![\"GardeningWithKids-GuerrillaGarden-BGN\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/GardeningWithKids-GuerrillaGarden-BGN-150x150.jpg\")
The sky is the limit for urban agriculture.
\nOr is it?
\nWhat can cities hope to get from community gardens and urban agriculture?<\/a><\/h1>\n![\"20110418_BROADWAY_MIRROR\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/20110418_BROADWAY_MIRROR-150x150.jpg\")
How can art (in all its forms), exhibits, installations and provocations be a better catalyst to raise awareness, support and momentum for urban nature and green spaces?\u00a0<\/a><\/h1>\n![\"Photo](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Photo-credit-SEGC-CityLab-Universidad-de-los-Andes-2-150x150.jpg\")
Do urban green corridors \u201cwork\u201d?
\nIt depends on what we want them to do. What ecological and\/or social functions can we realistically expect green corridors to perform in cities? What attributes define them, from a design and performance perspective?<\/a><\/h1>\n* * *<\/p>\n
Blogs and Essays<\/h1>\n
![\"Aerial](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Aerial-views-of-the-damage-caused-by-Hurricane-Sandy-to-the-New-Jersey-coast.-U.S.-Air-Force-photo-by-Master-Sgt.-Mark-C.-Olsen.-150x150.jpg\")
The Rise of Resilience: Linking Resilience and Sustainability in City Planning<\/strong>
\nby Timon McPhearson<\/p>\nCities around the world are making plans, developing agendas, and articulating goals for urban resilience, but is urban resilience really possible? Resilience to what, for what, and\u00a0for whom<\/a>? Additionally, resilience is being used in many cases as a replacement for sustainability, which it is not. Resilience and sustainability need to be linked, but with care and clarity. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"MumbaiStreetTree1\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/MumbaiStreetTree1-150x150.jpg\")
The ‘Equal Streets’ Movement in Mumbai<\/strong>
\nby P.K. Das<\/p>\nHow do we deal with this complex web of conflicts and contradictions for the achievement of more humane and environmentally sustainable streets, and in place of highly unequal roads in favour of cars? How do we make cities and their streetscapes more livable? Reclaiming some of the street space for pedestrians and trees is part of the answer. These spaces need to be planned to be more amenable for people and nature; that is, more livable. A significant movement presently under way in Mumbai called \u201cEqual Streets\u201d. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"picture6\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/picture6-150x150.jpg\")
The New is Well Forgotten Old: Scandanavian Vernacular Experience on Biodiverse Green Roofs<\/strong>
\nby Maria Ignatieva and\u00a0Anna Bubnova<\/p>\nIn the last two decades, the technology of creating green roofs has become standardized.\u00a0 The most popular today are extensive green roofs with a thin substrate layer and several succulent drought tolerant species such as\u00a0Sedum\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Sempervivum<\/i>. But the most recent trend in ecological design is creating biodiverse green roofs that can be seen as a valuable urban biotope and substitute of the lost terrestrial habitat during building construction process. In this sense the Scandinavian vernacular experience of green roofs can be a very valuable foundation for modern researchers and designers. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"bettervariedstreetshot\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/bettervariedstreetshot-150x150.jpg\")
The Nature of a City Economy: Towards an Ecology of Entrepreneurship<\/strong>
\nby Vin Cipolla and Mary Rowe<\/p>\nThere is an ecology to the city, a pattern of reciprocal connections that underpin its resilience. We see this in the landscape and topography that (hopefully) informs the constructed city, and then in the design of human-made services of city-life, like transit and street grids, public spaces that serve as recharge areas (in all sorts of ways), and in the ways that water and energy and food are transmitted through the city. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"(1)\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/1-150x150.jpg\")
It’s Not Only City Design\u2014We Need to Integrate Sustainability Across the Rural-Urban Continuum<\/strong>
\nby Fran\u00e7ois Mancebo<\/p>\nIn the minds of many people, sustainable urbanization is identified with the historical model of European cities, with their dense center and their suburbs. Thus, \u201ccompact cities\u201d are often perceived as the universal model of urban transition to sustainability. I\u2019d like to ask two very simple questions, however incongruous they might seem: Is it feasible? Is it desirable? Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"An](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/An-example-of-a-returned-map-from-the-Lower-Hunter-open-space-survey-150x150.jpg\")
A Values-Based Approach to Urban Nature Research and Practice<\/strong>
