Barriers to engaging with nature as identified from responses to the survey.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0006320723000848">Selinske et al 2023</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
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<p>Exposure to and engagement with nature are important for our physical and mental health. <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/full/10.1126/sciadv.aax0903">Studies</a> have shown exposure to natural environments reduces blood pressure and stress levels, and improves cardiovascular health. </p>
<p>Nature also fosters emotional wellbeing. <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28551">Research</a> has consistently shown spending time in nature reduces anxiety, depression and mental fatigue.</p>
<p>This is especially important for <a href="https://www.cell.com/heliyon/fulltext/S2405-8440(23)03640-X">stressed city residents</a>. As well as its health benefits, urban nature has positive impacts on our mood, crime rates, social cohesion and quality of life.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biodiversity-and-our-brains-how-ecology-and-mental-health-go-together-in-our-cities-126760">Biodiversity and our brains: how ecology and mental health go together in our cities</a>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-4-australians-is-lonely-quality-green-spaces-in-our-cities-offer-a-solution-188007">1 in 4 Australians is lonely. Quality green spaces in our cities offer a solution</a>
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<h2>So how do we bring people closer to nature?</h2>
<p>The reasons for the north-south divide in residents’ connections to nature aren’t clear and require more research. However, the other findings are already being applied to strategies to help people engage with nature and enjoy the benefits.</p>
<p><a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.2035">Research</a> has shown young people’s connection to nature tends to decline when they reached their mid-teens. While there might be a spike in connection as they reach their 20s, it can plateau by later adulthood. </p>
<p>Young people go through many changes in their lives before adulthood. For many, other activities take priority over spending time in nature. Re-engagement strategies could include more nature-based social events for teens and young adults, to help sustain their connection to nature through to adulthood.</p>
<p>While some retirees had strong knowledge of Australian biodiversity, their low connection to nature could be due to lack of mobility and social connection. One possible way to re-engage this group is to bring nature to them. We could set up more community gardens near them, creating social opportunities as well, or make nature part of their homes. </p>
<p>In response to our findings, the City of Melbourne ran online workshops to identify where retirees engage in nature, how connections with nature are formed, and possible barriers and strategies to strengthen these connections.</p>
<p>New residents of Australia are a really engaged, environmentally conscious group. Finding ways to increase their local biodiversity knowledge may create stronger ties to the Melbourne area and foster emerging conservation allies. The City of Melbourne is planning programs to increase learning opportunities for these residents who identified awareness as a barrier to taking part in conservation activities.</p>
<p>The city council can also make structural changes to increase the time people spend in nature. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866721002016">Biodiverse</a> streetscapes and green buildings can enhance exposure and connection to nature for residents and visitors.</p>
<p>For starters, the council could green streets while reducing traffic by <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/push-to-convert-thousands-of-cbd-parking-spots-into-green-space-20221129-p5c265.html">converting</a> parking spaces into gardens and passing <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/building-and-development/urban-planning/melbourne-planning-scheme/planning-scheme-amendments/Pages/amendment-c376-sustainable-building-design.aspx">Amendment C376 for Sustainable Building Design</a>. This change to the planning scheme will increase green roofs and walls and the number of trees in the city. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-how-to-design-cities-where-people-and-nature-can-both-flourish-102849">Here's how to design cities where people and nature can both flourish</a>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530001/original/file-20230605-127838-8tm7xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/530001/original/file-20230605-127838-8tm7xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530001/original/file-20230605-127838-8tm7xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530001/original/file-20230605-127838-8tm7xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530001/original/file-20230605-127838-8tm7xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530001/original/file-20230605-127838-8tm7xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/530001/original/file-20230605-127838-8tm7xh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Some residents were concerned that development is reducing the amount of nature in Melbourne.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kon Karampelas/Unsplash</span></span>
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<p>Scaling up voluntary programs, such as the <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/community/greening-the-city/urban-forest-fund/pages/apply-partnership-urban-forest-fund.aspx">City of Melbourne Urban Forest Fund’s Habitat Grants</a> and <a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/community/greening-the-city/urban-nature/gardens-wildlife/Pages/gardens-for-wildlife.aspx#:%7E:text=Gardens%20for%20Wildlife%20supports%20the,can%20help%20promote%20urban%20biodiversity.">Gardens for Wildlife Program</a>, will expand community efforts to create places for nature. </p>
<p>As Melbourne recovers from pandemic lockdowns and becomes the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/apr/17/melbourne-overtakes-sydney-as-australias-most-populous-city">most populated urban area</a> in Australia, making more space for nature is vital to maintain and increase the city’s liveability. Most Melburnians would agree. </p>
<p>We all benefit from spending time in nature whether that takes place north or south of the Yarra.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-daily-doses-of-nature-in-the-city-matter-for-people-and-the-planet-106918">Why daily doses of nature in the city matter for people and the planet</a>
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<p><em>The author acknowledges and thanks Blake Alexander Simmons, Environmental Social Scientist at Tampa Bay Estuary Program, and Lee Harrison, Senior Ecologist at City of Melbourne, co-authors of the peer-reviewed study published in Biological Conservation.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206938/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Selinske receives funding from Australian Research Council and the City of Melbourne and is a board member of the Society for Conservation Biology's Social Science Working Group.</span></em></p>A public survey found 86% of people want more space for nature in the city. The city council is already taking steps to add green space and increase biodiversity, which should boost public wellbeing.Matthew Selinske, Senior Research Fellow, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1993882023-02-22T01:51:07Z2023-02-22T01:51:07ZWhat if urban plans gave natural systems the space to recover from the cities built over them? It can be done<p>Our cities have altered their original landscapes so greatly that their natural systems are profoundly compromised. These systems – such as swamps, rivers, creeks, aquifers and bushland corridors – need more space to function properly. Sometimes they assert their underlying presence through land subsidence, floods and fires. As <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/margaret-cook-683897">Margaret Cook</a> wrote in her <a href="https://www.qbd.com.au/a-river-with-a-city-problem/margaret-cook/9780702260438/">history of Brisbane floods</a>, the Brisbane River is “a river with a city problem”.</p>
<p>In Australia, Melbourne in particular has been hugely altered. Historian <a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/james-boyce-131719">James Boyce</a> <a href="https://www.blackincbooks.com.au/books/1835">wrote</a>:</p>
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<p>Of all Australia’s major cities the natural environment of Melbourne before British settlement is perhaps the most difficult now to imagine. This is in part a product of the city’s size and flat topography, but it also reflects the extent to which the region was dominated by swamps and grasslands – the two ecosystems that were most comprehensively transformed by the conquest.</p>
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<p>In response to climate change threats, cities around the world are making space to restore natural systems such as creeks, rivers, wetlands and vegetation on a larger scale. But this is an enormous task. These systems have been concreted, filled in or built over since the industrial revolution. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/brisbane-floods-pondering-the-wisdom-of-placing-our-major-galleries-libraries-and-theatres-on-the-banks-of-a-flood-prone-river-178156">Brisbane floods: pondering the wisdom of placing our major galleries, libraries and theatres on the banks of a flood-prone river</a>
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<h2>Sometimes ecosystems are restored</h2>
<p>One example of restoration is in Elsternwick, a suburb of southeast Melbourne. Here an ephemeral wetland behind the coastal dunes, on the <a href="https://www.elsternwickpark.org/history/">traditional lands</a> of the Yaluk-ut Weelam, Boon Wurrung clan of the Kulin Nation, was drained and filled. It became a parkland, trotting track and then golf course. Now a <a href="https://landscapeaustralia.com/articles/construction-begins-on-elsternwick-park-nature-reserve/">constructed wetland</a> is transforming Yalukit Willam Nature Reserve (formerly Elsternwick Park) into a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/11/undraining-the-swamp-how-rewilders-have-reclaimed-golf-courses-and-waterways">modified version of its former self</a>.</p>
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<p>There are many such projects, but still not nearly enough. They tend to be site-specific and isolated, lacking the connection to larger landscape-scale systems so crucial to their proper functioning. For instance, while water from the Elster Creek now flows “naturally” through a chain of ponds in the former Elsternwick golf course, for most of its length the creek is still a channel under and above ground.</p>
<p>When more space needs to be reserved for public benefit and use, the government can compulsorily acquire it through legislation, such as the Land Acquisition and Compensation Act 1986 (Vic), and through planning schemes, via an instrument called a <a href="https://dtp.vic.gov.au/about/statutory-planning/public-acquisition-overlays">public acquisition overlay</a>. </p>
<p>The overlay was used in Victoria to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/09/world/australia/penguins-phillip-island.html">remove the suburb of Summerland on Phillip Island</a> over 25 years to conserve and restore habitat for penguins. </p>
<p>Similarly, housing in high fire risk areas was compulsorily acquired to reforest land in the Dandenong Ranges east of Melbourne in the 1970-80s. More recently in New South Wales this approach is being used to move housing away from flood zones in Lismore and the Northern Rivers. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-simply-havent-got-it-in-me-to-do-it-again-imagining-a-new-heart-for-flood-stricken-lismore-178982">'I simply haven’t got it in me to do it again': imagining a new heart for flood-stricken Lismore</a>
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<h2>More often natural systems lose contest for space</h2>
<p>Most commonly, such mechanisms are used to make space for roads and other infrastructure. A current example is in the Melbourne suburb of Bulleen, just 50 metres from the Birrarung (Yarra River). Around 80 industrial buildings are making way for the <a href="https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/north-east-link-program/design/north-east-link-tunnels/map">Manningham Road Interchange</a> of the <a href="https://bigbuild.vic.gov.au/projects/north-east-link-program">North East Link</a> project. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the natural systems of the Birrarung struggle for enough space.</p>
<p>The story of the dispossession and transformation of the river corridor along the bends, floodplains and billabongs known as <a href="https://www.wurundjeri.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/20210205-Bulleen-Banyule-Flats-Overview-Report-Low-Rez.pdf">Banyule-Bulleen Flats</a> is repeated across Australia. This important <a href="https://engage.vic.gov.au/project/yarra-river-bulleen-precinct-advisory-committee/page/draft-framework-plan">cultural place of rich food and resources</a> for the Wurndjeri Woi Wurrung was capable of sustaining up to 500 people. It was cleared, farmed and grazed <a href="http://images.heritage.vic.gov.au/attachment/3311">from the mid-1880s</a>.</p>
<p>Piecemeal development has intensified the use of this once cheap, low-lying, flat land. This 2km by 1km parcel of land has been given over to an 18-hole golf course, 27-house estate, six sporting ovals, six soccer pitches, six clay tennis courts, three indoor basketball courts, an archery field, parking across multiple sites for at least 600 cars, a large social club with restaurant, futsal court and convention rooms, major electrical pylons, the large scar of a former drive-in cinema, a web of paths, fences, barriers, toilets, clubrooms, playgrounds and, until recently, an industrial estate. </p>
<p>Very soon, there will be a six-lane tunnel. The land being used for its construction is the subject of “<a href="https://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2022-06/north_east_link_tunnels_urban_design_landscape_plan_submission.pdf">future development potential</a>”.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bell-frogs-dugong-bones-and-giant-cauliflowers-water-stories-come-to-life-at-green-square-192504">Bell frogs, dugong bones and giant cauliflowers: water stories come to life at Green Square</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>All this human activity is located there largely due to floodplains not being valued. Yet this area contains the <a href="https://engage.vic.gov.au/project/yarra-river-bulleen-precinct-advisory-committee/page/draft-framework-plan">last significant remnants</a> of a network of billabongs and riparian woodlands with centuries-old river red gums.</p>
<h2>How can urban plans help restore natural systems?</h2>
<p>Planning schemes are meant to recognise the environmental and cultural value of land. They regulate the use of land, what can be built there, and how we should go about it. </p>
<p>However, each intervention is mostly assessed at the scale of the parcel of land. The process has little to do with the land’s role in a wider, underlying and connected ecological structure.</p>
<p>We need an alternative urban plan that foregrounds and provides space for ecosystem regeneration. New and robust planning tools and governance processes are required if we acknowledge we cannot continue to urbanise areas of ecological significance and should repair and strengthen others.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-under-colonial-concrete-botany-bay-has-even-been-robbed-of-its-botany-135315">Buried under colonial concrete, Botany Bay has even been robbed of its botany</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Yes, we have detailed and careful regulations and controls for protection of vegetation, significant landscapes, land subject to flooding, and so on. But the fact is most buildings and development are not compatible with healthy natural systems that support the complex web of symbiotic relationships between soil, plants, animals and an array of other organisms.</p>
<p>We need urban plans that consolidate space for natural systems in our cities. This process will require long-term frameworks that strategically return land to enable connected ecological systems to function over large territories. To free up this space, urban density will have to increase in other areas through more intensive use of existing buildings and infrastructure. </p>
<p>This alternative approach will improve the quality and sustainability of our future cities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199388/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cities are starting to restore natural systems such as waterways, wetlands and bushland. But restoration on the scale these systems need to function properly calls for a rethink of urban planning.Louise Wright, Practice Professor of Architecture, Monash UniversityCatherine Murphy, Senior Lecturer in Urban Planning and Design, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1331502020-04-20T20:02:24Z2020-04-20T20:02:24Z3 ways nature in the city can do you good, even in self-isolation<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327283/original/file-20200411-66195-3m030s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1074%2C668&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucy Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Spending time at the beach or taking a <a href="https://theconversation.com/reducing-stress-at-work-is-a-walk-in-the-park-57634">walk in the park</a> can help us recover from the mental and physical impacts of life’s stresses. But physical distancing measures to contain COVID-19 have included closing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/mar/21/bondi-beach-closed-down-after-crowds-defy-ban-on-gatherings-of-more-than-500-people">beaches</a>, <a href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/coronavirus-australia-why-playgrounds-outdoor-gyms-had-to-close/news-story/a89cfc97d6352263c994b0d2e0b797bb">playgrounds</a> and <a href="https://www.broadsheet.com.au/melbourne/city-file/article/royal-botanic-gardens-close-due-coronavirus">parks</a>, adding to the challenges to our mental health. When we stay home to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-much-has-australia-really-flattened-the-curve-of-coronavirus-until-we-keep-better-records-we-dont-know-136252">flatten the curve</a>, how can we help ourselves by taking advantage of the benefits associated with nature?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327275/original/file-20200411-9893-dl8bkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327275/original/file-20200411-9893-dl8bkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327275/original/file-20200411-9893-dl8bkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327275/original/file-20200411-9893-dl8bkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327275/original/file-20200411-9893-dl8bkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327275/original/file-20200411-9893-dl8bkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327275/original/file-20200411-9893-dl8bkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327275/original/file-20200411-9893-dl8bkp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Public playgrounds have been closed to encourage distancing and limit infection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Lead</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-014-0427-3">evidence for nature supporting human well-being</a> has grown in recent decades. We researched the links between nature and urban residents’ well-being and found there are benefits of nature that we can still enjoy now, even in lockdown.
