Meet the Author:
Scot Spencer,  Baltimore

Art, Science, Action: Cities Re-imagined
Scot Spencer

Scot Spencer

Scot Spencer is Associate Director for Advocacy and Influence for The Annie E. Casey Foundation to advance place-based policies, practices and strategies to afford greater opportunities for children, families and communities to succeed. Scot’s previous experiences include work in environmental advocacy, community development, architectural practice and university relations in Baltimore and upstate New York. Spencer chairs the board of Smart Growth America and serves on the board of The Funders’ Network and the Orton Family Foundation. He holds a bachelor’s in Architecture and a master’s in Urban and Environmental Studies from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

November, 2024

28 November 2024

A group of children running outside beside a building
The World On A Brink Of Disaster: Leadership, Hope, And Strengthening Of Public Mental Health In Humanitarian Crises
Manasi Kumar, Nairobi Keith Martin, Washington D.C. Aniruddh Behere, Lansing

The world is still reeling from the massive mortality and setbacks of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing political invasion and violence between Nation states. Polarized geopolitics has steered us in a dismal direction. Added to this, natural and human-made emergencies are creating further uncertainties. We would have thought that...

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15 November 2024

A picture of glowing lanterns of colorful animals
Whimsy. Is there a role for laughter, subversive curve balls, ironic romance and “oh wow that’s cool” moments in the mainstreaming of knowledge and action in sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity?
Molly Anderson, Cape Town Pippin Anderson, Cape Town Emmalee Barnett, Spokane Nic Bennett, Austin James Bonner, Glasgow Tam Dean Burn, Glasgow Bill McGuire, Glasgow Ian Douglas, Manchester Paul Downton, Melbourne Lisa Fitzsimons, Dublin Chris Fremantle, Ayrshire, Scotland Elizabeth Frickey, New York City Tony Kendle, Saint Austell Gareth Kennedy, Dublin David Maddox, New York Rob McDonald, Basel Gareth Moore-Jones, Ohope Beach Richard Scott, Liverpool Hita Unnikrishnan, Warwick Ania Upstill, New York Wendy Wischer, Connecticut Claudia Misteli, Barcelona Alastair McIntosh, Glasgow

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13 November 2024

A group of trees in wooden planters in a room
How Could an Orchard Installed in a Gallery Affect Us (And The Gallery)?
Chris Fremantle, Ayrshire, Scotland

The Nature of Cities focuses on creative approaches to greening urban environments, what that means, why it is important, who is involved, and how, including Roundtables on “cities and pollinators“, and regenerative urban agriculture. The focus of this piece is 18 fruit trees installed for 6 months in an art...

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October, 2024

30 October 2024

An open book with a picture of a tree and pressed leaves
A Tree Grows in Queens
Magali Duzant, New York City

In 2020, to halt the building of a logging road in Canada, a group of activists set up blockades to protect woodland in British Columbia. A Pacheedaht elder named Bill Jones was quoted in The Guardian as saying, “We must not stand down”. He went on to call ancient trees...

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16 October 2024

An election poster
Why I’m Voting for a Multispecies Future
Christopher Kennedy, San Francisco

The notion of giving voice to more-than-human communities has long been of interest to artists, activists, and change-makers worldwide. Though still emerging, movements like the rights of nature have increasingly advocated for granting natural entities—rivers, forests, ecosystems—legal standing, akin to the rights given to people or corporations. Over the past...

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4 October 2024

Two side by side Google Maps images. Left a dense forested aerial view. Right a crowded neighborhood with streets lined with houses
We Need New Indicators to Understand Whether Greener Neighborhoods Reduce Obesity
Takemi Sugiyama, Melbourne Manoj Chandrabose, Melbourne Nyssa Hadgraft, Melbourne Suzanne Mavoa, Melbourne

Obesity imposes a heavy burden on individuals and societies (Boutari and Mantzoros, 2022). Since obesity is difficult to cure and often coexists with other chronic conditions, public health efforts to prevent obesity are needed (McNally, 2024). However, a strategy focusing on individuals, simply telling people to eat less and exercise...

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September, 2024

15 September 2024

A group of people holding signs in front of trees
On The Psychology of Trees and How to Change It
Tim Beatley, Charlottesville

I have come to believe that in the fight to save trees and forests in our cities, it is necessary to better understand what I am calling the “psychology of trees”, those factors and influences and patterns of thinking that affect the decisions individuals, developers, and even entire communities, make...

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4 September 2024

A wall with several house martin nests made up underneath the roofline
Soft Animal
Andreas Weber, Berlin

Did you know that baby housemartins speak in their sleep? I did not ― until some nights ago in early July. I was walking down the deserted main road outside Varese Ligure, an old-fashioned Italian mountain town. It was the evening of the day I had arrived. Following the dimly...

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August, 2024

22 August 2024

A picture of a root bridge over a river
Granularity, Dynamism, and Embodiment at The Nature of Cities Festival 2024
Natalie Pierson, New York City

I recently attended The Nature of Cities Festival (TNOC Festival) in Berlin, Germany, where I hosted a session with colleagues on the Global Roadmap for the Nature-based solutions for Urban Resilience in the Anthropocene (NATURA), a National Science Foundation research initiative co-led by the Urban Systems Lab. TNOC Festival uniquely...