\nby Chris Ives<\/p>\nI believe that understanding what people value in urban environments, and why, is fundamental to achieving sustainable and biodiverse cities. However, much of the work on urban ecosystem services has failed to explore the breadth and depth of the concept of values. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Blue](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Blue-Heron-Park-150x150.jpg\")
Natural Parks Define American Cities<\/strong>
\nby Adrian Benepe<\/p>\nI was recently surprised to learn an astonishing fact. In American\u2019s largest cities, more than half contain park systems that are more than 50 percent \u201cnatural.\u201d In fact, in America\u2019s 10 largest cities, all but one (Chicago) have park systems where more than half are natural. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Valentina](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/Valentina-color-t\u00f3xicas-autos-abandonados-basura-f\u00e1brica-con-humo-sin-humo-peces-vivos-150x150.jpg\")
We Should Look at Urban Nature More Through the Eyes of Children<\/strong>
\nby Ana Faggi and J\u00fcrgen Breuste<\/p>\nThe world we perceive is a world created by ourselves through our experiences, which reflects our expectations, needs and goals. Gibson, in his environmental perception theory, asserted that objects are perceived according to the meaning, action and behaviour involved and not according to the physical characteristics they possess. All of this influences how we plan, design and manage our cities. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"P1000536\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/P1000536-150x150.jpg\")
The UN in the Urban Anthropocene<\/strong>
\nby Oliver Hillel and Jose Puppim<\/p>\nCertainly we need a global legitimate organization like the UN to support the coordination of global efforts. But this is not enough. Global efforts will have impacts on the ground only if we have good local governance in a significant large number of localities. Thus, understanding the mechanisms governing urbanization, arguably as the largest human movement in history, is key to protecting the global environment, and for global politics and governance systems.\u00a0Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"tnoc.image.04.melles\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/tnoc.image_.04.melles-150x150.jpg\")
Sweet by Nature: African Cities and the Natural World<\/strong>
\nby Lesley Lokko<\/p>\nThe\u00a0relationship in most tropical climes between the natural and the manmade (for want of better terms), is profound: heat and humidity combine to ensure a fecundity that is fierce, almost fearful. Inert matter\u2014concrete, glass, metal, wood\u2014must fight nature in order to survive, maintain, remain. Things rot, disintegrate, weather and decay at a rate that far exceeds anything more milder climes contend with. Nature\u2019s vitality is evident everywhere. Yet we speak little\u00a0of\u00a0<\/i>nature, even less\u00a0about<\/i>\u00a0it. It seems to me that there\u2019s a missed opportunity somewhere to think deeply and creatively about what nature means to us, and to translate those narratives into built\/grown\/planted\/managed form. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"AndersonGardening\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/AndersonGardening-150x150.jpg\")
Driving Social and Ecological Change: My Experiment with\u00a0Guerrilla Gardening<\/strong>
\nby Pippin Anderson<\/p>\nSpurred on by some students who asked me earlier in the year what sort of personal activism I pursue in relation to my views around the importance of forwarding and preserving functioning urban ecologies, I decided to embark on a bit of guerilla gardening in the form of a seed bombing exercise. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"NYCGridLockWithPesestrians\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/NYCGridLockWithPesestrians1-150x150.jpg\")
Forget the Damned Motor Car<\/strong>
\nby Eric Sanderson<\/p>\nWhat do cars\u00a0have to do with the nature of cities? Cars are Enemy #1 for the nature of cities. Not only do gas-propelled vehicles pollute the environment and contribute to climate change, the roads they require take up space, robbing room from us and from nature at large. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"citizens-at-work-560x420\"](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/citizens-at-work-560x420-150x150.jpg\")
Inviting You to Collaborate with Nature to Transform Your City<\/strong>
\nby Janice Astbury<\/p>\nIn the many current discussions about how to make cities more resilient, the potential roles of citizens and urban nature are largely overlooked. There are exceptions, but\u00a0the level of interest seems disproportionately small given the tremendous opportunities for citizens to steward nature in cities\u2014or to \u2018collaborate\u2019 with nature. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n![\"YOUR](\"http:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/YOUR-CHILDRENS-FUTURE-2-copy1-150x150.jpg\")
Graffiti on the Path and the Nature of Public Space<\/strong>
\nby Paul Downton<\/p>\n
How can art (in all its forms), exhibits, installations and provocations be a better catalyst to raise awareness, support and momentum for urban nature and green spaces?\u00a0<\/a><\/h1>\nDo urban green corridors \u201cwork\u201d?