Our findings point to some of the ways we can improve our well-being by engaging with everyday nature close to home.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biodiversity-and-our-brains-how-ecology-and-mental-health-go-together-in-our-cities-126760">Biodiversity and our brains: how ecology and mental health go together in our cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>1. A room with a view</h2>
<p>We <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-014-0427-3">reviewed the evidence</a>, collected <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-017-0702-1">survey data</a> on self-reported well-being and biodiversity indicators, and organised <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-019-00910-5">focus groups</a> in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, and Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand, to better understand participants’ relationship with urban nature. </p>
<p>If you’re stuck at home, the good news is there is plenty of research that suggests <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/00139160121973115">a view through a window</a> of vegetation or a body of water can provide a micro-break. A view of nature through a window has even <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.6143402">aided hospital patients’ recovery</a> from surgery. A short, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvp.2015.04.003">40-second glance at a green roof</a> supports cognitive restoration better than a view of concrete.</p>
<p>Our research found urban residents had greater self-reported well-being when they had nature nearby or visible from their homes. Participants valued a view of vegetated areas – green space – and bodies of water – blue space. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-019-00910-5">One participant said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I could live in something that was pretty grim if it had a balcony that looked out [at nature].</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Participants in our <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-019-00910-5">focus groups</a> also highlighted the importance of seeing changes in the natural world, such as change in the weather or the seasons. Even if your view does not have a lot of vegetation or water, a view of the sky can allow engagement with nature’s dynamism.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327281/original/file-20200411-66195-mod23g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327281/original/file-20200411-66195-mod23g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327281/original/file-20200411-66195-mod23g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327281/original/file-20200411-66195-mod23g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327281/original/file-20200411-66195-mod23g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=387&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327281/original/file-20200411-66195-mod23g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327281/original/file-20200411-66195-mod23g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327281/original/file-20200411-66195-mod23g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=487&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A view out a window at nature’s dynamism can improve our well-being.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucy Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-tiny-moments-of-pleasure-really-can-help-us-through-this-stressful-time-134043">Coronavirus: tiny moments of pleasure really can help us through this stressful time</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>2. Gardening – indoors and out</h2>
<p>If you’re lucky enough to have a yard or balcony, now may be a good time to do some gardening. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pmedr.2016.11.007">Gardening can offer benefits</a> such as reductions in stress, anxiety and depression. As a physical activity, gardening can also improve physical fitness and support weight loss. </p>
<p>Gardens can also provide <a href="https://theconversation.com/bandbs-for-birds-and-bees-transform-your-garden-or-balcony-into-a-wildlife-haven-129907">habitat for wildlife</a>, potentially introducing you to new plants, pollinating insects and birds. <a href="https://theconversation.com/biodiversity-and-our-brains-how-ecology-and-mental-health-go-together-in-our-cities-126760">Urban biodiversity benefits us</a> too. </p>
<p>Our study found strong links between gardening and self-reported well-being. If you don’t have a yard, gardening on a balcony or tending to indoor plants also has benefits. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-017-0702-1">One participant explained</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Having a small vegetable garden and flowers in pots makes me feel happy and content … It is wonderful to see things grow in the city.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327279/original/file-20200411-94735-qtcy7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327279/original/file-20200411-94735-qtcy7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327279/original/file-20200411-94735-qtcy7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327279/original/file-20200411-94735-qtcy7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327279/original/file-20200411-94735-qtcy7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327279/original/file-20200411-94735-qtcy7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327279/original/file-20200411-94735-qtcy7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327279/original/file-20200411-94735-qtcy7y.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Gardening in a yard, on a balcony, or even tending indoor plants does us good.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Lead</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/running-out-of-things-to-do-in-isolation-get-back-in-the-garden-with-these-ideas-from-4-experts-134229">Running out of things to do in isolation? Get back in the garden with these ideas from 4 experts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Green exercise</h2>
<p>We know exercise is good for physical fitness and <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-your-mental-health-deteriorating-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic-heres-what-to-look-out-for-134827">mental health</a>. “Green exercise”, or exercise that takes place in and around nature, can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1021/es903183r">improve your mood and self-esteem</a>.</p>
<p>Our study found strong links between how often urban residents exercised and their self-reported well-being. One participant described how important green exercise is to them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Being able to walk my dog down at the beach or go up into the hills is a great stress relief and keeps me fit and healthy and, best of all, it’s free.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Another participant described <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-019-00910-5">exercising in a public park</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I feel significantly calmer, [my] breathing rate goes down. I love the feel of that moist air going into my lungs from all the trees and I really do feel different.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>To limit infection, residents of cities around the world are subject to a range of national and local constraints on when and how they leave the house to exercise. It is important to follow physical distancing guidelines, but it is also <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-04-04/coronavirus-queensland-exercise-safety/12115924">important to exercise</a> rather than be both isolated and sedentary.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/green-for-wellbeing-science-tells-us-how-to-design-urban-spaces-that-heal-us-82437">Green for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Urban nature now and for the future</h2>
<p>Nature can support our well-being now, when we all could use the help, but we need to protect it. <a href="https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/04/1060902">Climate change talks have been postponed</a> because of the COVID-19 pandemic, but it is clear climate change has not stalled, even taking into account <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-changes-brought-on-by-coronavirus-could-help-tackle-climate-change-133509">the effect of lockdown on emissions</a>. </p>
<p>There are lasting ways to <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-must-fight-climate-change-like-its-world-war-iii-here-are-4-potent-weapons-to-deploy-131052">reduce our emissions</a> and create <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-have-the-blueprint-for-liveable-low-carbon-cities-we-just-need-to-use-it-121615">low-carbon</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/after-another-hot-summer-here-are-6-ways-to-cool-our-cities-in-future-110817">cooler cities</a>. And the <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-what-the-coronavirus-pandemic-can-teach-us-about-tackling-climate-change-134399">earlier we act, the better the outcomes</a> will be. </p>
<p>If you have a yard, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-solution-to-cut-extreme-heat-by-up-to-6-degrees-is-in-our-own-backyards-133082">planting trees</a> might be a good lockdown activity now and will ultimately <a href="https://theconversation.com/here-are-5-practical-ways-trees-can-help-us-survive-climate-change-129753">benefit your future</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/increasing-tree-cover-may-be-like-a-superfood-for-community-mental-health-119930">Increasing tree cover may be like a 'superfood' for community mental health</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Taking time to notice nature – via a glance outside, <a href="https://theconversation.com/running-out-of-things-to-do-in-isolation-get-back-in-the-garden-with-these-ideas-from-4-experts-134229">tending plants in pots or gardens</a>, or via green exercise – will improve your well-being. Appreciating nature and having access to it has never been so important.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327284/original/file-20200411-102426-143fa8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327284/original/file-20200411-102426-143fa8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/327284/original/file-20200411-102426-143fa8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327284/original/file-20200411-102426-143fa8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327284/original/file-20200411-102426-143fa8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327284/original/file-20200411-102426-143fa8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327284/original/file-20200411-102426-143fa8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/327284/original/file-20200411-102426-143fa8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=606&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Appreciating urban nature has never been more important.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucy Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/133150/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dieter Hochuli currently receives research funding from the Australian Research Council, City of Sydney, and Inner West Council.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Leckey and Lucy Taylor do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Noting nature around you – it could be a glance outside, tending plants, or ‘green’ exercise – will improve your well-being, research shows. The coronavirus pandemic has made it even more important.Lucy Taylor, Assistant Researcher, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, The University of MelbourneDieter Hochuli, Professor, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of SydneyErin Leckey, Research Scientist, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado BoulderLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1267602020-01-01T21:02:49Z2020-01-01T21:02:49ZBiodiversity and our brains: how ecology and mental health go together in our cities<p>Mental health in our cities is an increasingly urgent issue. Rates of disorders such as <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature10190">anxiety and depression are high</a>. Urban design and planning can promote mental health by refocusing on <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/2059-7932.12022">spaces we use in our everyday lives</a> in light of what research tells us about the benefits of exposure to nature and biodiversity. </p>
<p>Mental health issues have <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.3109/10253890.2014.921903">many causes</a>. However, the changing and unpredictable elements of our physical and sensory environments have a profound impact on <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1353829216302027">risk, experiences and recovery</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/green-for-wellbeing-science-tells-us-how-to-design-urban-spaces-that-heal-us-82437">Green for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Physical activity is still the mainstay of urban planning efforts to enable healthy behaviours. Mental well-being is then a hoped-for byproduct of opportunities for exercise and social interaction. </p>
<p>Neuroscientific research and tools now allow us to examine more deeply some of the ways in which <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508975.2013.807765">individuals experience spaces</a> and natural elements. This knowledge can greatly add to, and shift, the priorities and direction of urban design and planning.</p>
<h2>What do we mean by ‘nature’?</h2>
<p>A large body of research has compellingly shown that “nature” in its many forms and contexts can have direct benefits on mental health. Unfortunately, the extent and diversity of natural habitats in our cities are decreasing rapidly.</p>
<p>Too often “nature” – by way of green space and “POS” (Public Open Space) – is still seen as something separate from other parts of our urban neighbourhoods. Regeneration efforts often focus on large green corridors. But even <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/cobi.12840">small patches</a> of genuinely biodiverse nature can <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0006320716306747?via%3Dihub">re-invite and sustain multitudes</a> of plant and animal species, as urban ecologists have shown. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-small-patch-of-bush-over-your-back-fence-might-be-key-to-a-species-survival-108672">The small patch of bush over your back fence might be key to a species’ survival</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303335/original/file-20191124-74562-msfbfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303335/original/file-20191124-74562-msfbfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303335/original/file-20191124-74562-msfbfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303335/original/file-20191124-74562-msfbfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303335/original/file-20191124-74562-msfbfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303335/original/file-20191124-74562-msfbfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303335/original/file-20191124-74562-msfbfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303335/original/file-20191124-74562-msfbfr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An urban orchard in Perth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It has also been widely demonstrated that nature does not affect us in <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gec3.12415">uniform or universal ways</a>. Sometimes it can be confronting or dangerous. That is particularly true if nature is isolated or uninviting, or has <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08873631.2015.1005881">unwritten rules around who should be there</a> or what activities are appropriate. </p>
<p>These factors complicate the desire for a “nature pill” to treat urban ills. </p>
<p>We need to be far more specific about what “nature” we are talking about in design and planning to assist with mental health.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/increasing-tree-cover-may-be-like-a-superfood-for-community-mental-health-119930">Increasing tree cover may be like a 'superfood' for community mental health</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Why does biodiversity matter?</h2>
<p>The exponential accessibility and affordability of lab and mobile technologies, such as fMRI and EEG measuring brain activity, have vastly widened the scope of studies of mental health and nature. Researchers are able, for example, to analyse responses to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494418303360?via%3Dihub">images</a> of urban streetscapes versus forests. They can also track people’s perceptions “<a href="https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/49/4/272">on the move</a>”.</p>
<p>Research shows us biodiverse nature has particular positive benefit for <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204617300701?via%3Dihub">mental well-being</a>. Multi-sensory elements such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494413000650?via%3Dihub">bird or frog sounds</a> or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1618866716303107?via%3Dihub">wildflower smells</a> have well-documented beneficial effects on mental restoration, calm and creativity. </p>
<p>Other senses – such as our sense of ourselves in space, our balance and equilibrium and temperature – <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02614367.2014.923499">can also contribute to us feeling restored by nature</a>. </p>
<p>Acknowledging the crucial role all these senses play shifts the focus of urban design and planning from visual aesthetics and functional activity to how we <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/68/2/134/4791430"><em>experience</em> natural spaces</a>. This is particularly important in ensuring we create places for people of <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2514848619835720">all abilities, mobilities and neurodiversities</a>.</p>
<p>Neuroscientific research also shows an <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0306452216301968?via%3Dihub">“enriched” environment</a> – one with multiple diverse elements of interest – can prompt movement and engagement. This helps keep our brains <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-12046-7">cognitively healthy, and us happier</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reducing-stress-at-work-is-a-walk-in-the-park-57634">Reducing stress at work is a walk in the park</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Beyond brain imaging of experiences in nature, there is growing and compelling evidence that contact with diverse microbiomes in the soil and air has a <a href="https://jphysiolanthropol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40101-016-0101-y">profound effect on depression and anxiety</a>. Increasing our interaction with natural elements through <a href="https://jphysiolanthropol.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1880-6805-32-7">touch</a> – literally getting dirt under our nails – is both <a href="https://academic.oup.com/jpubhealth/article/38/3/e336/2239844">psychologically therapeutic</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/rec.12610">neurologically nourishing</a>.</p>
<p>We also have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0920996416304467?via%3Dihub">increasing evidence</a> that air, noise and soil pollution increase risk of <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1353829217303088?via%3Dihub">mental health disorders</a> in cities.</p>
<h2>What does this mean for urban neighbourhoods?</h2>
<p>These converging illustrations suggest biodiverse urban nature is a priority for promoting mental health. Our job as designers and planners is therefore to multiply opportunities to interact with these areas in tangible ways. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303336/original/file-20191124-74576-10wkddv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303336/original/file-20191124-74576-10wkddv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/303336/original/file-20191124-74576-10wkddv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303336/original/file-20191124-74576-10wkddv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303336/original/file-20191124-74576-10wkddv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303336/original/file-20191124-74576-10wkddv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1257&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303336/original/file-20191124-74576-10wkddv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1257&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/303336/original/file-20191124-74576-10wkddv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1257&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A residential street in Perth.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The concept of “biophilia” isn’t new. But a focus on incidental and authentic biodiversity helps us apply this very broad, at times unwieldy and non-contextual, concept to the local environment. This grounds efforts in real-time, achievable interventions. </p>
<p>Using novel technologies and interdisciplinary research expands our understanding of the ways <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2078-1547/9/2/40">our environments affect our mental well-being</a>. This knowledge challenges the standardised planning of nature spaces and monocultured plantings in our cities. Neuroscience can therefore support urban designers and planners in allowing for more flexibility and authenticity of nature in urban areas. </p>
<p>Neuroscientific evidence of our sensory encounters with biodiverse nature points us towards the ultimate win-win (-win) for ecology, mental health and cities. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>Dr Zoe Myers is the author of <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-32-9923-8">Wildness and Wellbeing: Nature, Neuroscience, and Urban Design</a>n (Palgrave Macmillan, 2020).</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/126760/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoe Myers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s well-established that green spaces are good for our well-being. Now we can demonstrate that greater biodiversity boosts this benefit, as well as helping to sustain native plants and animals.Zoe Myers, Lecturer, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1066922018-12-13T22:13:02Z2018-12-13T22:13:02ZWonder and wisdom in a children’s forest nature program<p>On a windy autumn morning, children dressed in colourful woolly hats and mittens sing a greeting to the Earth near a towering 150-year-old willow tree. </p>
<p>Children notice how the wind and sun play with the tree. They wonder what is happening inside; they offer sticks for the tree to eat and investigate the inside cracked open after a wind storm.</p>
<p>The deeply furrowed trees provide opportunities for climbing and a bird’s eye view of adventures below. Hungry chickadees call out as they swoop from branches, landing on outstretched hands that offer shiny sunflower seeds. The children shout with delight and wonder. </p>
