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Connecting Cities and Nature

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Cities and Rivers

Iñaki N Alday Sanz | Tulane University

Architecture in Dialogue with an Activated Ground

Urs Bette | University of Adelaide

How can integrating nature into urban environments enhance the well-being of city dwellers and contribute to more sustainable cities? Explore this concept through the lens of Biophilic Cities, which utilizes a network of global cities, scholars, and advocates to reveal the profound impacts of nature in urban areas on human health and urban resilience.

Image courtesy of interviewee. November 15, 2024

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This video discusses the importance of nature in urban environments, emphasizing the concept of biophilia, which is our innate desire to connect with the natural world. It presents evidence that being around nature enhances cognitive abilities, reduces anxiety and stress, and promotes generosity and cooperation among humans.

The speaker advocates for "biophilic urbanism," where nature is integrated throughout cities, not just as a one-time visit, but as a daily part of life, highlighting the need for trees, birds, and other natural elements to be present in urban environments.

This video also addresses urban design and how to make cities friendlier to wildlife, including birds. It mentions practical strategies like using bird-safe glass in buildings and creating green rooftops to provide habitats for birds, and cites the decline in bird populations due to urbanization. The speaker reflects on personal experiences with nature and discusses approaches taken by various cities to enhance their natural landscapes, like Singapore’s planning policies to increase greenery.

Rewilding urban spaces is presented as an essential agenda, encouraging the return of wildlife to city areas, citing successful examples such as native wetlands in Perth. The speaker acknowledges the challenges and fears related to integrating wildness in cities but insists that nature is essential for improving urban life quality.

Furthermore, the text highlights case studies from different cities, illustrating successful biophilic initiatives. Ultimately, it argues that embracing nature in cities can enhance well-being, increase life quality, and inspire awe and wonder in urban living.

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Nature is really important to us.

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Of course, as human beings, we know the concept of biophilia

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is based on the idea that we carry with us,

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our ancient brains, that we have co-evolved

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with the natural world,

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and that we have this innate desire to connect

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and affiliate with, with nature.

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And we have a lot of evidence growing, body of evidence

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that we are in the presence of nature.

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Uh, we are cognitive abilities are enhanced, our anxiety,

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our stress levels go down.

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Uh, we feel better as even evidence that we're more likely

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to be gener generous and cooperative,

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and more likely to be better human beings, actually,

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when we have nature around us.

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So, we believe in, in the area of biophilic urbanism

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or biophilic cities, this, it's a new vision for

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what cities can be.

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And we believe that nature has

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to be all around us in cities.

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We have to be immersed in nature.

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Nature is not something just to be visited once

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or twice a year on a holiday.

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It has to be, integrated into our daily, lives,

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our hourly lives, really.

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And that means having trees and birds and birdsong and

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and nature everywhere around us where we live

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and work in cities, and can certainly be subtle.

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And, it can be everything from,

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from seeing trees through a window.

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It can, can be a, a breeze that you feel it can be,

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it's multisensory, of course.

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So it's things that you, might touch during the course

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of your, your day or, or smell or hear again.

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Uh, so, so, yes.

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Um, it's, it, a lot of it, this is about paying attention

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to the nature that that's already around us in, in cities.

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But, but we need to actively, encourage that nature,

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protect what we have and,

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and grow, more trees in nature

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and birds, around us in cities.

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It's a different way of thinking about, about cities.

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Um, we often think about the usual forms of, design

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and construction and the usual kinds of infrastructure

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that cities need, and roads and sewer lines and power lines,

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and all those things that, that make urban life possible.

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But we increasingly realize that we need that nature.

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Nature does so many things, for us.

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And, trees, especially, for example,

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we, we want more trees.

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We want, we wanna expand our canopy in large part

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because that's really essential infrastructure

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for cooling cities as we're facing rising urban heat,

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around the world.

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And we're facing the impacts of, of climate change.

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Um, those trees, those, that tree canopy does

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so many things, in fact for us.