\nIt depends on what we want them to do. What ecological and\/or social functions can we realistically expect green corridors to perform in cities? What attributes define them, from a design and performance perspective?<\/a><\/h1>\n* * *<\/p>\n
Blogs and Essays<\/h1>\n
The Rise of Resilience: Linking Resilience and Sustainability in City Planning<\/strong>
\nby Timon McPhearson<\/p>\nCities around the world are making plans, developing agendas, and articulating goals for urban resilience, but is urban resilience really possible? Resilience to what, for what, and\u00a0for whom<\/a>? Additionally, resilience is being used in many cases as a replacement for sustainability, which it is not. Resilience and sustainability need to be linked, but with care and clarity. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nThe ‘Equal Streets’ Movement in Mumbai<\/strong>
\nby P.K. Das<\/p>\nHow do we deal with this complex web of conflicts and contradictions for the achievement of more humane and environmentally sustainable streets, and in place of highly unequal roads in favour of cars? How do we make cities and their streetscapes more livable? Reclaiming some of the street space for pedestrians and trees is part of the answer. These spaces need to be planned to be more amenable for people and nature; that is, more livable. A significant movement presently under way in Mumbai called \u201cEqual Streets\u201d. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nThe New is Well Forgotten Old: Scandanavian Vernacular Experience on Biodiverse Green Roofs<\/strong>
\nby Maria Ignatieva and\u00a0Anna Bubnova<\/p>\nIn the last two decades, the technology of creating green roofs has become standardized.\u00a0 The most popular today are extensive green roofs with a thin substrate layer and several succulent drought tolerant species such as\u00a0Sedum\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Sempervivum<\/i>. But the most recent trend in ecological design is creating biodiverse green roofs that can be seen as a valuable urban biotope and substitute of the lost terrestrial habitat during building construction process. In this sense the Scandinavian vernacular experience of green roofs can be a very valuable foundation for modern researchers and designers. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nThe Nature of a City Economy: Towards an Ecology of Entrepreneurship<\/strong>
\nby Vin Cipolla and Mary Rowe<\/p>\nThere is an ecology to the city, a pattern of reciprocal connections that underpin its resilience. We see this in the landscape and topography that (hopefully) informs the constructed city, and then in the design of human-made services of city-life, like transit and street grids, public spaces that serve as recharge areas (in all sorts of ways), and in the ways that water and energy and food are transmitted through the city. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nIt’s Not Only City Design\u2014We Need to Integrate Sustainability Across the Rural-Urban Continuum<\/strong>
\nby Fran\u00e7ois Mancebo<\/p>\nIn the minds of many people, sustainable urbanization is identified with the historical model of European cities, with their dense center and their suburbs. Thus, \u201ccompact cities\u201d are often perceived as the universal model of urban transition to sustainability. I\u2019d like to ask two very simple questions, however incongruous they might seem: Is it feasible? Is it desirable? Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nA Values-Based Approach to Urban Nature Research and Practice<\/strong>
\nby Chris Ives<\/p>\nI believe that understanding what people value in urban environments, and why, is fundamental to achieving sustainable and biodiverse cities. However, much of the work on urban ecosystem services has failed to explore the breadth and depth of the concept of values. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nNatural Parks Define American Cities<\/strong>
\nby Adrian Benepe<\/p>\nI was recently surprised to learn an astonishing fact. In American\u2019s largest cities, more than half contain park systems that are more than 50 percent \u201cnatural.\u201d In fact, in America\u2019s 10 largest cities, all but one (Chicago) have park systems where more than half are natural. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nWe Should Look at Urban Nature More Through the Eyes of Children<\/strong>
\nby Ana Faggi and J\u00fcrgen Breuste<\/p>\nThe world we perceive is a world created by ourselves through our experiences, which reflects our expectations, needs and goals. Gibson, in his environmental perception theory, asserted that objects are perceived according to the meaning, action and behaviour involved and not according to the physical characteristics they possess. All of this influences how we plan, design and manage our cities. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nThe UN in the Urban Anthropocene<\/strong>