<h2>A wild year</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=2&v=W5s5bZqPSPA">The Willows forest nature program</a> began as a collaboration of different programs and bodies at Humber College in Toronto: the <a href="https://healthsciences.humber.ca/programs/early-childhood-education.html">Early Childhood Education Department</a>, the <a href="https://healthsciences.humber.ca/resources/labs/child-development-centre.html">Child Development Centre</a> and the <a href="https://humber.ca/arboretum/learn/applied-research-and-conservation.html">Humber Arboretum and Centre for Urban Ecology</a>. </p>
<p>I teach in Humber’s Early Childhood Education program and co-piloted <a href="https://healthsciences.humber.ca/resources/labs/child-development-centre/about/forest-and-nature-program-handbook/information-about-the-forest-nature-program-location.html">the Willows program</a> in June 2016 after completing a <a href="http://childnature.ca/forest-school-canada">forest nature school practitioner’s course</a> with Kaitlin Beard, a registered early childhood educator at the Humber Child Development Centre.</p>
<p>Forest nature programs are about giving children more daily and direct sensory experience of the natural world. This is at a time when <a href="https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/CRC/Discussions/2016/AnneliesHenstra_en.pdf">more people are living in cities, there are fewer green spaces</a> and families are spending more time indoors and <a href="http://naturecanada.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/11/NOV-23-FINAL-Contact-Info-Nature-Canada-report-Screen-Time-vs-Green-Time-1.pdf">on screens</a>.</p>
<p>Children in forest nature programs experience the tremendous <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/12/6/6475?utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Int_J_Environ_Res_Public_Health_TrendMD_0">social, emotional and physical benefits</a> of playing outdoors. Being outside in nature is good for <a href="https://participaction.cdn.prismic.io/participaction%2Fe6cb2b35-2d29-4539-80ee-515a0ae9dfb3_2018_expert_statement_on_physical_activity_and_brain_health_in_children_and_youth.pdf">mental health, improves mood and lessens anxiety</a>. In our program, children play in the Humber Arboretum two or more days a week. The children also play and learn indoors and on a natural playground.</p>
<h2>How do I draw the wind?</h2>
<p>Young children run free when given the geography to do so. They explore and investigate their curiosity through questions:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Why is the puddle smaller today?</p>
<p>Why does the river look like squiggly lines? </p>
<p>How does the snail move with the swirly shell on its back? </p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/XKCT-mmylEE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Wild spaces allow for <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/249047571_Categorising_risky_play-How_can_we_identify_risk-taking_in_children's_play">types of play that encourage risk-taking</a> that is <a href="https://www.haloresearch.ca/outdoorplay/">essential for healthy child development</a>. </p>
<p>Seasonal changes mean that every day is a different <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-kids-need-risk-fear-and-excitement-in-play-81450">adventure, challenge and story</a>.</p>
<h2>Learning from and with the land</h2>
<p><a href="https://humber.ca/strategic-plan/">Humber</a> is committed to enhancing Indigenous knowledge among students and staff. The recent launch of <a href="https://humber.ca/indigenous-cultural-markers.html">Indigenous Cultural Markers</a> is a contemporary land acknowledgement of the histories of Indigenous people in the region that honours Indigenous voices and experiences. </p>
<p>I have had opportunities to learn, meet people and make connections through the <a href="http://humber.ca/aboriginal/">Aboriginal Resource Centre</a> and related Indigenous learning forums such as the <a href="https://liberalarts.humber.ca/programs/indigenous-knowledge.html">Indigenous knowledge certificate</a>. </p>
<p>With children, we have been invited to participate in All Nations socials and Pow Wows: Such events encourage intercultural engagement and increase knowledge of Indigenous culture and worldviews through movement, performance and intergenerational dialogue.</p>
<p>My <a href="http://commonworlds.net/">research</a> considers how learning <a href="http://whereareyouquetzalcoatl.com/mesofigurineproject/EthnicAndIndigenousStudiesArticles/Simpson2014.pdf">from and with the traditional territories of Indigenous community whose traditional lands we are walking on</a>
might contribute to re-imagining nature-based early childhood programs. </p>
<p>I am exploring ethical reflection on partnerships with
Indigenous communities that incorporate the distinct knowledges and perspectives of lived experience and learning. How might these shape our encounters in the Humber Arboretum for today and into the future?</p>
<p>In the second year of the Willows, Lynn Short, who is both a horticultural professor and who works at the Aboriginal Resource Centre, began to walk with us. She has been sharing teachings of Elder James Dumont through storytelling and her scientific knowledge of <a href="https://humber.ca/arboretum/explore/ecosystems/humber-pond.html">local ecosystems</a>. </p>
<p>In tasting sumac (makeebug) tea made from an August harvest, we have learned some Grandfather teachings: Inform the plants who you are, what it is you are asking for and how you are going to use the plants. Thank them (Miigwetch) for their help. Offer your tobacco and inform all of creation what you are doing, including the four directions. </p>
<h2>Deer, hawks, turtles</h2>
<p>We meet for the Willows in what we have learned is <a href="https://humber.ca/indigenous-cultural-markers.html">Adoobiigok</a>
“Place of the Black Alders” in Anishinaabemowin, the Ojibwe language, part of the <a href="http://humber.ca/aboriginal/sites/default/files/upload/documents/Online%20Elder's%20Corner%20HONOURING%20OUR%20INDIGENOUS%20ROOTS%20AND%20FUTURE%20COMMITMENTS%20(2).pdf">traditional territory of the Ojibwe Anishnaabe people</a> that includes several First Nations communities. </p>
<p><a href="http://humber.ca/brand/land-acknowledgement-0">GabeKanang Ziibi</a> (the <a href="https://trca.ca/conservation/watershed-management/humber-river/">Humber River</a>) winds through the 105 hectares, a <a href="https://humber.ca/arboretum/explore/ecosystems.html">biodiverse region</a> with deer, red-tailed hawks and painted turtles, where vulnerable, <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/explore-enjoy/parks-gardens-beaches/ravines-natural-parklands/environmentally-significant-areas-2/">rare and/or threatened species are protected</a> through stewardship.</p>
<p>Through the traditional teachings of Elder Dumont, shared by Elder Shelley Charles with the Humber community and by Lynn with the Willows, children, educators, parents and students learn about kindness and respect for <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-mishomis-book">all of our relations</a>. We learn that dandelions are one of the first foods for wild bees in early spring. We learn not to pick dandelions, so bees can eat and pollinate. </p>
<h2>Greening childhood</h2>
<p>The Willows is shaped by our experiences entering into relationships and learning with Indigenous community members; these intergenerational and intercultural holistic experiences encourage health and well-being for the entire community.</p>
<p>A growing <a href="http://childnature.ca/forest-school-canada">forest and nature movement</a> <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/fort-whyte-launches-outdoor-school-pilot-program-1.3438001">in Canada</a> and <a href="https://qz.com/1441424/why-the-danes-encourage-their-kids-to-play-dangerously/">worldwide</a> inspires us. We look to guidance from the Canadian <a href="http://childnature.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/B.-EN-Active-Outdoor-Play-Position-Statement-FINAL-DESIGN.pdf">statement on active outdoor play</a> which shares ways to increase outdoor time as families. </p>
<p>In a parent focus group for the Willows program, parents recalled their own childhoods outside. Several parents reflected that busy lives don’t often allow for unstructured play in nature. </p>
<p>Some shared that they see their children <a href="http://childnature.ca/dynamically-assessing-risk">taking risks more confidently in the forest</a> than they do on playgrounds. Several parents noticed <a href="https://participaction.cdn.prismic.io/participaction%2Fe6cb2b35-2d29-4539-80ee-515a0ae9dfb3_2018_expert_statement_on_physical_activity_and_brain_health_in_children_and_youth.pdf">children sleep better</a> after a day outdoors; one parent shared how children are learning to care about nature and that this is important for the family. </p>
<p>When we collectively walk with the land and listen to stories, we understand how connections to the land are critical for the Earth’s future. By seeking to work in partnership with Indigenous communities in the hope of
<a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/143304371/Braiding-Sweetgrass-Essays-by-Robin-Wall-Kimmerer">braiding Indigenous wisdom with scientific knowledge through storytelling</a>, Earth-centred programs such as the Willows can actively participate in the mutual well-being of the land as we face <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/sdgs">social and ecological challenges</a>.</p>
<p><em>Thanks for vision and wisdom to: the Humber School of Health Sciences and the Child Development Centre, the Humber Arboretum and Centre for Urban Ecology, the Aboriginal Resource Centre, the Aboriginal Education Council and the Dean of Indigenous Education and Engagement.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Louise Zimanyi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>When parents walk in the forest with their children and us and see how children are drawn to spiral snails, together we see how connections with the land are critical for the Earth’s future.Louise Zimanyi, Candidate, Doctor of Social Sciences; Professor ECE, Royal Roads UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1069182018-11-29T19:10:39Z2018-11-29T19:10:39ZWhy daily doses of nature in the city matter for people and the planet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246450/original/file-20181120-161612-jduiq9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Brisbane's South Bank parkland isn't exactly getting out in the wild, but experiences of urban nature are important for building people's connection to all living things.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anne Cleary</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The environmental movement is shifting away from focusing solely on raising awareness about environmental issues. Many environmental agencies and organisations now also aim to connect people with nature, and <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916518811431">our new research</a> suggests daily doses of urban nature may be the key to this for the majority who live in cities. </p>
<p>Every year in the United Kingdom the <a href="https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/">Wildlife Trusts</a> run the <a href="http://mywildlife.org.uk/30DaysWild/">30 Days Wild</a> campaign. This encourages people to carry out a daily “random act of wildness” for the month of June. The <a href="https://www.iucn.org/">International Union for Conservation of Nature</a> recently launched its <a href="http://natureforall.global/">#NatureForAll</a> program, which aims to inspire a love of nature. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1063839518380433408"}"></div></p>
<p>This shift in focus is starting to appear in environmental policy. For example, the UK’s recent <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/25-year-environment-plan">25-year environment plan</a> identifies connecting people with the environment as one of its six key areas. Similarly, in Australia, the state of Victoria’s <a href="https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/biodiversity/biodiversity-plan">Biodiversity 2037</a> plan aims to connect all Victorians to nature as one of two overarching objectives. </p>
<p>The thinking behind such efforts is simple: connecting people to nature will motivate them to act in ways that protect and care for nature. <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916508318748?casa_token=bAB8nm9CBmYAAAAA%3A_xpI8bNFBZ5wx0tO_XitBwadj9MaK8d8lqKvWZxVMXl5QEktlMFy0C3NVwiBYp5oJnN0Ycx8">Evidence</a> does suggest that people who have a high nature connection are likely to display pro-environmental attitudes and behaviours. </p>
<h2>Looking beyond the park</h2>
<p>What is less clear is how to enhance an individual’s nature connection – that is feeling that they are a part of nature. Over <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS">half of all people globally</a>, and nine out of ten people in Australia, live in urban environments. This reduces their <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204616302729">opportunities to experience and connect with nature</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916518811431">Our new study</a> may offer some answers. A survey of Brisbane residents showed that people who experienced nature during childhood or had regular contact with nature in their home and suburb were more likely to report feeling connected with nature. </p>
<p>The study used a broad definition of urban nature to include all the plants and animals that live in a city. When looking to connect urban residents with local nature we need to take a broad view and look “beyond the park”. All aspects of nature in the city offer a potential opportunity for people to experience nature and develop their sense of connection to it.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246449/original/file-20181120-161615-1v36f75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246449/original/file-20181120-161615-1v36f75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246449/original/file-20181120-161615-1v36f75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246449/original/file-20181120-161615-1v36f75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246449/original/file-20181120-161615-1v36f75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246449/original/file-20181120-161615-1v36f75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246449/original/file-20181120-161615-1v36f75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246449/original/file-20181120-161615-1v36f75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Raffles Place, Singapore – all urban nature should be seen as an opportunity for nature connection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anne Cleary</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The study also looked at the relationship between childhood and adult nature experiences. Results suggest that people who lack childhood experience of nature can still come to have a high sense of nature connection by experiencing nature as an adult. </p>
<p>There have been focused efforts on connecting children to nature, such as the <a href="http://forestschools.com/">Forest Schools</a> and <a href="https://www.natureplayqld.org.au/">Nature Play</a> programs. Equal effort should be given to promoting adult nature experiences and nature connection, particularly for people who lack such experiences.</p>
<h2>The benefits of nature experience</h2>
<p>We still have much to discover about how an individual’s nature connection is shaped. We need a better understanding of how people from diverse cultural and social contexts experience and connect to different types of nature. That said, we are starting to understand the important role that frequent local experiences of nature may play. </p>
<p>In addition to boosting people’s sense of nature connection, daily <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep28551">doses of urban nature deliver the benefits of improved physical, mental and social wellbeing</a>. A <a href="http://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/environment-and-health/urban-health/publications/2016/urban-green-spaces-and-health-a-review-of-evidence-2016">growing evidence base</a> is showing that exposure to nature, particularly in urban environments, can lead to healthier and happier city dwellers. </p>
<p><a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2006.00533.x">Robert Dunn and colleagues</a> have already advocated for the importance of urban nature experiences as a way to bolster city residents’ support for conservation. They described the “pigeon paradox” whereby experiencing urban nature, which is often of low ecological value – such as interactions with non-native species – may have wider environmental benefits through people behaving in more environmentally conscious ways. They proposed that the future of conservation depended on city residents’ ability to experience urban nature. </p>
<p>As new evidence emerges we need to build on this thinking. It would seem that the future of our very connection to nature, our wellbeing and conservation depend on urban people’s ability to experience urban nature.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246445/original/file-20181120-161641-tb8ovv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246445/original/file-20181120-161641-tb8ovv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/246445/original/file-20181120-161641-tb8ovv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246445/original/file-20181120-161641-tb8ovv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246445/original/file-20181120-161641-tb8ovv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246445/original/file-20181120-161641-tb8ovv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246445/original/file-20181120-161641-tb8ovv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/246445/original/file-20181120-161641-tb8ovv.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The pigeon paradox: interactions with urban nature – here in London’s Hyde Park – may help make city dwellers more environmentally conscious.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anne Cleary</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/106918/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Cleary does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Moves to connect people with nature for both the conservation and health benefits point to the need for people to experience nature as they find it in the city, rather than only out in natural areas.Anne Cleary, Research Fellow, School of Medicine, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1028492018-10-24T11:35:57Z2018-10-24T11:35:57ZHere’s how to design cities where people and nature can both flourish<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/237686/original/file-20180924-129856-1qmsii7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">An impression of biodiversity sensitive urban design (BSUD) developed by the authors in collaboration with Mauro Baracco, Jonathan Ware and Catherine Horwill of RMIT's School of Architecture and Design.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Urban nature has a critical role to play in the <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">future liveability of cities</a>. An emerging body of research reveals that bringing nature back into our cities can deliver a truly impressive array of benefits, ranging from <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-walk-in-the-woods-really-does-help-your-body-and-your-soul-53227">health and well-being</a> to <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-planners-understand-its-cool-to-green-cities-whats-stopping-them-55753">climate change adaptation and mitigation</a>. Aside from benefits for people, cities are often hotspots for threatened species and are justifiable locations for serious investment in nature conservation for its own sake.</p>
<p>Australian cities are home to, on average, <a href="https://www.conservationmagazine.org/2016/01/threatened-species-live-in-every-australian-city/">three times as many threatened species per unit area as rural environments</a>. Yet this also means urbanisation remains one of the most destructive processes for biodiversity. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">Higher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Despite government commitments to green urban areas, vegetation cover in cities continues to decline. A recent report found that <a href="https://theconversation.com/were-investing-heavily-in-urban-greening-so-how-are-our-cities-doing-83354">greening efforts of most of our metropolitan local governments are actually going backwards</a>.</p>
<p>Current urban planning approaches typically consider biodiversity a constraint – a “problem” to be dealt with. At best, biodiversity in urban areas is “<a href="https://www.iucn.org/theme/business-and-biodiversity/our-work/business-approaches-and-tools/biodiversity-offsets">offset</a>”, often far from the site of impact. </p>
<p>This is a poor solution because it fails to provide nature in the places where people can benefit most from interacting with it. It also delivers <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-plan-to-protect-wildlife-displaced-by-the-hume-highway-has-failed-78087">questionable ecological outcomes</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ecocheck-victorias-flower-strewn-western-plains-could-be-swamped-by-development-57127">EcoCheck: Victoria's flower-strewn western plains could be swamped by development</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Building nature into the urban fabric</h2>
<p>A new approach to urban design is needed. This would treat biodiversity as an opportunity and a valued resource to be preserved and maximised at all stages of planning and design. </p>
<p>In contrast to traditional approaches to conserving urban biodiversity, biodiversity-sensitive urban design (BSUD) aims to create urban environments that make a positive <em>onsite</em> contribution to biodiversity. This involves careful planning and innovative design and architecture. BSUD seeks to build nature into the urban fabric by linking urban planning and design to the basic needs and survival of native plants and animals. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240750/original/file-20181016-165888-bm8qxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240750/original/file-20181016-165888-bm8qxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240750/original/file-20181016-165888-bm8qxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240750/original/file-20181016-165888-bm8qxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240750/original/file-20181016-165888-bm8qxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240750/original/file-20181016-165888-bm8qxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240750/original/file-20181016-165888-bm8qxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240750/original/file-20181016-165888-bm8qxg.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 1. Steps in the biodiversity sensitive urban design (BSUD) approach (click to enlarge).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>BSUD draws on ecological theory and understanding to apply five simple principles to urban design:</p>