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So it's really, redefining the kinds of things we think

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of as a central infrastructure in a, in a city.

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So I wanna live in a city where I can see and hear birds,

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and we have all kinds of evidence about the mental health

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benefits of birds.

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Um, so birds. I, I want to live a delightful, you know, a,

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a life of delight in a city with, lots

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of wonderful natural sounds, from all kinds

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of nature, but birds especially are important to me.

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I grew up, watching birds, listening to birds.

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I lived, I grew up in, in a city, a actually,

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but very much surrounded by trees and forest.

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And the, the trees were my friends,

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but the birds were my friends as well.

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I had parents who were interested in this, a mom

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who very much enjoyed birds

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and helped me to identify species of birds.

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And I, I can't say that I am a, a birder necessarily,

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but I am a lifelong, bird lover.

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And over the years, have written a lot about how we can,

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design cities, to better accommodate birds,

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to make them safe places for birds,

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to incorporate habitat for birds.

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And as you say, it, it is, a lot of it has

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to do with urban design.

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So we know, for example, that a,

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at least in the US about a billion birds are killed each

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year from striking glass of, buildings.

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Uh, birds don't see glass

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as a barrier in the same way that we do.

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And so there, are a lot of cities now increasingly,

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that are, requiring bird safe, glass

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and bird safe facades, bird face, safe, buildings.

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And that means creating, buildings, glass that has,

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fritted pattern

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or something that, that actually makes

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that glass, visible.

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So in New York City now, there's a, a law, local law, 15

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that requires the first 75 feet

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of the building from ground level up, has to be, has

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to include, bird safe materials and bird safe glass.

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So, there, there are lots of urban design implications.

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Uh, here. We know that green rooftops,

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can increasingly be designed in ways

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that provide habitat for, for birds.

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So we can kind of reimagine the city as a habitat

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for birds and humans.

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And, and, you know, we, that's, that's part of what I,

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part of what I, defines a good city.

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For me, we are often talking about the concept of wildness.

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So often we think of wildness.

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We, we think of wilderness, right?

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At least in the American context.

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We have very famous wilderness Act of 1964.

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It creates a, a network of protected wilderness areas

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around, around the country.

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Our vision of what wilderness is, is this place

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that's far away from a city.

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It's a place where we go to visit.

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No, humans live there in some way, it's pristine,

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but we know it, it it's not really pristine

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and it's been altered.

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It's, it's, you know, shown it, it's been impacted

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by human alteration

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or human in for humans, for a long time.

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But, but that's really not the right way

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to think about a city.

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A city can't really have that kind of wilderness,

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but there are lots of ways in which it can be wild.

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So, that, that certainly means rewilding.

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It means thinking about the spaces where,

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a tiny forest might, might be planted, a Milwaukee forest

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or, thinking about again, birds

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or other, other kinds of animals that exude wildness.

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In, in American cities, we have the phenomenon of coyotes

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coming back into the city.

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We have cities like Los Angeles, where they're beginning

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to make room for the return of mountain lions,

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and making connections across highways and,

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and designing spaces in a way that allows that,

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that those wild animals to return back to those spaces

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and in, and live in and amongst us.

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So, there is a huge agenda for rewilding and cities.

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It could be that green rooftop that we talked about,

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rewilding, that that space could be a backyard, it could be,

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a space in the middle of a city

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that could be returned to nature.

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We have an example from our network of a wetland, a,

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a a traditional, water feature in the center

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of a city, Perth and Western Australia

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that has been converted actually to now what is a,

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a wild native biodiverse wetland in the middle of the city.

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So it's, it's moved, shifted from what was a

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highly energy intensive, chlorinated, biologically sterile,

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place to what is now a place

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where there are abundant birds and dragonflies and,

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and, you know, the frogs and the, and the sounds

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and the, all the wildness that goes along with the return

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of those things to cities.

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So rewilding is a really important part of our vision.

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It has, and that particular case is interesting

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because there is now a redevelopment plan

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underway in the center of Perth.