\nby Oliver Hillel and Jose Puppim<\/p>\nCertainly we need a global legitimate organization like the UN to support the coordination of global efforts. But this is not enough. Global efforts will have impacts on the ground only if we have good local governance in a significant large number of localities. Thus, understanding the mechanisms governing urbanization, arguably as the largest human movement in history, is key to protecting the global environment, and for global politics and governance systems.\u00a0Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nSweet by Nature: African Cities and the Natural World<\/strong>
\nby Lesley Lokko<\/p>\nThe\u00a0relationship in most tropical climes between the natural and the manmade (for want of better terms), is profound: heat and humidity combine to ensure a fecundity that is fierce, almost fearful. Inert matter\u2014concrete, glass, metal, wood\u2014must fight nature in order to survive, maintain, remain. Things rot, disintegrate, weather and decay at a rate that far exceeds anything more milder climes contend with. Nature\u2019s vitality is evident everywhere. Yet we speak little\u00a0of\u00a0<\/i>nature, even less\u00a0about<\/i>\u00a0it. It seems to me that there\u2019s a missed opportunity somewhere to think deeply and creatively about what nature means to us, and to translate those narratives into built\/grown\/planted\/managed form. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nDriving Social and Ecological Change: My Experiment with\u00a0Guerrilla Gardening<\/strong>
\nby Pippin Anderson<\/p>\nSpurred on by some students who asked me earlier in the year what sort of personal activism I pursue in relation to my views around the importance of forwarding and preserving functioning urban ecologies, I decided to embark on a bit of guerilla gardening in the form of a seed bombing exercise. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nForget the Damned Motor Car<\/strong>
\nby Eric Sanderson<\/p>\nWhat do cars\u00a0have to do with the nature of cities? Cars are Enemy #1 for the nature of cities. Not only do gas-propelled vehicles pollute the environment and contribute to climate change, the roads they require take up space, robbing room from us and from nature at large. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nInviting You to Collaborate with Nature to Transform Your City<\/strong>
\nby Janice Astbury<\/p>\nIn the many current discussions about how to make cities more resilient, the potential roles of citizens and urban nature are largely overlooked. There are exceptions, but\u00a0the level of interest seems disproportionately small given the tremendous opportunities for citizens to steward nature in cities\u2014or to \u2018collaborate\u2019 with nature. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nGraffiti on the Path and the Nature of Public Space<\/strong>
\nby Paul Downton<\/p>\n
The Rise of Resilience: Linking Resilience and Sustainability in City Planning<\/strong>\nby Timon McPhearson<\/p>\n
Cities around the world are making plans, developing agendas, and articulating goals for urban resilience, but is urban resilience really possible? Resilience to what, for what, and\u00a0for whom<\/a>? Additionally, resilience is being used in many cases as a replacement for sustainability, which it is not. Resilience and sustainability need to be linked, but with care and clarity. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n How do we deal with this complex web of conflicts and contradictions for the achievement of more humane and environmentally sustainable streets, and in place of highly unequal roads in favour of cars? How do we make cities and their streetscapes more livable? Reclaiming some of the street space for pedestrians and trees is part of the answer. These spaces need to be planned to be more amenable for people and nature; that is, more livable. A significant movement presently under way in Mumbai called \u201cEqual Streets\u201d. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n In the last two decades, the technology of creating green roofs has become standardized.\u00a0 The most popular today are extensive green roofs with a thin substrate layer and several succulent drought tolerant species such as\u00a0Sedum\u00a0<\/i>and\u00a0Sempervivum<\/i>. But the most recent trend in ecological design is creating biodiverse green roofs that can be seen as a valuable urban biotope and substitute of the lost terrestrial habitat during building construction process. In this sense the Scandinavian vernacular experience of green roofs can be a very valuable foundation for modern researchers and designers. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n There is an ecology to the city, a pattern of reciprocal connections that underpin its resilience. We see this in the landscape and topography that (hopefully) informs the constructed city, and then in the design of human-made services of city-life, like transit and street grids, public spaces that serve as recharge areas (in all sorts of ways), and in the ways that water and energy and food are transmitted through the city. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n In the minds of many people, sustainable urbanization is identified with the historical model of European cities, with their dense center and their suburbs. Thus, \u201ccompact cities\u201d are often perceived as the universal model of urban transition to sustainability. I\u2019d like to ask two very simple questions, however incongruous they might seem: Is it feasible? Is it desirable? Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n I believe that understanding what people value in urban environments, and why, is fundamental to achieving sustainable and biodiverse cities. However, much of the work on urban ecosystem services has failed to explore the breadth and depth of the concept of values. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n I was recently surprised to learn an astonishing fact. In American\u2019s largest cities, more than half contain park systems that are more than 50 percent \u201cnatural.\u201d In fact, in America\u2019s 10 largest cities, all but one (Chicago) have park systems where more than half are natural. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n The world we perceive is a world created by ourselves through our experiences, which reflects our expectations, needs and goals. Gibson, in his environmental perception theory, asserted that objects are perceived according to the meaning, action and behaviour involved and not according to the physical characteristics they possess. All of this influences how we plan, design and manage our cities. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n Certainly we need a global legitimate organization like the UN to support the coordination of global efforts. But this is not enough. Global efforts will have impacts on the ground only if we have good local governance in a significant large number of localities. Thus, understanding the mechanisms governing urbanization, arguably as the largest human movement in history, is key to protecting the global environment, and for global politics and governance systems.\u00a0Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n The\u00a0relationship in most tropical climes between the natural and the manmade (for want of better terms), is profound: heat and humidity combine to ensure a fecundity that is fierce, almost fearful. Inert matter\u2014concrete, glass, metal, wood\u2014must fight nature in order to survive, maintain, remain. Things rot, disintegrate, weather and decay at a rate that far exceeds anything more milder climes contend with. Nature\u2019s vitality is evident everywhere. Yet we speak little\u00a0of\u00a0<\/i>nature, even less\u00a0about<\/i>\u00a0it. It seems to me that there\u2019s a missed opportunity somewhere to think deeply and creatively about what nature means to us, and to translate those narratives into built\/grown\/planted\/managed form. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n Spurred on by some students who asked me earlier in the year what sort of personal activism I pursue in relation to my views around the importance of forwarding and preserving functioning urban ecologies, I decided to embark on a bit of guerilla gardening in the form of a seed bombing exercise. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n What do cars\u00a0have to do with the nature of cities? Cars are Enemy #1 for the nature of cities. Not only do gas-propelled vehicles pollute the environment and contribute to climate change, the roads they require take up space, robbing room from us and from nature at large. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n In the many current discussions about how to make cities more resilient, the potential roles of citizens and urban nature are largely overlooked. There are exceptions, but\u00a0the level of interest seems disproportionately small given the tremendous opportunities for citizens to steward nature in cities\u2014or to \u2018collaborate\u2019 with nature. Read more…<\/a><\/p>\nThe ‘Equal Streets’ Movement in Mumbai<\/strong>
\nby P.K. Das<\/p>\nThe New is Well Forgotten Old: Scandanavian Vernacular Experience on Biodiverse Green Roofs<\/strong>
\nby Maria Ignatieva and\u00a0Anna Bubnova<\/p>\nThe Nature of a City Economy: Towards an Ecology of Entrepreneurship<\/strong>
\nby Vin Cipolla and Mary Rowe<\/p>\nIt’s Not Only City Design\u2014We Need to Integrate Sustainability Across the Rural-Urban Continuum<\/strong>
\nby Fran\u00e7ois Mancebo<\/p>\nA Values-Based Approach to Urban Nature Research and Practice<\/strong>
\nby Chris Ives<\/p>\nNatural Parks Define American Cities<\/strong>
\nby Adrian Benepe<\/p>\nWe Should Look at Urban Nature More Through the Eyes of Children<\/strong>
\nby Ana Faggi and J\u00fcrgen Breuste<\/p>\nThe UN in the Urban Anthropocene<\/strong>
\nby Oliver Hillel and Jose Puppim<\/p>\nSweet by Nature: African Cities and the Natural World<\/strong>
\nby Lesley Lokko<\/p>\nDriving Social and Ecological Change: My Experiment with\u00a0Guerrilla Gardening<\/strong>
\nby Pippin Anderson<\/p>\nForget the Damned Motor Car<\/strong>
\nby Eric Sanderson<\/p>\nInviting You to Collaborate with Nature to Transform Your City<\/strong>
\nby Janice Astbury<\/p>\nGraffiti on the Path and the Nature of Public Space<\/strong>
\nby Paul Downton<\/p>\n