<ol>
<li>protect and create habitat</li>
<li>help species disperse</li>
<li>minimise anthropogenic threats</li>
<li>promote ecological processes</li>
<li>encourage positive human-nature interactions.</li>
</ol>
<p>These principles are designed to address the biggest impacts of urbanisation on biodiversity. They can be applied at any scale, from individual houses (see Figure 2) to precinct-scale developments.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240903/original/file-20181016-165903-tqp2fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240903/original/file-20181016-165903-tqp2fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240903/original/file-20181016-165903-tqp2fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240903/original/file-20181016-165903-tqp2fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240903/original/file-20181016-165903-tqp2fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240903/original/file-20181016-165903-tqp2fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240903/original/file-20181016-165903-tqp2fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240903/original/file-20181016-165903-tqp2fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=524&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 2. BUSD principles applied at the scale of an individual house.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>BSUD progresses in a series of steps (see Figure 1), that urban planners and developers can use to achieve a net positive outcome for biodiversity from any development. </p>
<p>BSUD encourages biodiversity goals to be set early in the planning process, alongside social and economic targets, before stepping users through a transparent process for achieving those goals. By explicitly stating biodiversity goals (eg. enhancing the survival of species X) and how they will be measured (eg. probability of persistence), BSUD enables decision makers to make transparent decisions about alternative, testable urban designs, justified by sound science. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240906/original/file-20181016-165918-1yncvzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240906/original/file-20181016-165918-1yncvzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240906/original/file-20181016-165918-1yncvzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240906/original/file-20181016-165918-1yncvzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240906/original/file-20181016-165918-1yncvzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240906/original/file-20181016-165918-1yncvzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240906/original/file-20181016-165918-1yncvzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240906/original/file-20181016-165918-1yncvzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A striped legless lizard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CSIRO_ScienceImage_6661_Striped_legless_lizard.jpg">John Wombey, CSIRO/Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, in a hypothetical development example in western Melbourne, we were <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/conl.12411">able to demonstrate</a> that cat containment regulations were irreplaceable when designing an urban environment that would ensure the persistence of the nationally threatened striped legless lizard (Figure 3).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240905/original/file-20181016-165924-1qdn78p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240905/original/file-20181016-165924-1qdn78p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240905/original/file-20181016-165924-1qdn78p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240905/original/file-20181016-165924-1qdn78p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240905/original/file-20181016-165924-1qdn78p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240905/original/file-20181016-165924-1qdn78p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240905/original/file-20181016-165924-1qdn78p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240905/original/file-20181016-165924-1qdn78p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Figure 3. Keeping cats indoors greatly enhances other measures to protect and increase populations of the striped legless lizard.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What does a BSUD city look, feel and sound like?</h2>
<p>Biodiversity sensitive urban design represents a fundamentally different approach to conserving urban biodiversity. This is because it seeks to incorporate biodiversity into the built form, rather than restricting it to fragmented remnant habitats. In this way, it can deliver biodiversity benefits in environments not traditionally considered to be of ecological value.</p>
<p>It will also deliver significant co-benefits for cities and their residents. <a href="http://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/abs@.nsf/lookup/Media%20Release10">Two-thirds of Australians</a> now live in our capital cities. BSUD can add value to the remarkable range of benefits urban greening provides and help to deliver greener, cleaner and cooler cities, in which residents live longer and are less stressed and more productive.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-a-walk-in-the-woods-really-does-help-your-body-and-your-soul-53227">Why a walk in the woods really does help your body and your soul</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>BSUD promotes human-nature interactions and nature stewardship among city residents. It does this through <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/877602/jan-gehl-in-the-last-50-years-architects-have-forgotten-what-a-good-human-scale-is">human-scale urban design</a> such as mid-rise, courtyard-focused buildings and wide boulevard streetscapes. When compared to high-rise apartments or urban sprawl, this scale of development has been shown to deliver better liveability outcomes such as active, walkable streetscapes.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240908/original/file-20181016-165905-lxdpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240908/original/file-20181016-165905-lxdpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/240908/original/file-20181016-165905-lxdpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240908/original/file-20181016-165905-lxdpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240908/original/file-20181016-165905-lxdpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240908/original/file-20181016-165905-lxdpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240908/original/file-20181016-165905-lxdpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/240908/original/file-20181016-165905-lxdpiu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=533&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mid-rise, courtyard-focused buildings and wide boulevard streetscapes created through a biodiversity sensitive urban design approach.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Graphical representation developed by authors in collaboration with M. Baracco, C. Horwill and J. Ware, RMIT School of Architecture and Design</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By recognising and enhancing Australia’s unique biodiversity and enriching residents’ experiences with nature, we think BSUD will be important for creating a sense of place and care for Australia’s cities. BSUD can also connect urban residents with Indigenous history and culture by engaging Indigenous Australians in the planning, design, implementation and governance of urban renaturing.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-green-cities-need-to-become-a-deeply-lived-experience-65566">Why ‘green cities’ need to become a deeply lived experience</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What needs to change to achieve this vision?</h2>
<p>While the motivations for embracing this approach are compelling, the pathways to achieving this vision are not always straightforward. </p>
<p>Without careful protection of remaining natural assets, from remnant patches of vegetation to single trees, vegetation in cities can easily suffer “death by 1,000 cuts”. Planning reform is required to move away from offsetting and remove obstacles to innovation in onsite biodiversity protection and enhancement. </p>
<p>In addition, real or perceived conflicts between biodiversity and other socio-ecological concerns, such as bushfire and safety, <a href="https://theconversation.com/smart-city-planning-can-preserve-old-trees-and-the-wildlife-that-needs-them-98632">must be carefully managed</a>. Industry-based schemes such as the Green Building Council of Australia’s <a href="https://new.gbca.org.au/green-star/rating-system/">Green Star system</a> could add incentive for developers through BSUD certification. </p>
<p>Importantly, while BSUD is generating much interest, working examples are urgently required to build an evidence base for the benefits of this new approach.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102849/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Georgia Garrard works as part of the Threatened Species Recovery Hub of the National Environmental Science Program, and has received research funding from the Australian Research Council Linkage Program (LP160100324), the Australian Government and The Myer Foundation. She has also provided advice on biodiversity sensitive urban design to property developers. Georgia is a Trustee of Trust for Nature Victoria. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nicholas Williams receives funding from Hort Innovation, the Australian Research Council, City of Melbourne, Victorian Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Melbourne Water, The Myer Foundation and the National Environmental Science Program Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub. Nick is a Committee Member of Friends of Merri Creek</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Bekessy receives funding from The National Environment Science Program through the Threatened Species Recovery Hub and the Clean Air and Urban Landscapes Hub, the Australian Research Council Linkage Program (LP160100324), the Australian Government and The Myer Foundation. She is a Board member of Bush Heritage Australia. </span></em></p>Australian cities are home to many threatened species but are also where biodiversity is being destroyed by development. But what if planning and design processes built nature into the urban fabric?Georgia Garrard, Senior Research Fellow, Interdisciplinary Conservation Science Research Group, RMIT UniversityNicholas Williams, Associate Professor in Urban Ecology and Urban Horticulture, The University of MelbourneSarah Bekessy, Professor, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/996762018-07-18T19:29:08Z2018-07-18T19:29:08ZDo ‘screaming children’ in playgrounds ruin neighbourhood parks?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228135/original/file-20180718-44091-xgbrgc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Noise pollution is usually associated with aeroplanes flying overhead, not happy children.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a fine winter morning and you’ve just made a cup of tea. You’re warming your hands around the mug and gazing at the trees behind your house that sway as birds hop along the branches. </p>
<p>Then suddenly, a shrill scream: “Oliver, no! That’s <em>my</em> hat.”</p>
<p>This is what some residents of Mount Eliza, on Victoria’s Mornington Peninsula, <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/victoria/no-screaming-kids-mount-eliza-residents-rise-up-against-new-playground-20180702-p4zp24.html">fear will happen</a> if a community park with a playground is installed in their neighbourhood. It’s not the first time locals have complained of childhood screams in nearby playgrounds, with <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/a-screaming-success-with-children-but-locals-hate-new-park-20110729-1i46o.html">similar battles</a> around the country pitching parents against more elderly residents.</p>
<p>The proposal in Mornington was made by the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Mt-Eliza-Woodland-Residents-Association-Inc-299839280032961/">Mt Eliza Woodland Residents Association</a>. They wish to turn a vacant strip of trees and lawn between private yards into a community park. They say this would provide a meeting place and playground for locals while retaining the trees on the site. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-architects-can-learn-from-designing-with-children-29664">What architects can learn from designing with children</a>
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<p>Most responses on the association’s Facebook group are positive, but others paint pictures of narrow streets clogged with parking and “loud, screaming, noisy children” who will disturb the otherwise peaceful area. So, what does evidence show people want from their local park, and are childhood screams really a source of much neighbourhood unhappiness?</p>
<h2>Playgrounds, parks and noise</h2>
<p>Like so many residential areas, much of the Mornington Peninsula has been <a href="http://www.mornpen.vic.gov.au/files/b81e450c-d2c6-4813-b90e-a48a00f54425/Mornington_Peninsula_Biodiversity_-_Survey_and_Research_Highlights.pdf">cleared for development</a> and agriculture since European settlement. But this proposed park would conserve trees. </p>
<p>Parks do come with their own problems. In other parts of Melbourne <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/tarneit-park-trashed-while-the-west-tries-to-stop-gang-crime-20171229-p4yy3e.html">teenagers have trashed facilities and committed crimes in parks</a>, but <a href="https://www.facebook.com/Mt-Eliza-Woodland-Residents-Association-Inc-299839280032961/">concerned Mount Eliza residents</a> did not mention teenagers. The complaints instead focus on having “<a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/no-screaming-kids-mount-eliza-residents-rise-up-against-new-playground-20180702-p4zp24.html">screaming kids</a>” in the playground.</p>
<p>While <a href="https://www.science.org.au/curious/earth-environment/health-effects-environmental-noise-pollution">noise can be a source of stress</a>, noise pollution is usually associated with heavy traffic, construction and aircraft noise – not happy children. A study of <a href="http://www.ingentaconnect.com/search/article?option2=author&value2=Guastavino%2c+Catherine&pageSize=10&index=4">soundscapes in France</a> found people had positive associations with sounds made by children, but negative responses to the sounds of angry people. This suggests that as long as the children in the playground are not angry, the impact on neighbours might not be as bad as feared.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228138/original/file-20180718-19965-fmq7ug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228138/original/file-20180718-19965-fmq7ug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228138/original/file-20180718-19965-fmq7ug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228138/original/file-20180718-19965-fmq7ug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228138/original/file-20180718-19965-fmq7ug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228138/original/file-20180718-19965-fmq7ug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228138/original/file-20180718-19965-fmq7ug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228138/original/file-20180718-19965-fmq7ug.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Research shows people generally have a positive response to the sounds of children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/ajY31ULBU2M">Annie Spratt/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There isn’t much evidence about the negative impacts of playgrounds. In our yet-to-be-published research, we conducted focus groups to explore what people wanted from a park. We unexpectedly found many people emphasised the importance of providing access to parks for children. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mud-pies-and-green-spaces-why-children-do-better-when-they-can-get-outdoors-43151">Mud pies and green spaces – why children do better when they can get outdoors</a>
</strong>
</em>
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<p>Participants in all cities described taking their nieces and nephews, students or their own children to parks to experience a safe, natural environment. One reason given was that spending time in natural areas, such as parks, encourages an understanding that plants grow and non-human life exists.</p>
<p>A second rationale for providing parks was to help children develop a connection with nature. One participant said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If you’ve got a bit of wilderness near to you, kids can go and look at that and experience that themselves.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Parks serve a variety of needs</h2>
<p>Appreciating or feeling a connection with nature is a remedy for “<a href="http://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/">nature deficit disorder</a>” – US author Richard Louv’s term for the perceived disconnect between modern children and the natural environment. In our focus group discussions, being connected to nature was not something that could be taught, but “something you feel from experiencing it”.</p>
<p>The park could mitigate any potential negative effects of the playground. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2872309/">Nature sounds</a> have been found to help people recover from stress. Other research has found spending time in, or even just <a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-siestas-green-micro-breaks-could-boost-work-productivity-42356">glancing at</a>, vegetated areas or <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11252-014-0427-3">green spaces</a> has a restorative effect. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/green-for-wellbeing-science-tells-us-how-to-design-urban-spaces-that-heal-us-82437">Green for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us</a>
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<p>In a survey of residents in Melbourne and other large cities, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11252-017-0702-1">our research</a> found that the presence of vegetation supports human well-being. Participants reported feeling “free and restored around nature”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228139/original/file-20180718-19961-1u6ydfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228139/original/file-20180718-19961-1u6ydfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/228139/original/file-20180718-19961-1u6ydfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228139/original/file-20180718-19961-1u6ydfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228139/original/file-20180718-19961-1u6ydfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228139/original/file-20180718-19961-1u6ydfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228139/original/file-20180718-19961-1u6ydfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/228139/original/file-20180718-19961-1u6ydfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People use parks for all sorts of reasons, including picnics and exercise.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is not always nature that people visit parks to experience. In surveying park visitors in large cities of Australia and New Zealand, we found that different people value different aspects of parks at different times. Some park visitors were there to be outside or in nature, but others were there for a picnic with family or friends, to exercise, or to avoid a busy road on their way to work. Rather than being a single solution to any group’s needs, a park should offer options.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/vanishing-australian-backyards-leave-us-vulnerable-to-the-stresses-of-city-life-81479">Vanishing Australian backyards leave us vulnerable to the stresses of city life</a>
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<p>The Mount Eliza land in question is a decent-sized block, more than 5000m² – or ten tennis courts. Positioning the meeting places and playgrounds away from nearby houses, perhaps closer to the access point along the road or next to the neighbouring property’s tennis court, might minimise sound transfer. </p>
<p>A playground and community meeting space is just as much about offering a space to parents as it is a facility for young children. The benefits of enabling access to the natural space for everyone far outweigh any potential inconveniences, and the park could be a positive investment for all residents current and future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/99676/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dieter Hochuli receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the Sydney Policy Lab. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Parks should service a variety of needs, not just cater to one group of people.Lucy Taylor, Doctoral Candidate in Urban Ecology, University of SydneyDieter Hochuli, Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/886422018-03-07T19:24:46Z2018-03-07T19:24:46ZBuilding a ‘second nature’ into our cities: wildness, art and biophilic design<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207597/original/file-20180223-152379-17gdhrv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The plantings of New York's High Line Park were inspired by plants that had naturally colonised the disused railway viaduct.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Line#/media/File:High_Line_20th_Street_looking_downtown.jpg">Beyond my Ken/Wikipedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.biophilicdesign.net/">Biophilic design</a> is beginning to boom. Witness its recent incorporation into the <a href="https://www.thefifthestate.com.au/innovation/building-construction/melbournes-trains-may-soon-glide-into-new-biophilic-precincts">Melbourne Metro project</a> and Sydney’s award-winning <a href="https://www.centralparksydney.com/live/sold-out/one-central-park">One Central Park, Chippendale</a>. Given the increasing popularity of this urban design technique, it’s time to take a closer look at the meaning of nature and its introduction into our cities. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-green-cities-need-to-become-a-deeply-lived-experience-65566">Why ‘green cities’ need to become a deeply lived experience</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Biophilia</h2>
<p>Nature is good for our mental well-being, numerous <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4157607/">scientific studies</a> tell us. This flood of research begins in 1984 with <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674074422&content=reviews">E.O. Wilson’s biophilia</a> hypothesis, in which he hypothesises a gene that necessities our love of life and life-like processes. However, a genetic basis for biophilia has not been <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/biophilia-hypothesis">identified</a>, and the value of a genetic argument for our attraction to nature has been <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/40603309">questioned</a>. </p>