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And I'm, I'm told from my colleagues that there

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have been proposals to take out the wetland, and,

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and yet so many people have enjoyed that space.

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And it's been such a wonderful example of

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how you can take a small, a little piece of, of a,

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of a highly urbanized city and,

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and return it back to nature.

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So, the story, it's still in play.

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We don't know what will happen to that wetland,

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but I I think there are a lot of citizens there

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who are going to, going to be coming to its defense.

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But you're, you, you raise a good question.

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Is everybody going to embrace this vision of a wild city?

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Um, not everybody is happy, for example, about the return of

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coyotes, to, to, to the city.

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And, just recently we've had, examples of conflicts

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between coyotes, coyotes that have, have,

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been growling and, and some

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Cases have bitten hu humans in cities.

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There's a, there's a fear,

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there's a worry about the danger of certain,

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certain kinds of nature.

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Generally speaking, there's a kind of biphobia I think

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that a lot of urbanites who, who have not been

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around much nature, fear of the unknown perhaps.

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So there are some, those, those kinds

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of challenges that we have to face.

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Um, as well, we have a network that now consists

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of 32 partner cities in our biophilic cities network.

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And I'd love for, everyone to go

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and visit our website, biophilic cities.org.

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There are case studies.

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Um, every part,

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every city in our network has their own curated, page.

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So there are wonderful things going on in every place,

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every city, and each city has its own particular

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opportunities, depending on its ecology.

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Its, where, where it is in the world,

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and the political support and, and,

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and other, other, conditions that, that, that sort of,

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you know, dictate what, what's possible there.

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So each city's doing something a little bit differently.

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Um, San Francisco, for example,

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has had this long history of creatively repurposing spaces.

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Um, the idea of a parklet, for example,

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a tiny little park that's created from two

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or three on street parking spaces for cars,

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that's really interesting.

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And actually, has a very interesting program called the,

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street parks where they're taking leftover spaces,

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owned by the city, some of them in the, in the median strip

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between two roads

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and actually giving them back to communities to design

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and plan small parks.

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That's really interesting.

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Another example from San Francisco is, an initiative

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to actually allow,

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homeowners allow neighbor neighborhoods

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to actually take up pavement.

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Uh, there's a sidewalk, garden permit that,

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that you can get, basically lets you go, you know, go out

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and jackhammer that sidewalk, take up the hard surface

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and plant, flowers and plant, greenery nature.

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Um, a lot of other wonderful cities.

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Singapore, city

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and city state has been one

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of our partner cities from the beginning.

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That is a city that has called itself a

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garden city for many years.

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It's more recently changed its motto to city

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and a garden, which seems like a small change.

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It's really quite profound, the idea that we don't just,

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have a few places, a few gardens, a few forests,

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a few parks in the city that we go to visit,

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but rather we think of the whole city as a park,

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as a garden, as a forest.

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Um, and so now they've even shifted their motto from that,

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from, a city in a garden to a city in nature,

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because they're having a, a kind of debate about whether,

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whether the word garden is, something that,

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makes us think about wildness in the way

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that we just talked about it.

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So Singapore has a, a number of wonderful policies.

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There's something called the landscape replacement policy,

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which is a planning, requirement.

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So if you build a, a building in Singapore's, a very,

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a vertical city, right?

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Lots of high rise buildings.

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You build a city, you have to replace the,

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at least the nature you've lost at, at the ground level

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with nature in the vertical realm.

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So sky parks and green rooftops and,

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and, na, you know, green walls.

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And, and so Singapore has become this pioneer

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of all the kind of different creative ways

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that you can design nature into that, the form

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and structure of that, of that, building.

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So there are, projects, like the

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downtown o Asia, hotel,

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where in fact the entire exterior of the building, is,

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is a growing space.

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14 different varieties of flowering vines.

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Something is always flowering every, every time of the year.

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There's some something that's, that's blooming the idea

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of a, of a building that we designed to bloom.