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6 August 2024

Left: A tan rock apartment building. Right: A brick house with a hedge.
The Two Planets of Urban Heat
Rob McDonald, Basel

India is roasting, with some cities like Delhi pushing to almost 50 degrees C (122 degrees F). In India’s recent election, at least 33 poll workers died while doing mostly compulsory work to administer the election in sweltering polling places. All told, there have probably been thousands or tens of...

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July, 2024

30 July 2024

A group of old tombstones in a cemetery
Connecting Nature and Culture in the Urbanising Global South: The Lakshmipuram Urban Cemetery, Bengaluru, India
Seema Mundoli, Bangalore Harini Nagendra, Bangalore

The word “cemetery” is derived from the Greek word ‘koimeterion’ meaning ‘dormitory’ or “resting place”. But cemeteries in cities can be more than resting sites for the deceased, or for their loved ones to visit and mourn. They are spaces that harbour a rich biodiversity including trees and plants of...

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15 July 2024

How Do Biophilic Design Approaches in Cafes and Restaurants in Buenos Aires Motivate Their Customers?
Ana Faggi, Buenos Aires Regina Nabhen, Buenos Aires Patricia Frontera, Buenos Aires Ana Saez, Buenos Aires

Human reconnection with Nature is one of the greatest challenges of architecture in the attempt to generate more livable cities in built environments. Among architects and designers, there were visionaries who sought to reflect an indivisible relationship between art, life, and nature in their compositions. One of them was Hundertwasser...

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9 July 2024

A person crouched down on the ground looking at green vegetables at a market
Exploring the Diverse Contributions of Informality to Transformation in the Largest Cities of Africa
Ibrahim Wallee, Accra

In the dynamic landscape of Africa, a fascinating interplay unfolds between urban informality and the transformative promise of primate cities. Mark Jefferson defined a primate city in 1939 as the largest in its country, province, state, or region, and disproportionately larger than any others in the urban hierarchy: at least...

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June, 2024

30 June 2024

A body of water with hills and land
Kansai Walks: Landform as Cultural Heritage and Sustainable Ecology
Brian McGrath, New York Yuji Hara, Wakayama Danai Thaitakoo, Bangkok

Kansai is both an international airport built on an artificial island in Osaka Bay and an urban megaregion sprawling across Japan’s largest and most populous Honshu Island. But Kansai also affords countless walks in which to understand landform heritage and ecology. The Osaka Sea is embraced by two mountainous areas,...

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May, 2024

27 May 2024

A child drawing on a large piece of canvas smattered with drawings and colorful squiggles
How Much Water is There? Voices and Traces of Water as Perceived by Children and Young People in Bogotá
Diana Wiesner, Bogota

Lee esto en español. Over the course of a year, we embarked on an emotional and conceptual journey of exploration and reflection on water with two groups of young people and children living on the border between urban and rural areas in the hills of Bogotá. This experience led us...

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12 May 2024

A billboard in pink script reading "Imagine a city without billboards" with a person in activewear running by it
1.5°C Lifestyles and the City
Raz Godelnik, Princeton Peleg Kremer, Princeton

The imperative to mitigate global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels necessitates substantial systemic changes in the Global North. While much attention has been directed towards clean energy transition and infrastructure investments, addressing unsustainable consumption habits has not received the priority it deserves. The growing challenges in...

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April, 2024

27 April 2024

Dancing With Scientists
Lindsay Campbell, New York Franklin Cruz, Denver

Lindsay: I am co-principal Investigator on a USDA Forest Service (USFS) research project called “Fueling Adaptation” which is looking at wildfire communications, governance, and adaptation as part of the Wildfire Crisis Strategy.  This is work I co-lead with Miranda Mockrin (USFS) and Cody Evers (Portland State University). Our team of...

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3 April 2024

A tree on the side of a road
Fight Fire With Fire … and Standards With Standards ― Building blocks for nature
Gitty Korsuize, Utrecht

A biking lane should measure 4.20 meters at minimum in the city of Utrecht. Sidewalks need to be 1.20 meters wide to make sure pedestrians and a person in a wheelchair can pass each other. For each house we build we add 0.78 parking spaces in the public domain. In...

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March, 2024

27 March 2024

A diagram of a sustainable development
Environmental, Social, and Governance Investing for Inclusive Cities
Fadi Hamdan, Athens

Background to the Sustainable Financing Gap Globally, challenges in making our cities resilient are multi-dimensional and are on the rise. According to the 2023 Sustainable Development Goals Report, over half of the global population currently resides in urban areas, a rate projected to reach 70% by 2050. Approximately 1.1 billion...

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18 March 2024

A group of people on bikes and motor scooters driving down a flooded street
What if Mobility Due to Climate Extremes Is a Crisis for Some but an Adaptation Measure for Others?
Buyana Kareem, Kampala

The United Nations Disaster Risk Agency holds that “displacement means situations where people are forced or obliged to leave their homes or places of habitual residence because of a disaster or to avoid the impact of an immediate and foreseeable natural hazard. Such displacement results from the fact that affected...

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