<p>More recently, theorists have broadened the definition of biophilia to encompass the benefits of <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=p6x_Gi-aMP0C&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=human-nature+interaction+kahn+biophilia&source=bl&ots=F6H2it6IwA&sig=btQ7_BRg4fdtfm0awrTwUhHGFNs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi1veXesYbZAhVC5rwKHTHBArsQ6AEIWDAI#v=onepage&q=human-nature%20interaction%20kahn%20biophilia&f=false">human-nature interaction</a>. And it seems governments and industry are listening. Cities everywhere are <a href="https://www.citylab.com/solutions/2017/05/barcelona-green-urban-forest-climate-plan/526998/">embracing the change</a>. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/biophilic-urbanism-how-rooftop-gardening-soothes-souls-76789">Biophilic urbanism: how rooftop gardening soothes souls</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<h2>Biophobia</h2>
<p>I’ve spoken to numerous city dwellers over the years who tell me they find nature unsettling, if not terrifying. It’s mainly the isolation and silence they find overwhelming, particularly if they have spent their life in densely populated cities such as New York or Hong Kong. This sensation is captured by the term <a href="https://www.britannica.com/science/biophilia-hypothesis#ref1090174">biophobia</a>, a fear of nature. </p>
<p>While biophilia theorists acknowledge biophobia, it is rare to find this reflected in the work of biophilic designers whose work risks downplaying the <a href="http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674034853">complex ways in which we experience</a> nature. After all, the feel-good message of biophilia is an easy sell. But if we can both love and fear nature we should ask ourselves: what is the source of these powerful emotional responses? And is the introduction of biota and abiota the only way we can elicit such experiences? </p>
<h2>Art and nature</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057/9781137387189_5.pdf">philosopher Henri Lefebvre</a> called the city a “second nature”. Given that every aspect of our cities, including ourselves, originated in what we refer to as nature this makes perfect sense. More obscurely, Lefebvre <a href="https://monoskop.org/images/7/75/Lefebvre_Henri_The_Production_of_Space.pdf">writes</a> that in the creation of second nature we should produce “urban space, both as a product and as a work, in the sense in which art created works”.</p>
<p>To understand this we must consider the question: how <em>does</em> art make works? We might say that every artwork is unique in its making – no two artworks (assuming we don’t consider reproductions to be artworks) are the same. Similarly, nature’s creations are distinct: <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2007/02/070213-snowflake_2.html">no two snowflakes are the same</a>, every dawn is different etc. </p>
<p>In the creation of a second nature, Lefebvre challenges us to produce cities just as art produces work, so that our built environment might be as diverse as nature. Therefore, the production of a second nature is as much the responsibility of art as it is of design and architecture. If we are to create urban spaces rich in creative expression, then we should embrace this insight as much as possible.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207600/original/file-20180223-152360-h7pgz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207600/original/file-20180223-152360-h7pgz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207600/original/file-20180223-152360-h7pgz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207600/original/file-20180223-152360-h7pgz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207600/original/file-20180223-152360-h7pgz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207600/original/file-20180223-152360-h7pgz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207600/original/file-20180223-152360-h7pgz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207600/original/file-20180223-152360-h7pgz6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">There is scope for art in the expression of wildness.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pxhere.com/en/photo/1194135">pxhere.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A challenge to the creation of a second nature is to contend with the rules, regulations and controls of city bureaucracies that struggle to make room for creativity. Under these conditions, nature as introduced by biophilic designers is more likely to be applied as a functional agent, manicured and arranged, utilised for the production of more <a href="https://www.robertsoncooper.com/blog/entry/biophilia-how-the-natural-world-can-enrich-your-office-and-engage-your-staff">efficient</a> workers and <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-for-wellbeing-science-tells-us-how-to-design-urban-spaces-that-heal-us-82437">stress-free</a> urban dwellers. But is it the purpose of nature to service such functional needs?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/green-for-wellbeing-science-tells-us-how-to-design-urban-spaces-that-heal-us-82437">Green for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us</a>
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<h2>Celebrating wildness</h2>
<p>Wildness – a derivative of wilderness – is a term familiar to biophilia theorists. For instance, <a href="https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.5822/978-1-59726-986-5_1">Timothy Beatley</a> talks about the wildness of nature bursting through the cracks of the urban. New York’s High Line <a href="http://www.greenroofs.com/content/articles/142-A-Comparison-of-the-3-Phases-of-the-High-Line-NYC-Part-13.htm#.WnZr5rZ97RY">self-seeded landscape</a> is a rare celebration of such growth, usually considered unkempt areas of the urban. Even Wilson, an epitome of scientific reductionism and mechanistic thought, <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=Ks7xCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA22&lpg=PA22&dq=kahn+wilson+spirit+biophilia&source=bl&ots=ql3Zo89MaW&sig=OR9ItNhzRHo8eAZMz5uvrEc5Bk0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiNi6mNo4bZAhUJXrwKHVSpDyoQ6AEIQTAJ#v=onepage&q&f=false">speaks of a “spirit”</a> interwoven between nature and ourselves, which must be preserved.</p>
<p>So, what is this spirit, this wildness we crave when we speak of nature? I would speculate that this wildness, or spirit, celebrated by biophilic theorists is the very same experience that sometimes terrifies our city dweller. It is the uncontrollable force of nature – always striving to exist, enabling it to <a href="http://www.ciclover.com/fielding.html">appear everywhere</a> and stirring our senses into states of wonder and awe.</p>
<p>In the creation of second nature, we should acknowledge that art has an equally powerful role to play in producing wildness. For instance, well-executed public art can be a source of <a href="https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/anish-kapoor-cloud-gate-artist-i-call-it-the-bean-too/">wonder</a>, <a href="http://massmoca.org/event/bruce-odland-sam-auinger-harmonic-bridge/">imagination</a>, <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/146392/serpentine-gallery-pavilion-2011-peter-zumthor">contemplation</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/let-cities-speak-reclaiming-a-place-for-community-with-sounds-76998">transformation</a>. These are all experiences valued by biophilic practitioners.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207602/original/file-20180223-152369-u9ol1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207602/original/file-20180223-152369-u9ol1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/207602/original/file-20180223-152369-u9ol1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207602/original/file-20180223-152369-u9ol1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207602/original/file-20180223-152369-u9ol1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=300&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207602/original/file-20180223-152369-u9ol1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207602/original/file-20180223-152369-u9ol1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/207602/original/file-20180223-152369-u9ol1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in London integrates elements of public art and nature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/groume/7850205546/">Groume/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/let-cities-speak-reclaiming-a-place-for-community-with-sounds-76998">Let cities speak: reclaiming a place for community with sounds</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Towards second nature</h2>
<p>We should encourage the growth of biophilic design in our cities. But if the nature we desire is, in fact, its expression as untamed wildness, then we should turn to art as much as we do to the elements of the natural world when designing and building our cities. Emerging infrastructure projects should consider the role of artists in directing human experience towards an urban wildness, which celebrates the creativity of nature. </p>
<p>Let’s build cities that celebrate the wild, not just efficiency and productivity.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Lacey has previously received funding from The City of Melbourne, ABC Radio National, Transurban Group and The City of Casey.</span></em></p>If the nature we desire is, in fact, its expression as untamed wildness, then we should turn to the creativity of artists as well as urban designers when building our cities.Jordan Lacey, Research Fellow, Architecture & Design, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/856752017-10-31T19:05:46Z2017-10-31T19:05:46ZCan virtual nature and poo transplants solve city dwellers’ health problems?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192156/original/file-20171027-13319-1b9u69v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It's now possible to experience virtual walks through nature – like this video, for example – but can that ever match the real thing? </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cT9qNHQ9Mek">Video screenshot, sounds from the core/YouTube</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Nature is <a href="http://images.slideplayer.com/39/10836217/slides/slide_4.jpg">good for your health</a>. Perhaps predictably, the world of technology is now offering technical solutions that seek to replace the need for authentic nature experiences. But can innovations like poo transplants and virtual nature capture the deeper well-being that a connection to nature can deliver? </p>
<p>Nature comprehensively enhances the urban environments most of us live in. Its benefits include improving air quality, reducing nuisance noise and creating shady spots to escape hot weather. </p>
<p>Green spaces also encourage walking and outdoor activities, and provide useful places for people to socialise. Spending time in nature is a great way to simply rest and relax, providing some respite from our busy and crowded cities.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/green-for-wellbeing-science-tells-us-how-to-design-urban-spaces-that-heal-us-82437">Green for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us</a></em></p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191254/original/file-20171021-13948-10os1wf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191254/original/file-20171021-13948-10os1wf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191254/original/file-20171021-13948-10os1wf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191254/original/file-20171021-13948-10os1wf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191254/original/file-20171021-13948-10os1wf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191254/original/file-20171021-13948-10os1wf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191254/original/file-20171021-13948-10os1wf.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Urban nature areas are inviting places for people to socialise and relax.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anne Cleary</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Boosting our immune system</h2>
<p>Recent research shows that being outdoors in nature <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1630/abstract">boosts our immune systems</a>. Exposure to good bacteria in nature encourages diverse and healthy communities of bacteria in our guts. Some experts argue this is the <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2015.01093/full">main way</a> that nature enhances our health and well-being. </p>
<p>But do we really need nature for healthy immune systems? Isn’t there a pill for that? </p>
<p>Well, yes actually. <a href="https://theconversation.com/poo-transplants-beyond-the-yuck-factor-what-works-what-doesnt-and-what-we-still-dont-know-82265">Poo transplants</a>, or faecal microbiota transplantations, have emerged as a promising medical solution for enhancing the human microbiome. By swallowing a capsule of someone else’s poo, beneficial bacteria can be safely delivered to the recipient’s gut. No nature needed.</p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/poo-transplants-beyond-the-yuck-factor-what-works-what-doesnt-and-what-we-still-dont-know-82265">Poo transplants beyond the yuck factor: what works, what doesn’t and what we still don’t know</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Restoring our mental health</h2>
<p>Living in cities is draining. Nature can combat mental ill-health by reducing stress and <a href="http://www.apa.org/monitor/apr01/greengood.aspx">restoring our ability to concentrate</a>. The rhythms, patterns and sounds of nature effortlessly captivate and fascinate us. This allows our brain to escape the everyday distractions that demand and exhaust our “attention”.</p>
<p>But finding easily accessible nature, and the time to spend in it, can be a challenge. Today’s busy, urban lifestyles leave little time for much else. </p>
<p>The increasing sophistication and reducing costs of virtual reality technology may offer a solution. Ten minutes exploring a virtual forest <a href="http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/pdf/10.1089/cyber.2009.0308">reduces stress and increases happiness</a>. As virtual reality systems become more widespread these may provide a convenient way of getting our daily “nature fix”.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0H9lbH1khDE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A virtual nature walk through an Australian forest.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/virtual-reality-brings-new-dimension-to-conservation-57291">Virtual reality brings new dimension to conservation</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>Is this really the nature we need?</h2>
<p>Given the growing health woes associated with urban living, technological approaches could be an important part of the arsenal of solutions we need to reconnect people to nature and its health benefits. </p>
<p>In nature-deprived areas, virtual nature may be the only nature accessible to people. High-security prison inmates who <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fee.1518/abstract">watch nature videos</a> report feeling less irritable and committed 26% fewer violent infractions. Poo pills may be similarly useful for astronauts and submariners. </p>
<p>However, these solutions are based on a narrow medical model: diagnosing and treating illness. This neglects the important role that nature plays in illness prevention, health promotion and greater well-being. Nature experiences are critical to the social, cultural, emotional and spiritual health of many communities and societies. </p>
<p>People who feel connected to nature tend to have <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204616302237">greater psychological wellbeing</a>. This can help foster thriving communities by underpinning a sense of achievement, personal growth and life purpose. Our connectedness to nature may be an important part of living a happy and meaningful life.</p>
<p>And urban nature is multifunctional. It provides many other benefits that can contribute more holistically to good health. Green space can help cool cities, slow peak stormwater flows and reduce air pollution. This can contribute enormously to reducing chronic and acute health burdens. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191255/original/file-20171021-13940-1vpxsyu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/191255/original/file-20171021-13940-1vpxsyu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191255/original/file-20171021-13940-1vpxsyu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191255/original/file-20171021-13940-1vpxsyu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191255/original/file-20171021-13940-1vpxsyu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191255/original/file-20171021-13940-1vpxsyu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/191255/original/file-20171021-13940-1vpxsyu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Urban nature provides a calming respite from our busy and crowded cities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anne Cleary</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Specific kinds of nature, such as community and residential gardens, can provide fresh food and are a great source of physical activity for millions if not billions of people. Sports fields and linear green spaces (such as creek corridors) promote active recreation. </p>
<p>Green spaces are also places where people walk their dogs and meet other people. Beyond health, urban nature is habitat for many kinds of plants and animals, and is increasingly recognised for its <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.12404/abstract">role in biodiversity conservation</a>. </p>
<p>Interest in the health benefits of nature is growing rapidly. As we seek to harness the health-promoting potential of nature, we must be careful not to be tempted to focus only on “quick fixes”. Doing this neglects the importance of our human connection to nature – and the many different benefits that urban nature provides.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/85675/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dave Kendal receives funding from Australian Research Council, the City of Melbourne, the SA Heart Foundation, Melbourne Water and the Royal Botanic Gardens Melbourne. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne Cleary does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Faecal transplants and virtual nature are technological solutions to ‘nature deficit disorder’ from urban living. Such ‘quick fixes’ offer some benefits, but are no substitute for the real thing.Anne Cleary, Nature and Health PhD Candidate, School of Medicine, Griffith UniversityDave Kendal, Research Fellow, School of Ecosystem and Forest Sciences and the Clean Air and Urban Landscape hub of the National Environmental Science Program, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/824372017-08-27T20:06:26Z2017-08-27T20:06:26ZGreen for wellbeing – science tells us how to design urban spaces that heal us<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182686/original/file-20170820-20193-119sgr9.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Generic plotting of 'green space' on an urban plan does not target mental wellbeing unless it is designed to engage us with the sights, sounds and smells of nature.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>One in five Australians will <a href="https://www.beyondblue.org.au/about-us/research-projects/statistics-and-references?sec=sec-dep">suffer from a mental health issue this year</a> and living in a city makes it far more likely. <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19624573">Research shows</a> that city dwellers have a 20% higher chance of suffering anxiety and an almost 40% greater likelihood of developing depression.</p>
<p>Promisingly, however, research has also found that people in urban areas who live closest to the greatest “green space” are significantly less likely to <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23587672">suffer poor mental health</a>.</p>
<p>Urban designers thus have a significant role to play in lowering these rates of mental illness, and the data on how nature affects our brains are central to changing the ways we design. As depression is the <a href="http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs369/en/">world’s biggest cause of disability</a>, we cannot afford to ignore the impact of public environments on mental health. </p>
<p>Multiple stressors associated with city living <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21697947">have been shown</a> to increase activity in the parts of the brain corresponding to the “flight or fight” response. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/vanishing-australian-backyards-leave-us-vulnerable-to-the-stresses-of-city-life-81479">Vanishing Australian backyards leave us vulnerable to the stresses of city life</a></em></p>
<hr>
<p>How does exposure to nature reduce these stresses? There are <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Roger_Ulrich4/publication/254315158_Visual_Landscapes_and_Psychological_Well-Being/links/0c96053a3fe7796728000000/Visual-Landscapes-and-Psychological-Well-Being.pdf">two enduring theories</a> on how nature affects the brain. Both are based on nature having a restorative effect on <a href="http://www.natureandforesttherapy.org/uploads/8/1/4/4/8144400/_the_restorative_environmnetkaplan-1992.pdf">cognitive and emotional function</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182680/original/file-20170820-21088-1era70l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hyde Park, Perth, allows for an immersive ‘escape’ from the urban world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It is not emptiness or quiet, however, that has the effect. Nature in its messy, <a href="https://www.cabdirect.org/cabdirect/abstract/20143219914">wild</a>, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20600971">loud</a>, diverse, animal-inhabited glory has the most impact on restoring a stressed mind to a calm and alert state. This provides a more complete sense of “escape” from the urban world, however brief.</p>
<p>This idea is not new, nor is it surprising. Many people seek out nature to restore wellbeing, and multiple disciplines have sought to measure these restorative effects.</p>
<p>The result is more than 40 years of research quantifying specific neurological, cognitive, emotional and physiological effects of “nature” elements. These effects include increased calm and rumination, decreased agitation and aggression, and increased cognitive functioning – such as concentration, memory and creative thought. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/biophilic-urbanism-how-rooftop-gardening-soothes-souls-76789">Biophilic urbanism: how rooftop gardening soothes souls</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>A neglected resource for urban design</h2>
<p>This wealth of data has been largely overlooked in driving good urban design. </p>
<p>Much of this can be attributed to the data being siloed into scientific disciplines separate from design. All use different languages and are often hidden behind academic journal paywalls. </p>