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And it, and it becomes habitat, habitat for birds

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and squirrels and other, other, critters.

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So, so we're very inspired by, Singapore, a lot

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of other things that the city, that city,

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city state is, is doing.

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Um, Edmonton Canada would be another wonderful,

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example here, a city

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that has emphasized ecological connectivity,

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in its design and, and planning.

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So actually looking at the city through the perspective

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of a bird, what would a, what would a bird think of Edmonton

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as it flies through, that, that city,

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and they've been using techniques like circuit scape

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modeling, this idea of kind of taking, ideas from, from

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electric circuits, thinking the city as a, as a place where,

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where you might have dis disconnection.

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So is, are there places

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where the tree canopy doesn't connect?

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And, and it's difficult for birds to fly through

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or across the city.

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So in, in Edmonton, whenever a road is built or,

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or a major project is, is, designed, there are these,

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wildlife passages that have

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to be integrated into those designs.

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So there are now more than 35 of them in the city

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of Edmonton.

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And one of the things

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that they didn't necessarily expect it,

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but they've seen a, a dramatic drop in car, wildlife, car,

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collisions as a result of having this network of,

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wildlife connections or wildlife passages.

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I think part of it is just imagining what a city could be.

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And I, I think our expectations are sometimes too low.

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And we, again, we think that that nature is something

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Optional. It's something,

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nice to have, but not essential.

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And I, I would, I would wanna change that way of thinking

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and say that there's so many,

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00:15:01.405 --> 00:15:03.405
ways our li our lives would be enhanced,

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00:15:04.065 --> 00:15:05.925
and that nature is, is not something

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optional, absolutely essential.

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And, and we can make the argument by, by pointing

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to the evidence and looking at the, the health outcomes.

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Um, a new study, coming out of Louisville,

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Kentucky here, where they've planted 9,000 trees

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around the city, and there, there are very clear

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00:15:23.925 --> 00:15:27.285
positive health Im impacts life expectancy, improvements,

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00:15:27.505 --> 00:15:31.365
all, all kinds of ways in which our, our, our health is, is,

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enhanced and improved.

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Our wellbeing is enhanced by having that nature.

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But I'd, I'd even go further

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and say that the quality

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of our lives will be so much better.

319
00:15:41.405 --> 00:15:43.125
Our lives will be more, more interesting.

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00:15:43.385 --> 00:15:47.765
Um, and, there, there will be more, awe,

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00:15:48.725 --> 00:15:51.825
awe and wonder and, and magic and delight.

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00:15:52.265 --> 00:15:54.185
Actually, I've, I've been saying for many years

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that we've got to,

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00:15:56.305 --> 00:16:00.105
embrace maybe different language in talking about cities,

325
00:16:00.195 --> 00:16:03.305
we're not often talking about the magic of cities

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00:16:03.765 --> 00:16:06.985
or, the ways in which, urban design

327
00:16:07.005 --> 00:16:10.305
and planning help to invoke feelings of, of awe.

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00:16:10.925 --> 00:16:14.505
Um, those are the things that make our lives worth living

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00:16:14.605 --> 00:16:17.745
and things that make life really, wonderful, right?

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00:16:17.745 --> 00:16:22.385
That, and cities, are, we often bemoan the, the, the,

331
00:16:22.445 --> 00:16:26.345
the noise and the harried life, li lives

332
00:16:26.365 --> 00:16:28.105
and lifestyles of cities and,

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00:16:28.285 --> 00:16:30.305
and just the, all the kind

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00:16:30.305 --> 00:16:31.825
of negatives connected with cities.

335
00:16:31.885 --> 00:16:35.025
But it doesn't, doesn't have to be that way at all.

336
00:16:35.245 --> 00:16:39.025
And nature has, this is this mat really wonderful elixir

337
00:16:39.025 --> 00:16:42.945
that can, change many of those, many

338
00:16:42.945 --> 00:16:43.625
of those conditions.

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