TEST ROUNDTABLE WITH 3

David Maddox, New York .  Marina Alberti, Seattle.  M'Lisa Colbert, Montreal.  Richard Friend, York. 
30 April 2025

Art, Science, Action: Green Cities Re-imagined
Regularly, we feature a Global Roundtable in which a group of people respond to a specific question in The Nature of Cities.
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Hover over a name to see an excerpt of their response…click on the name to see their full response.
David Maddox

about the writer
David Maddox

David loves urban spaces and nature. He loves creativity and collaboration. He loves theatre and music. In his life and work he has practiced in all of these as, in various moments, a scientist, a climate change researcher, a land steward, an ecological practitioner, composer, a playwright, a musician, an actor, and a theatre director. David's dad told him once that he needed a back up plan, something to "fall back on". So he bought a tuba.

Introduction

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Marina Alberti

about the writer
Marina Alberti

Marina Alberti is Professor of Urban Design and Planning and Director of the Urban Ecology Research Lab at the University of Washington. Her research focuses on complexity, resilience, and eco-evolutionary dynamics in urban ecosystems.

Marina Alberti

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David Maddox

about the writer
David Maddox

David loves urban spaces and nature. He loves creativity and collaboration. He loves theatre and music. In his life and work he has practiced in all of these as, in various moments, a scientist, a climate change researcher, a land steward, an ecological practitioner, composer, a playwright, a musician, an actor, and a theatre director. David's dad told him once that he needed a back up plan, something to "fall back on". So he bought a tuba.

David Maddox

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M'Lisa Colbert

about the writer
M'Lisa Colbert

M'Lisa Lee Colbert is a social scientist, and an urban farmer. She is currently working to improve access to locally grown produce year-round at an affordable price, in Montreal.

M’Lisa Colbert

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Richard Friend

about the writer
Richard Friend

Richard Friend is in the Environment Department, University of York, and member of the management group of the University’s International Development Network.

Richard Friend and Pakamas Thinphanga

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Alice Reil

about the writer
Alice Reil

Alice Reil (she/her) is an urban geographer who strives to bring more biodiverse, urban nature into public spaces. She led the biodiversity and nature-based solutions team at ICLEI Europe, a global city network, and now works at the City of Munich’s green space planning department.

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David Maddox

David Maddox

David loves people, urban spaces, and nature. He loves knowledge, creativity, and collaboration. He loves art, theatre, and music. In his life and work he has practiced in all of these. He is committed to the creation of sustainable, resilient, livable, and just cities, and after a PhD in ecology and statistics at Cornell he spent 10 years with The Nature Conservancy working on climate change and stewardship. After this, he became a composer, musician, playwright, and theatre artist. As a composer, musician, lyricist and playwright, he has created various recordings and eight produced works of musical theatre, three published by Dramatic Publishing, and with commissions for new work from organizations such as the Kennedy Center, Signature Theatre, and George Mason University. He has created sound designs and scores to over 150 productions around the U.S., and has worked in dance, museum design, and documentary film. David has received various awards for work in theater, including 13 Helen Hayes Award nominations (and one win), and various other awards. In 2012, David founded The Nature of Cities and remains its Executive Director. TNOC is a transdisciplinary essay and discussion site—with 1,000+ writers from around the world, from scientists to activists, designers to artists—on cities as ecosystems of people, nature, and infrastructure. Core to this work is knowledge building from multiple sources, putting people with different ideas and creativities together: from art to science to planning to community building. As part of this work, he has co-created a poetry journal (Sprout), curated many art+science exhibits, a comic book series on nature-based soutions, written many papers and book chapters in science and urbanism, is an international speaker, created a website of nature-themed graffiti, led community projects, edited two books of short fiction, and co-leads (with the US Forest Service) an arts residency program that creates teams of artists and scientists to learn from each other. This work that has led to many arts happenings, from murals and installations, to participatory meetings merging art, planning, science, and communities. He lives in New York City.

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