<p>Also significant is the complexity of mental health issues. This makes it difficult to draw conclusions on environmental effects. To use this data required first a meta-analysis of these methodologies and outcomes, and my own interpretation of how the data applied specifically to urban design. </p>
<p>There are some notable conclusions. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182685/original/file-20170820-7961-1gmnoko.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">This pedestrian and bike path in Perth is unlikely to maximise the benefits of green space.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ol>
<li><p>Different natural elements can induce different benefits. This means generic design plotting of “green space” on an urban plan, however aesthetically pleasing, does not specifically target mental wellbeing. </p></li>
<li><p>Time plays a significant role. There is no point having great green spaces if these do not provide good reason or opportunity to linger long enough to experience the restorative benefits. </p></li>
<li><p>How you engage with your environment matters. Results differ depending on whether the user is observing, listening, or exercising in the space. Taking these variables into account can produce a vast combination of design scenarios.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>For example, despite the many studies on the <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02827580902903341">restorative effects of forests</a>, these are not the most accessible option for most city-dwellers. Urban parks are an alternative, but creative, natural interventions in urban spaces that encourage incidental interaction with green space can also produce much benefit. </p>
<p>Much has been written about how <a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0013916508319745">walking or exercising</a> in green spaces seems to amplify the effects on the brain of viewing nature. Indeed, as little as five minutes of <a href="http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es903183r">“green exercise”</a> can produce these benefits. </p>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/higher-density-cities-need-greening-to-stay-healthy-and-liveable-75840">Higher-density cities need greening to stay healthy and liveable</a></em></p>
<hr>
<h2>What’s wrong with existing green spaces?</h2>
<p>Many urban parks and green spaces – particularly in residential areas – are unimaginative, repetitive and lack basic elements to evoke these references to nature. Nor do they encourage walking or enjoying the natural elements for any length of time. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182678/original/file-20170820-22783-qnivpu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A typical reserve in Perth, Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182679/original/file-20170820-760-aa5vdh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A residential footpath and verge in Perth, Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, paths without shade or protection do not encourage walks long enough to achieve benefits. A lack of landscape diversity does little to activate fascination or interest, and fails to offer incentive to visit them, especially given the ways in which parks can be separated from their surroundings. </p>
<p>In an attempt to create spaces to serve function, such as ensuring enough turf for a game of football, much biodiversity has been removed, thus also removing the sights, sounds and smells needed for an immersive, <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17504734">multi-sensory experience</a>. This applies equally to many suburban footpaths and residential streets.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/182684/original/file-20170820-7961-57uywd.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A suburban residential street in Perth, Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Zoe Myers, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>When urban design gets it right</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183018/original/file-20170822-30538-ucki0w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=659&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Septuagesimo Uno Pocket Park, Manhattan.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">'Jim Henderson, Atlas Obscura'</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Compare this to urban areas that employ creative uses of incidental nature to capture attention and offer genuine interaction. </p>
<p>Successful parks and urban green spaces encourage us to linger, to rest, to walk for longer. That, in turn, provides the time to maximise restorative mental benefits. </p>
<p>Urban design’s role in shaping our cities is becoming less about the design of physical spaces and more about extracting principles that can be applied to urban spaces in ways specifically tailored to context, site, region and climate.</p>
<p>This means urban design can have a real impact on mental wellbeing, but we need to look outside our discipline for data to make it effective.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/183014/original/file-20170822-22197-awnayk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Tokyo road reserve.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">from Tokyo DIY Gardening</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p><em><strong>Further reading:</strong> <a href="https://theconversation.com/greening-cities-makes-for-safer-neighbourhoods-62093">Greening cities makes for safer neighbourhoods</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/82437/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zoe Myers does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Successful parks and urban green spaces encourage us to linger, to rest, to walk for longer. That, in turn, provides the time to maximise the restorative mental benefits.Zoe Myers, Research Associate, Australian Urban Design Research Centre, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/720782017-03-15T03:59:23Z2017-03-15T03:59:23ZContested spaces: saving nature when our beaches have gone to the dogs<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160086/original/image-20170308-24179-dflmw8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Early in the morning and late in the evening is when shorebirds escape disturbance on the beaches on which their survival depends.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://pixabay.com/en/seagulls-gulls-shore-birds-beach-241953/">Arnuchulo</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>This is the ninth article in our <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">Contested Spaces</a> series. These pieces look at the conflicting uses, expectations and norms that people bring to public spaces, the clashes that result and how we can resolve these.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>There’s no doubt about it, Australians love the beach. And why not? Being outdoors <a href="http://www.nature.com/articles/srep28551">makes us happy</a>, and all <a href="https://theconversation.com/contested-spaces-we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches-72265">beaches are public places</a> in Australia.</p>
<p>Head to a beach like Bondi on Christmas Day and you’ll share that space with more than 40,000 people. But we aren’t just jostling with each other for coveted beach space. Scuttling, waddling, hopping or flying away from beachgoers all around Australia are crabs, shorebirds, baby turtles, crocodiles, fairy penguins and even dingoes. </p>
<p>Beaches are home to an incredible array of animals, and sharing this busy space with people is critical to their survival. But, if we find it hard to share our beaches <a href="https://theconversation.com/contested-spaces-we-shall-fight-on-the-beaches-72265">with each other</a>, how can we possibly find space for nature on our beaches? </p>
<h2>Beach birds</h2>
<p>Here’s a classic example of how hard it is to share our beaches with nature. Head to a busy beach at dawn, before the crowds arrive, and you will most likely see a number of small birds darting about. </p>
<p>You may recognise them from the short movie <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGsoNm86nD8">Piper</a> – they are shorebirds. As the day progresses, swimmers, kite surfers, dog walkers, horse riders, 4x4s and children descend upon the beach en masse, unwittingly disturbing the shorebirds.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/e7v2zDZBf6g?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">We share beaches with an extraordinary array of life, including many shorebirds.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Unlike seabirds, shorebirds do not spend their life at sea. Instead, they specialise on the beach: foraging for their invertebrate prey, avoiding waves, or resting. </p>
<p>However, shorebird numbers in Australia are <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/MU/MU15056">declining very rapidly</a>. Several species are officially listed as nationally threatened, such as the critically endangered <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=847">Eastern Curlew</a>.</p>
<p>There are few places you can let your dog run for as long and as far as it pleases, which is one of the reasons beaches appeal to dog owners. But this disturbance results in heavy costs to the birds as they expend energy taking flight and cannot return to favourable feeding areas. Repeated disturbance can cause temporary or permanent abandonment of suitable habitat. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160088/original/image-20170308-24226-avq9ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160088/original/image-20170308-24226-avq9ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160088/original/image-20170308-24226-avq9ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160088/original/image-20170308-24226-avq9ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160088/original/image-20170308-24226-avq9ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=679&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160088/original/image-20170308-24226-avq9ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160088/original/image-20170308-24226-avq9ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160088/original/image-20170308-24226-avq9ze.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=854&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The world’s largest shorebirds, Eastern Curlews are critically endangered – and Australia is home to about 75% of them over summer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/dhobern/15847904525/in/photolist-aEowdB-5fqeJk-D2MpGg-naot7x-diwQ95-dKdPZo-nao9fX-qDajny-gDs6MR-h4TcLF-pS1mit-q9qDTc-Ds1wFZ-CCToKr-bmFewo">Donald Hobern/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The fascinating thing about many of these shorebirds is that they are migratory. Beachgoers in Korea, China, Indonesia or New Zealand could observe the same individual bird that we have seen in Australia. </p>
<p>Yet these journeys come at a cost. Shorebirds must undertake gruelling flights of up to 16,000 kilometres twice a year to get from their breeding grounds in Siberia and Alaska to their feeding grounds in Australia and New Zealand. In their pursuit of an endless summer, they arrive in Australia severely weakened by their travels. They must almost double their body weight before they can migrate again.</p>
<p>And these birds must contend with significant daily disruption on their feeding grounds. A <a href="onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12662/abstract">recent study in Queensland</a> found an average of 174 people and 72 dogs were present at any one time on the foreshore of Moreton Bay, along Brisbane’s coastline. And 84% of dogs were off the leash – an off-leash dog was sighted every 700 metres – in potential contravention of <a href="https://www.npsr.qld.gov.au/parks/moreton-bay/about.html">regulations on dog control</a>. </p>
<h2>Managing the menagerie</h2>
<p>One conservation approach is to set up nature reserves. This involves trying to keep people out of large areas of the coastal zone to provide a home for nature. Yet this rarely works in practice on beaches, where there are so many overlapping jurisdictions (for example, councils often don’t control the lower areas of the intertidal zone) that <a href="http://www.publish.csiro.au/mu/MU15046">protection is rarely joined up</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160091/original/image-20170309-24182-1akelhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160091/original/image-20170309-24182-1akelhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160091/original/image-20170309-24182-1akelhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160091/original/image-20170309-24182-1akelhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160091/original/image-20170309-24182-1akelhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160091/original/image-20170309-24182-1akelhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160091/original/image-20170309-24182-1akelhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160091/original/image-20170309-24182-1akelhs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The beach-nesting Hooded Plover is unique to Australia where it is listed as vulnerable (and critically endangered in NSW).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hooded_Plover_-_Phillip_Is_-_Victoria.jpg">Francesco Veronesi/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160078/original/image-20170308-24201-13o3hf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160078/original/image-20170308-24201-13o3hf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160078/original/image-20170308-24201-13o3hf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160078/original/image-20170308-24201-13o3hf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160078/original/image-20170308-24201-13o3hf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160078/original/image-20170308-24201-13o3hf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160078/original/image-20170308-24201-13o3hf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160078/original/image-20170308-24201-13o3hf7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hooded_Plover_eggs444.jpg">Benjamint444/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>However, <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12662/abstract">our work</a> at the University of Queensland shows we don’t need conservation reserves in which people are kept out. Quite the reverse. We should be much bolder in opening up areas that are specifically designated as dog off-leash zones, in places where demand for recreation is high.</p>
<p>In the case of Moreton Bay, 97% of foraging migratory shorebirds could be protected from disturbance simply by designating five areas as off-leash recreation zones. Currently, dogs must be kept under close control throughout the intertidal areas of Moreton Bay.</p>
<p>By zoning our beaches carefully, the science tells us that the most intense recreational activities can be located away from critical areas for nature. And there’s no reason why this logic couldn’t be extended to creating peaceful zones for beach users who prefer a quiet day out.</p>
<p>By approaching the problem scientifically, we can meet recreational demand as well as protect nature. Proper enforcement of the boundaries between zones is needed. Such enforcement is effective when carried out in the <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.12606/abstract">right places at the right time</a>.</p>
<p>We believe that keeping people and their dogs off beaches to protect nature is neither desirable nor effective. It sends totally the wrong message – successful conservation is about living alongside nature, not separating ourselves from it. </p>
<p>Conservationists and recreationists should be natural allies, both working to safeguard our beautiful coasts. The key is to find ways that people and nature can co-exist on beaches.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can find other pieces published in the series <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/contested-spaces-36316">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72078/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Madeleine Stigner received funding for the work referred to in this article from Birds Queensland and the Queensland Wader Study Group Nigel Roberts Student Research Fund. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kiran Dhanjal-Adams received funding for the work referred to in this article from the Centre of Excellence in Environmental Decisions, the Australian Research Council, Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, the Queensland Wader Study Group, the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd, the Goodman Foundation and Birdlife Australia’s Stuart Leslie Award. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Richard Fuller received funding for the work referred to in this article from the National Environmental Science Programme's Threatened Species Recovery Hub, the Australian Research Council, Queensland Department of Environment and Heritage Protection, the Commonwealth Department of the Environment, the Queensland Wader Study Group, the Port of Brisbane Pty Ltd, the Goodman Foundation and Birdlife Australia’s Stuart Leslie Award.</span></em></p>We aren’t just jostling with each other for beach space. Scuttling, waddling, hopping or flying away from beachgoers all around Australia, wildlife struggles to survive the daily disturbances.Madeleine Stigner, Research assistant, The University of QueenslandKiran Dhanjal-Adams, Research Associate Ecological Modeller, UK Centre for Ecology & HydrologyRichard Fuller, Associate Professor in Biodiversity and Conservation, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/655662016-10-03T19:15:36Z2016-10-03T19:15:36ZWhy ‘green cities’ need to become a deeply lived experience<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139509/original/image-20160928-30432-maf2s1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Greening Manhattan: bringing nature into the city is one thing, making it part of our culture and everyday lives is another.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/alykat/5850122/in/photolist-vZ3b-a3QzkX-5ikuT5-4NkyDh-bzkgv7-bzkero-4NgmnB-bzkgvj-4NkyLs-4NgmpP-6yqjY7-bzkgvA-3Z4w1-8RZir4-oZGoMF-zq28Kj-GGhuyy-6Ft3Hy-etppFv-8acTUd-o32TGV-Fg76jP-aFNnFc-9jeTPT-dSfE9t-eMQx2P-9LSQJy-gpaNg4-45QSRn-6mkDJB-tmzt5-xqHWwT-9DHr65-efsqqt-8qrzr7-a2Dc8n-mSg1oR-fo5nKe-ynZUEK-fT9v2r-zb48SV-uD8Q43-7Z5YMY-tyFie3-7wBccE-es9LBm-dtyty5-JNxysL-8hBdNt-2i6ct">Alyson Hurt/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Australian cities are inherently diverse places, but that diversity can lead to conflict between different values about what cities should and can be. Our series, <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/conflict-in-the-city-31714">Conflict in the City</a>, brings together urban researchers to examine some of these tensions and consider how cities are governed and for whom.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Enthusiasm for urban greening is at a high point, and rightly so.</p>
<p>Ecological studies highlight the contribution urban nature makes to the conservation of biodiversity. For example, research shows cities support a <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/geb.12404/abstract">greater proportion of threatened species</a> than non-urban areas. </p>
<p>Green space is increasingly recognised as useful for moderating the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-are-cities-warmer-than-the-countryside-53160">heat island effect</a>. Hence, this helps cities adapt to, and reduce the consequences of, climate change. </p>
<p>Reducing urban heat stress is the main objective behind the <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/turnbull-governments-plan-to-make-cities-cooler-and-greener-20160118-gm8fdz.html">federal government’s plan</a> to set tree <a href="https://theconversation.com/concrete-jungle-well-have-to-do-more-than-plant-trees-to-bring-wildlife-back-to-our-cities-51047">canopy targets for Australian cities</a>. Trees are cooler than concrete. Trees <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-a-heatwave-the-leafy-suburbs-are-even-more-advantaged-53307">take the sting out of heatwaves</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/building-cool-cities-for-a-hot-future-57489">reduce heat-related deaths</a>.</p>
<p>The “healthy parks healthy people” agenda emphasises the health benefits of trees, parks and gardens. Urban greenery provides a pleasant place for recreation. By enhancing liveability, green spaces make cities more desirable places to live and work.</p>
<p>The increased interest in urban greening presents exciting opportunities for urban communities long starved of green space.</p>
<h2>Unpacking the green city agenda</h2>
<p>This enthusiasm for “green cities” stands in stark contrast to traditional views about nature as the antithesis of culture, and so having no place in the city. The traditional view was that the only ecosystems worthy of protection were to be found beyond the city, in national parks and wilderness areas.</p>
<p>We embrace the new agenda wholeheartedly, but also believe it’s important not to focus solely on instrumental measures like canopy cover targets to reduce heat stress. We should not forget about experiential encounters.</p>
<p>The risk with instrumental (and arguably exclusionary) approaches is these fail to challenge the divide between people and nature. This limits people’s connection to the places in which they live and to broader ecological processes that are essential for life. </p>
<p>Instrumental targets in isolation also risk presenting urban greening as an “apolitical” endeavour. But we know this is not the case, as we see with the rise of <a href="http://plt.sagepub.com/content/early/2016/06/28/1473095216654448.refs">green gentrification</a> associated with iconic greening projects like <a href="http://www.thehighline.org/about">New York’s High Line</a>. Wealthy suburbs consistently have the most green space in cities.</p>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/concrete-jungle-cities-adapt-to-growing-ranks-of-coyotes-cougars-and-other-urban-wildlife-43588">Bringing nature into the city</a> is one thing. Bringing it into our culture and everyday lives is another.</p>
<h2>Understanding ecology in a lived sense</h2>
<p>Urban greening provides an opportunity to recast the relationship between people and environment – one of the critical challenges associated with <a href="https://theconversation.com/an-official-welcome-to-the-anthropocene-epoch-but-who-gets-to-decide-its-here-57113">the Anthropocene</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139517/original/image-20160928-30448-36gd6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139517/original/image-20160928-30448-36gd6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139517/original/image-20160928-30448-36gd6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139517/original/image-20160928-30448-36gd6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139517/original/image-20160928-30448-36gd6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=903&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139517/original/image-20160928-30448-36gd6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139517/original/image-20160928-30448-36gd6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139517/original/image-20160928-30448-36gd6a.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1135&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Urban greening is not just for our benefit, but must surely be for our co-habitants too.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matt Cornock/flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To break down nature-culture divides in our cities, and in ourselves, we argue for the importance of embracing experiential engagements that develop a more deeply felt connection with the city places in which we live, work and play. </p>
<p>We are advocating a focus that does more than just encourage people to interact tangibly in and with urban nature, by drawing attention to the way humans and non-humans (including plants) are active co-habitants of cities.</p>
<p>Such an approach works by recognising that human understanding of the environment is intricately <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=wwzUj2o42fUC">wrapped up in our experiences of that environment</a>. </p>
<p>Put simply, green cities can’t just be about area, tree cover and proximity (though they are important). We need to <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11625-016-0367-3">foster intimate, active and ongoing encounters</a> that position people “in” ecologies. And we need to understand that those ecologies exist beyond the hard boundaries of urban green space. </p>
<p>Without fostering a more holistic relationship with non-humans in cities, we risk an urban greening agenda that misses the chance to unravel some of the nature-culture separation that contributes to our long-term sustainability challenges as a society.</p>
<p>Active interactions with nature in the spaces of everyday life are vital for advancing a form of environmental stewardship that will persist beyond individual (and sometimes short-lived) policy settings.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139514/original/image-20160928-30456-1sf5o04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139514/original/image-20160928-30456-1sf5o04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139514/original/image-20160928-30456-1sf5o04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139514/original/image-20160928-30456-1sf5o04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139514/original/image-20160928-30456-1sf5o04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139514/original/image-20160928-30456-1sf5o04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139514/original/image-20160928-30456-1sf5o04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/139514/original/image-20160928-30456-1sf5o04.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Green city citizens need to see themselves as part of, not separate from, the ecologies that exist beyond the hard boundaries of urban green space.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/8113246@N02/5160185705/in/photolist-8RZir4-oZGoMF-zq28Kj-GGhuyy-6Ft3Hy-etppFv-8acTUd-o32TGV-Fg76jP-aFNnFc-9jeTPT-dSfE9t-eMQx2P-9LSQJy-gpaNg4-45QSRn-6mkDJB-tmzt5-xqHWwT-9DHr65-efsqqt-8qrzr7-a2Dc8n-mSg1oR-fo5nKe-ynZUEK-fT9v2r-zb48SV-uD8Q43-7Z5YMY-tyFie3-7wBccE-es9LBm-dtyty5-JNxysL-8hBdNt-2i6ct-87eRGN-9W8ePg-5wMpDV-5L7riW-7Pa78m-5fL19N-88DCj7-btHvr3-nS9ies-7xnbpA-fgMjKA-9X1hfK-5ydqiH">PINKE/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>No getting away from the politics</h2>
<p>It is important to consider the <a href="https://theconversation.com/if-planners-understand-its-cool-to-green-cities-whats-stopping-them-55753">policy and governance dimensions of urban greening</a>. </p>
<p>If the instrumental orientation prevails, our cities might be “more liveable” (at least for some, at particular locations and points in time), but our societies may not be more socially and environmentally just, or more sustainable.</p>
<p>We therefore emphasise the need to understand and critique the dimensions of the renewed interest in urban ecology. We have to consider whether this interest is associated with existing political economies, which embrace technocratic expertise to the exclusion of other voices, or whether urban greening can foster the emergence of a more transformative form of decision-making. </p>
<p>We also ask how we can enhance the prospects for more deliberative and place-based responses. An experiential turn for urban greening may be one way to make green space planning and practice more democratic. </p>
<p>By questioning who we might be greening for and how, we can open the way for the <a href="http://theconversation.com/how-can-we-meaningfully-recognise-cities-as-indigenous-places-65561">much-needed acknowledgment</a> of Indigenous histories and participation in the making of urban space.</p>
<p>Giving urban greening an experiential focus might also help open our eyes to the needs of the more-than-human. Rather than simply cultivating green spaces for a narrow set of anthropocentric benefits, we pose the question: who are the participants in urban greening? It’s a way of acknowledging that we inhabit cities with plants and other non-human lifeforms. </p>
<p>An interesting area of policy development that may be productive for urban greening is the idea of the <a href="http://www.playfulcommons.org/about/">playful commons</a>. This is an example of a governance approach that is more open to affective and experiential interaction – the community participates in negotiating, licensing and designing the use of public space. </p>
<p>Applying this approach to urban greening might encourage more deliberative forms of governance that can deliver more environmentally just and sustainable cities for the long term, for both humans and non-humans. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>You can read other Conflict in the City articles <a href="https://theconversation.com/au/topics/conflict-in-the-city-31714">here</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65566/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The rise of urban greening is an opportunity to recast the relationship between people and environment. Humans and non-human species are ecologically intertwined as inhabitants of cities.Benjamin Cooke, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT UniversityBrian Coffey, Lecturer, School of Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/589792016-06-08T03:59:10Z2016-06-08T03:59:10ZTaking the city’s pulse: we need to link urban vitality back to the planet<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125477/original/image-20160607-31928-1725am8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Much of the 'smart cities' rhetoric is dominated by the economic, with little reference to the natural world and its plight. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-193340183/stock-photo-female-hand-hold-d-rendered-earth-globe-environmental-backgrounds-eco-concept.html?src=pd-same_artist-195006554-mCuBRTzOFXHget__7RotGg-7">Ase from www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Back in the 1960s, the influential urban planner and journalist <a href="http://en.m/wikipedia.org/Jane_Jacobs">Jane Jacobs</a> put American cities under the microscope. Jacobs was <a href="http://nchchonors.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/jacobs-jane-intro-death-and-life-of-great-cities-intro.pdf">aiming to explain, and suggest ways of remedying</a>, the hollowing out, or “<a href="http://designrochester.org/forum/2014/4/1/the-doughnut-effect">doughnut effect</a>”, which left previously well-functioning city centres rundown and devoid of new blood.</p>
<p>The effect was less dramatic in Australian cities, which had few, if any, residential populations in their central business districts until comparatively recently. And many of the innermost suburbs that surrounded the CBDs were industrialised and yet to feel the decline of manufacturing. </p>
<p>Of course, today the <a href="http://www.economist.com/node/940671">situation is completely reversed across Western cities</a>. The emergence of the service economy and explosive growth of professional classes are promoting gentrification and squillion-dollar property values.</p>
<p>Jacobs’ <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-might-jane-jacobs-say-about-smart-cities-58278">conditions for a vibrant city life</a> were that districts must serve at least two functions to attract persons of different purposes around the clock. Further, blocks must be small, with many opportunities for pedestrians to interact and a diverse range of buildings. Finally, there needed to be reasonable density. The idea was that <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-we-should-design-smart-cities-for-getting-lost-56492">“vitality” had a lot to do with chance encounters</a>.</p>
<h2>Digital entanglement</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125459/original/image-20160607-31933-7jkyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125459/original/image-20160607-31933-7jkyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125459/original/image-20160607-31933-7jkyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125459/original/image-20160607-31933-7jkyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125459/original/image-20160607-31933-7jkyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=321&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125459/original/image-20160607-31933-7jkyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125459/original/image-20160607-31933-7jkyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125459/original/image-20160607-31933-7jkyvw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=403&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Digital interconnectivity is increasingly taken to be a measure of a city’s vitality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-404022886/stock-photo-wifi-icon-and-city-scape-and-network-connection-concept.html?src=cjXwsYVTIVfrGP05HU0XQg-1-46">Ekaphon Maneechot from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jacobs’ encounters have now been supplemented if not entirely supplanted by social media. Enter some Italian researchers who hit upon the idea of mining “big data”. In this case, they <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/601107/data-mining-reveals-the-four-urban-conditions-tha-create-vibrant-city-life/#/set/id/601109/">used mobile phone calls cross-referenced to satellite-derived records</a> such as <a href="https://www.openstreetmap.org/#map=5/51.500/-0.100">Open Street Map</a> to gauge where precisely this feverish activity was happening across six of Italy’s large cities.
(In corroboration of Jacobs’ thesis, the best places were found to be “day end points” with concentrations of office workers at large, as well as small streets and blocks with historic buildings.)</p>
<p>There’s a sense that this <a href="http://communications.elsevier.com/nl/jsp/m.jsp?c=%40Bli2ULd7TjU5ahspCNrpY2%2BS5AtJyua%2FvpjVRtLlSic%3D">“interconnectivity” is becoming a signal of city vitality/vibrancy</a>. The two elements are becoming <a href="https://www.sciencedaily.com/terms/quantum_entanglement.htm">entangled like subatomic particles</a>.</p>
<p>Moreover, it’s a natural fit with the vogue for blending IT with strategic planning. The new ministerial portfolio, <a href="https://delimiter.com.au/2016/02/15/turnbulls-digital-transformation-office-gets-a-new-minister/">cities and digital transformation</a>, exemplifies this.</p>
<h2>Smart city buzz</h2>
<p>You don’t have to venture far into urban policy space before coming across the idea of the “<a href="https://sourceable.net/smart-cities-plan-a-blueprint-for-the-future/">smart city</a>”. There’s a near-continuous run of <a href="http://connectexpo.com.au/smartcities.html">conferences on the topic</a> and even a <a href="https://cities.dpmc.gov/au/">Turnbull government plan</a>. The plan features, among other measures, a blend of big-data thinking, with “better benchmarking of city performance”, and the prescriptions set out in Edward Glaeser’s 2013 book, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/books/review/Silver-t.html?_r=0">Triumph of the City</a>.</p>
<p>Glaeser views cities as places where human ingenuity can flourish and skills are developed and refined – a combination driving economic and technological advance. He believes increased densification, including a “vertical city” with yet higher stacks of buildings, is integral to achieving these objectives. </p>
<p>Glaeser, however, illustrates complexities in this debate. Jacobs opposed the view that high-rise cities create beneficial interactions. And concern is growing that increased reliance on digital communication will radically reduce urban human interaction.</p>
<h2>Reckoning with a cantankerous planet</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125460/original/image-20160607-31962-143qpjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125460/original/image-20160607-31962-143qpjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/125460/original/image-20160607-31962-143qpjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125460/original/image-20160607-31962-143qpjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125460/original/image-20160607-31962-143qpjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=738&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125460/original/image-20160607-31962-143qpjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125460/original/image-20160607-31962-143qpjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/125460/original/image-20160607-31962-143qpjx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=927&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High-rise cities face particular problems in a warming world.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.shutterstock.com/pic-129589943/stock-photo-urban-road-in-the-evening.html?src=x13h18ciO3yJgJehtNHskw-1-148">zhangyang13576997233 from www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/blog/a-smart-city-must-learn-to-be-resilient-too/">Smart cities need to be “resilient”</a> if they’re to counter, for example, Paul Gilding’s “<a href="https://paulgilding.com/the-great-disruption/">great disruption</a>”. This includes <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-05-25/India-heatwave-kills-hundreds/6496314">life-threatening heat</a>, desiccation and killer <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/05/04/world/fort-mcmurray-fire-canada/">peri-urban fires</a>. High-rise cities may prove to be the least adaptable human constructions in an era of fundamental change and add considerably to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-why-are-cities-warmer-than-the-countryside-53160">urban heat island effect</a></p>
<p>Should an economic perspective – like <a href="http://www.technologydecisions.com.au/content/gov-tech-review/article/smart-city-stakes-getting-higher-891635173?">this</a>, for instance – remain the main if not the sole focus for cities? This in a year when <a href="https://theconversation.com/southern-hemisphere-joins-north-in-breaching-carbon-dioxide-milestone-59260">atmospheric carbon reached an irreversible 400ppm</a>; the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/27/opinion/coral-vs-coal.html?_r=0">Great Barrier Reef’s coral is bleaching</a>; <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-effects-of-2016-el-nino-trumped-climate-change-in-the-alberta-wildfires-59201">wildfires have destroyed towns and cities in Canada</a>; India has recorded its <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/may/20/india-records-its%20-hottest-day-ever-as-temperature-hits-51c-thats-1238f">hottest day on record 51°C</a>; <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-36458794">Paris has been heavily flooded</a>; and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/apr/22/silicon-valley-sea-level-rise-google-facebook-flood-risk">sea-level rise threatens to inundate Silicon Valley</a>, the spiritual home of start-ups – not to mention our home-grown variety of <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/environment/weather/sydney-storms-narrabeencollaroy-beach-lashed-by-large-seas-20160605-gpbvvw.html">storm surge, erosion</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2016/jun/06/wild-weather-flood-warnings-victoria-tasmania-storm-sydney-south-coast-live">flooding</a>. </p>
<p>Is there something we’re missing? In the rhetoric surrounding smart cities it’s difficult to unearth specific reference to the <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2016/may/19/humans-damaging-the-environment-faster-than-it-can-recover-report-finds">natural world and its current plight</a>. And when there is, it’s often a few throwaway lines about the value of green space in protecting biological diversity and threatened species. </p>
<p>Contrast this with the growing awareness of the <a href="https://workwithnaturetnc.gofundraise.com.au/cms/benefits-of-working-with-nature">benefits to our psyche of exposure to the natural world</a> (even acting as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/forget-siestas-green-micro-breaks-could-boost-work-productivity-42356">boost to productivity in the workplace</a>).</p>
<p>Set these observations against the revelation that today’s children – the inheritors of the smart city – are <a href="http://www.treehugger.com/culture/children-spend-less-time-outside-prison-inmates.html#ixzz44K2JeW6U">spending less time outdoors than prisoners</a>. This has occurred in a generation for whom the environment is unlikely to be mainstream given that <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/society-and-culture/nature-not-as-sexy-as-stuff-on-aniphone-20111125-1nyh4.html">their reality is ultimately what appears on a screen</a>. Digital connectivity in low-amenity vertical communities is likely to prove a poor substitute for the kind of city Jacobs advocated.</p>
<p>Reconnecting kids and others requires rejigging our perspective, as well as starting to look out for <a href="https://theconversation.com/concrete-jungle-cities-adapt-to-growing-ranks-of-coyotes-cougars-and-other-urban-wildlife-43588">vestiges of wildlife</a> that has <a href="https://theconversation.com/concrete-jungle-well-have-to-do-more-than-plant-trees-to-bring-wildlife-back-to-our-cities-51047">sought refuge</a> <a href="https://theconversation.com/blocks-and-flocks-why-are-some-bird-species-so-successful-in-cities-56279">in our cities</a>. And <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-feed-growing-cities-we-need-to-stop-urban-sprawl-eating-up-our-food-supply-49651">providing for local food production</a> is as big as big data itself, but that’s something for another day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/58979/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Fisher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The rhetoric of ‘smart cities’ is dominated by the economic, with little reference to the natural world and its plight. Truly smart and resilient cities need to be more in tune with the planet.Peter Fisher, Adjunct Professor, Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/576342016-04-17T20:10:26Z2016-04-17T20:10:26ZReducing stress at work is a walk in the park<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118645/original/image-20160414-4674-16hp2u9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A park, in this case Hyde Park in Sydney, is one of the easiest and most accessible ways to engage with nature in the city.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucy Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The sky is blue and you are walking through a park, speaking with a colleague, discussing a new project. You feel energised, puffing slightly as your pace speeds up with the excitement of tossing around ideas as you walk among the trees.</p>
<p>This is how the Nature Conservancy envisages you may spend an hour of your working week this week. April 18-24 is <a href="http://www.natureaustralia.org.au/about/work-with-nature-week/">Work with Nature Week</a>, a campaign to encourage Australians to engage with the natural environment. The hope is that you will come to appreciate nature – if you don’t already – and support conservation efforts. </p>
<p>Nature, <a href="https://workwithnaturetnc.gofundraise.com.au/cms/benefits-of-working-with-nature">according to the campaign</a>, can improve your concentration and make you a sharper and more creative thinker. What boss wouldn’t want their employees to “work with nature”?</p>
<p>The health and ecology research literature brims with examples of the positive effects of nature on well-being. Exposure to <a href="http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4560.2007.00497.x/full">nature helps us recover</a> from stress and mental fatigue and restores concentration. Lower blood pressure, improved concentration and more positive emotions are identified when people <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494402001093">go for a walk in a natural environment</a> compared with an urban environment. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attention_restoration_theory">Attention Restoration Theory (ART)</a> explains that restoration requires a different experience – such as “getting away” – in an environment that is together interesting, non-threatening and realistic. If you have spent your morning in a meeting room or office, a park with trees and perhaps a pond or fountain is about as different as you can get. </p>
<h2>Finding nature in the heart of the city</h2>
<p>If you work in the middle of the city, how practical is it to spend an hour of your working week surrounded by roads and concrete, pollution and the occasional rat? Even if you can go and sit among the pigeons for an hour, how “natural” is that experience of nature?</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118647/original/image-20160414-4676-g2wd4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118647/original/image-20160414-4676-g2wd4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/118647/original/image-20160414-4676-g2wd4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118647/original/image-20160414-4676-g2wd4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118647/original/image-20160414-4676-g2wd4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118647/original/image-20160414-4676-g2wd4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118647/original/image-20160414-4676-g2wd4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/118647/original/image-20160414-4676-g2wd4f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Not just for the birds: a surprising amount of biodiversity, including both introduced species and native wildlife, can be found in urban parks.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucy Taylor</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Urban ecologists have realigned thinking about nature in cities. Cities are novel environments that have the potential to support surprising amounts of nature. Parks, surrounding national parks, street trees and even private gardens create a large-scale urban forest that wildlife can use. </p>
<p>For example, in Sydney vulnerable <a href="http://birdlife.org.au/projects/powerful-owl-project/powerful-owls-in-sydney-pow">Powerful Owls</a> have been sighted in the Royal Botanic Gardens in the middle of the city. Australian cities have even been found to act as <a href="http://conservationmagazine.org/2016/01/threatened-species-live-in-every-australian-city/">hotspots for threatened species</a>. </p>
<p>Conserving any local native areas and species is important to maintain the unique natural identity of a city. In addition, manicured parks and gardens provide new kinds of plants with the potential to support both local and native species. Nature is dispersed through our cities, even if we don’t notice it.</p>
<h2>What supports well-being in cities?</h2>
<p>We have published research that identified the <a href="http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11252-014-0427-3">aspects of urban environments</a> that support human well-being. Being able to move safely around a city (walkable space) and enabling space for social interaction are known factors of good urban design. Green space is another factor that, for the reasons discussed above, is important to ensure we can survive in cities. </p>
<p>We add biodiversity and ecosystem services to the equation as both are necessary if we are also to thrive in cities. Without sufficient biodiversity, the nature we encounter may not be realistic enough for a successful restorative experience, according to ART. Biodiversity can also keep species in check – for example, reducing the numbers of <a href="http://www.chgeharvard.org/topic/biodiversity-and-infectious-diseases">animal vectors of disease</a> such as mosquitos and ticks. </p>
<p>Ecosystem services are critical to our survival. More than the air we breathe and the water we drink, when ecosystems fail, this has serious <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21598060">consequences for human well-being</a>. Environmental degradation has been found to affect people who work in rural environments, but cities are already degraded landscapes. Urban nature has never been more important.</p>
<p>If you are considering how to spend an hour working in nature this week but your calendar is hectic and you are facing a wall of meetings, don’t despair. You could even benefit from nature just by glancing at it. In a recent Australian study, <a href="http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272494415000328">a glance at a green roof</a> has been found to be more restorative than a glance at a concrete roof. </p>
<p>Working with nature is not limited to sitting in a lush garden with your laptop. A walking meeting through a landscaped area, which would provide the added benefits of exercise, or even a glance at a natural view might help you to recover from your day’s stress.</p>
<p>The Work with Nature campaign has another function: to remind decision-makers that we need nature in our cities. There are many forms it might take. An atrium or view from your office has the potential to help you function more effectively at work, but a large inner-city park offers us the realistic green space that provides the full benefits of nature.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/57634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dieter Hochuli receives funding from the NSW Environmental Trust and the Henry Halloran Trust. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lucy Taylor does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Nature is dispersed through our cities, even if we don’t notice it. And there’s abundant evidence that engaging with nature, even in urban settings, is good for us.Lucy Taylor, Doctoral Candidate in Urban Ecology, University of SydneyDieter Hochuli, Associate Professor, School of Biological Sciences, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/510472016-01-19T19:32:56Z2016-01-19T19:32:56ZConcrete jungle? We’ll have to do more than plant trees to bring wildlife back to our cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108492/original/image-20160119-31807-w6r4by.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It looks great – but what about the wildlife?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tree image from www.shutterstock.com.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The federal environment and acting cities minister, Greg Hunt, on Tuesday pledged to <a href="http://www.9news.com.au/national/2016/01/19/06/40/federal-govt-plan-to-make-cities-greener">increase the number of trees</a> in Australian cities. In a bid to fight higher urban temperatures, the plan will set targets for tree cover. </p>
<p>This is part of a green revolution spreading through the world’s cities. From New York to Singapore, urban areas are undertaking bold “greenspace” initiatives – removing concrete and allowing trees and vegetation back in.</p>
<p>Some of the benefits include replacing the ugly infrastructural trappings of vehicles and <a href="http://www.the606.org/#heroAnchor">motorways</a> as well as cooling cities, absorbing air pollution and minimising runoff. These greenings further have mental health benefits, by bringing residents and visitors alike back into <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2011/dec/01/nature-urbanisation-david-attenborough">contact with the land</a>. </p>
<p>But what about wildlife? Trees alone aren’t enough to bring back nature. In the rush to create greenspace, we have to make sure we build it in a way to help wildlife thrive. That will take careful thought and planning.</p>
<h2>Nature paved over</h2>
<p>Many of the world’s cities don’t have anything special to offer in terms of nature – either because they never had all that much in the first place, or they’ve long since been lost to urban development. </p>
<p>Melbourne is a case of the latter. James Boyce (in his book <a href="https://www.penguin.com.au/products/9781863956000/1835-founding-melbourne-conquest-australia">1835</a>) records: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>By the time Anthony Trollope visited, then a city of 206,000 “souls” in the early 1870s, the city had already largely turned its back on the Yarra [River], drained the swamps, filled in the lakes and flattened the hills, so that Trollope knew “of no great town in the neighbourhood of which there is less to see in the way of landscape beauty”. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>That sounds like many a world city. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108542/original/image-20160119-29793-1ygk0mn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108542/original/image-20160119-29793-1ygk0mn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/108542/original/image-20160119-29793-1ygk0mn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108542/original/image-20160119-29793-1ygk0mn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108542/original/image-20160119-29793-1ygk0mn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108542/original/image-20160119-29793-1ygk0mn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108542/original/image-20160119-29793-1ygk0mn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/108542/original/image-20160119-29793-1ygk0mn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reconstruction of Williams Creek, Melbourne, which now lies under the city’s asphalt.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">RMIT</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://thames-landscape-strategy.org.uk/">London</a>, <a href="http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/the-high-line">New York</a>, <a href="http://inhabitat.com/hamburg-is-building-a-giant-green-roof-cover-over-sections-of-the-a7-motorway/">Hamburg</a>, <a href="http://grist.org/list/2011-12-27-in-madrid-a-highway-becomes-a-park/">Madrid</a>, <a href="http://www.thenatureofcities.com/2015/11/09/history-the-detroit-river-and-building-an-international-wildlife-refuge-right/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheNatureOfCities+%28The+Nature+of+Cities%29">Detroit</a>, <a href="http://www.cityofchicago.org/dam/city/depts/cdot/Green_Alley_Handbook_2010.pdf">Chicago</a>, <a href="http://grist.org/infrastructure/2011-04-04-seoul-korea-tears-down-an-urban-highway-life-goes-on/">Seoul</a> and <a href="https://www.cbd.int/doc/meetings/city/subws-2014-01/other/subws-2014-01-presentation-singapore-en.pdf">Singapore</a> are among cities that have undertaken bold greenspace initiatives. These cities have recognised the distinct benefits that flow from connecting people back to the natural world.</p>
<p>Detroit and Singapore have strong biodiversity themes and that’s needed too given the <a href="http://www.livingplanetindex.org/home/index">global decline in wildlife</a>. Such initiatives help us to view cities from a non-human-centric perspective. </p>
<h2>i-Tree world</h2>
<p>Back in Australia “green infrastructure” has similarly taken hold with councils, property owners and private companies signing up to a <a href="http://202020vision.com.au/media/41955/202020visionplan.pdf">national 202020 vision</a> to create 20% more greenspace by 2020. The main underpinning of that “greenspace” is the “urban forest”.</p>
<p>While urban forest has a broad definition, cities usually take it to mean tree cover. This has been revolutionised and driven by <a href="https://www.itreetools.org/">satellite mapping</a> (known as i-Tree) from the US Department of Agriculture. </p>
<p>This mapping has recently been used to shed light on the <a href="http://202020vision.com.au/media/7141/final-report_140930.pdf">performance of Australia’s municipalities</a>. Ranking them according to their percentage of tree cover, parts of Melbourne and Sydney scored badly, with many suburbs having less than 20% tree cover overall. Brisbane scored well, with most areas having more than 50% tree cover.</p>
<p>As cities attempt to increase canopies, it’s worth noting that these trees will have to deal with increasing <a href="http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/the-hills/sydney-storm-trees-uprooted-and-roofs-damaged-by-high-winds/news-story/f0b847d7d3a4a65329bfccba7fca4d2d">extreme weather</a> as the world warms. </p>
<h2>Rewilding the city</h2>
<p>However, trees on their own won’t bring wildlife back into our cities. In fact, canopies tend to create spaces for dominant native birds such as the Noisy Miner and Red Wattlebird, which by their behaviour <a href="https://theconversation.com/stop-the-miners-you-can-help-australias-birds-by-planting-native-gardens-49998">exclude smaller birds</a>. </p>
<p>Birdlife Australia <a href="http://birdlife.org.au/all-about-birds/birds-in-backyards">suggests</a> that a dense understory of shrubs up to two metres high is required for small ground birds like thornbills, robins, scrubwrens and fairy-wrens to roost in and make brief forays into grassed areas. Thickets also provide protection from eagles and hawks and other predators. </p>
<p>The Victorian naturalist Alan Reid suggested: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a mixture of fine-leaf and broad-leaf plants with a high percentage of native species, especially at intermediate and ground levels, will provide the greatest opportunities for attracting and holding wildlife.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Private gardens have inadvertently edged towards this prescription, along the way forming “nuclei” for wildlife. To create these on public land, areas will need to be set aside in parklands and other community spaces where small birds and small animals can congregate, breed and flourish. </p>
<p>This may require fencing to counter fox and cat predation, and possibly incorporate bird hides, interpretative apps and surveillance to ensure personal security. We need to give attention to the subtle connections between species.</p>
<p>Wildlife corridors are another construct – in effect they’re flyways for larger birds. Some of these already take advantage of the routes provided by revegetated creek and river banks. </p>
<p>Reid suggests that “corridors as narrow as 5 metres will allow passage of lorikeets and wattlebirds even when gaps exceed 30 metres”. </p>
<p>But if the gaps in 20-metre-wide corridors grow to more than 30 metres they will block many upper-level feeders including <a href="http://museumvictoria.com.au/forest/animals/swordgrass.html">butterflies</a>, pygmy possums and marsupial mice.</p>
<p>As the take-up of greening in places like New York, Hamburg and Seoul shows, it’s becoming mainstream in city halls around the world. And we now know that it helps <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-there-room-for-nature-in-our-cities-12145">settle the brains</a> of those otherwise enmeshed in asphalt, glass and concrete.</p>
<p>There are some encouraging signs that developers “get it”: witness Singapore building an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com.au/singapores-cloud-forest-revolutionizes-green-spaces-2015-11">entire forest</a> in a high-rise apartment atrium. A connection-to-nature element also forms part of the revamped Green Building Council of Australia’s <a href="https://www.gbca.org.au/uploads/68/34884/Occupant%20Engagement.pdf">Innovation Challenge Program</a>. Let’s hope it won’t be long before that awareness spills over into <a href="http://www.news.com.au/finance/economy/australian-economy/minister-for-cities-can-jamie-briggs-find-our-commuter-holy-grail/news-story/2613006fdf5bff65bc88b33b1a14d388">popular planning thought</a>. </p>
<p>As the world continues to change under human pressure, we need to make sure our cities can be homes for wildlife too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51047/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Fisher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cities are aiming to increase their tree cover. But there will need to be more than trees to encourage wildlife to return.Peter Fisher, Adjunct Professor, Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/121452013-03-03T19:27:00Z2013-03-03T19:27:00ZIs there room for nature in our cities?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20634/original/xjbwvbnm-1361849868.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In modern cities, the ratio of "landscape" to "hardscape" is all out of whack.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Roger Gordon</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Welcome to the CBD. Take a look at all the glass masonry and
asphalt. The streets are canyons. Apart from a tree in the footpath, or a <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2010-11-11/falcon-handlers-celebrate-20-years-of-city-breeding/2332982">Peregrine Falcon</a> way overhead, there’s little nature to be seen.</p>
<p>Nature is absent in these landscapes, or more correctly “hardscapes”. This runs counter to the trend to put urban people, and particularly children, back in touch with the natural world. Grass, flowers, birds, butterflies and worms are increasingly rare in a world of denser development. There’s no sense of season apart from flowers in street-side stalls.</p>
<p>As much as five-sixths of our CBDs are buildings: asphalt dotted with street trees. The ratio of biomass to hard mass in such environments is minute. </p>
<p>Trees help cool environments, while buildings increase heat absorption and reflection. This suggests cities are very poorly adapted to a projected 4-6°C global warming – a world where it may prove impractical to ever again grow <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/338/6112/1305">large trees</a> especially in hot pavements.</p>
<h2>Greening the city</h2>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20637/original/jkyb3s2w-1361850386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20637/original/jkyb3s2w-1361850386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20637/original/jkyb3s2w-1361850386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20637/original/jkyb3s2w-1361850386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=805&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20637/original/jkyb3s2w-1361850386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20637/original/jkyb3s2w-1361850386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20637/original/jkyb3s2w-1361850386.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1012&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Cities like Kobe are returning nature to the streets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Fisher</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research is revealing that, although we may have left the savanna, it’s still a part of our wiring. Hospital patients who have a view of some sort of nature <a href="http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=nature-that-nurtures">recover faster and need less medication</a>.</p>
<p>A recent article in Nature, “<a href="http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110622/full/474429a.html">City living marks the brain</a>”, points to a far higher incidence of mental illness in urban versus rural areas. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_exercise">Green exercise</a> can act as a <a href="http://www.essex.ac.uk/ces/occasionalpapers/Kerry/Mind%20Report-%20Final.pdf">therapeutic intervention</a>, which is doubly important in the hyper-dense environment envisaged by outspoken developers. </p>
<p>However it’s not like that everywhere. In places such as Vancouver, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Setback_(architecture)%20are%20mandatory%20for%20high%20rises%20and%20%5Bview%20corridors%20have%20been%20preserved%5D(http://www.queensu.ca/surp/research/Sarah_Bingham_Exec_Summary.pdf">setbacks</a>.</p>
<p>Elsewhere, European and American cities have undertaken benchmark projects to soften the impact of roads. <a href="http://inhabitat.com/hamburg-is-building-a-giant-green-roof-cover-over-sections-of-the-a7-motorway/a7-cover-hamburg/">Hamburg</a> and <a href="http://grist.org/list/2011-12-27-in-madrid-a-highway-becomes-a-park/">Madrid</a> have roofed their inner autobahn/highway to create parklands. <a href="http://www.preservenet.com/freeways/FreewaysHarbor.html">Portland tore down</a> its waterfront freeway to do the same, as <a href="http://www.spur.org/publications/library/article/some-transportation-lessons-seattle">Seattle is currently doing</a>.</p>
<p>Other North American cities inspired by Michael Hough’s evocative book “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cities-Natural-Process-Basis-Sustainability/dp/0415298555">Cities and Natural Processes</a>” have <a href="http://www.toronto.ca/don/faq.htm">returned rivers, ravines, swamps, and parkland</a> to their natural state. Then there’s New York City’s <a href="https://www.cuge.com.sg/research/images/cugeresearch/CG6/Article%207..pdf">High-Line</a>, a greenway for walking, running or simply sitting. San Francisco has its “<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/place/article/S-F-parklets-a-little-tour-of-a-major-trend-2430136.php">parklets</a>” and <a href="http://www.plantsf.org/">sidewalk gardens</a>.</p>
<h2>A Melbourne model?</h2>
<p>In Melbourne virtually no public greenspace has been created within the grid proper since City Square in 1980, and even it has succumbed to the granite treatment and been chopped in half. Hardscape is on the rise with planning applications for more than 50,000 new apartments in 200 developments in and <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-12-31/development-threatens-melbourne27s-character/4448366">around the CBD</a>. </p>
<p>Few have recognised the “green-shift” now underway globally and recently embraced by <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/city-goes-green-in-vision-of-perth-future/story-fndo4e3y-1226571141162">Perth</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20538/original/v6b5wpvk-1361507434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20538/original/v6b5wpvk-1361507434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/20538/original/v6b5wpvk-1361507434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20538/original/v6b5wpvk-1361507434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20538/original/v6b5wpvk-1361507434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=804&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20538/original/v6b5wpvk-1361507434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20538/original/v6b5wpvk-1361507434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/20538/original/v6b5wpvk-1361507434.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1010&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">New York’s High Line, a place for city-dwellers to escape to a little nature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Flickr/Ed Yourdon</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It’s helpful for urban designers seeking a context to immerse themselves in the pre-white settlement setting. Proto-Melbourne would be unrecognisable: wattle in bloom, kangaroo grass, kookaburras and kingfishers along the river. Above where Queens Bridge now stands were The Falls, where clear freshwater cascaded; and to the west, amid a swamp with masses of water birds, lay a shimmering blue lagoon ringed by <a href="http://www.firetailbirdwatchingtours.com/MyImages/Noon%20flower%20and%20Box%20tree%20web.jpg">pigface</a>.</p>
<p>Each city has its own tale of what followed. Take a look at these two images of The Falls – this one at <a href="http://nla.gov.au/nla.pic-an24294580-v">foundation</a> and this one in <a href="http://www.cv.vic.gov.au/stories/built-environment/early-photographs-land-and-streetscapes/the-yarra-below-the-falls/">1857</a> - that’s an awful lot of trashing in just 22 years.</p>
<p>Such squandered landscapes defy replication at their original scale but we can replicate them on a small scale. It is a matter of rethinking the user experience. Roof gardens (including food crops), green walls, plant-draped atriums, water features and <a href="http://learn.bowdoin.edu/japanesegardens/elements/borrowed/borrowed.htm">borrowed scenery</a> are ways of using interiors, walls, and ceilings. </p>
<p>Buildings have long been in the front line of fighting climate change through “green building” rating systems. It’s time they were enlisted to <a href="https://www.cuge.com.sg/research/images/cugeresearch/CG6/Article%2014..pdf">reforge our linkages</a> with a <a href="http://www.biohabitats.com/newsletters/giving-children-the-gift-of-nature/">landscape</a> that people have all but forgotten. </p>
<p>The opportunities are highlighted by a design for a three sided hospital in Spain - one side is a green wall; another is solar panels in the colors of a butterfly about to go regionally extinct; and the third is a vertical farm that will feed people in the hospital. It is one example of the ways our cities can become truly green.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/12145/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article written in collaboration with Dr. Peter Fisher was done as an unpaid work and is not part of any sponsored research project. Some of the ideas expressed in this article may appear in a recently published article: Naturizing outside-in: Reconnecting buildings with the natural world through a design innovation metric in the January 2013 issue of the Singapore based journal, CITYGREEN. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Fisher does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Welcome to the CBD. Take a look at all the glass masonry and asphalt. The streets are canyons. Apart from a tree in the footpath, or a Peregrine Falcon way overhead, there’s little nature to be seen. Nature…Peter Fisher, Adjunct Professor, Global, Urban and Social Studies, RMIT UniversityD Trainham, Researcher, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.