Nature Custodianship in Cities

"The trick is to include nature as a fundamental part of cities – not a tacked on afterthought. What most urban ecologists call for is a larger rethink of cities as natural ecosystems with their own metabolism – a blend of natural space, wildlife and built structures, not unlike a river with a beaver dam. Instead of adding green to urban blueprints, they argue for the “biophilic city,” an urban space that is natural in its own right, with green included from the ground up. Features such as living walls, in which greenery is planted vertically, or cookie-cutter parks may amount to little more than green-washing, argues Joseph Juhasz, a professor emeritus in the architecture faculty at the University of Colorado at Denver. “They dress up the city, grow cucumbers on the wall, but they don’t deal with the fundamental problem – we have to build in a manner in which the site does not dictate the building.” Like many environmentalists, Dr. Juhasz says urban planners too often settle for short-term design that leaves a long-term footprint. “We have lost a sense of custodianship. Will their great-grandchildren be happy with what they have built?”"--Erin Andersson, www.theglobeandmail.com

Effects of biodiversity and environment-related attitude on perception of urban green space

“Green space in cities contributes to the quality of life for city dwellers, e.g., by increasing the opportunity for recreation. However, perception of urban green space is influenced by multiple factors. We investigated effects of biodiversity and environment-related attitudes on visual and auditory perceptions of urban green space. Field measurements of biodiversity were conducted in six sites across an urban gradient in Gothenburg, Sweden, and three categories of biodiversity—high, medium, low—were established. Households were sent a survey on aesthetic perception of urban green space, sound perception and the importance of trees and plants for the perception of bird species. Each respondent focused on the site that was located nearby. The environment-related attitudes comprised “Nature-oriented” and “Urban-oriented” persons and were based on participants’ own attitude estimations. It was shown that participants’ “subjective” aesthetic and sound-related perception of urban greenery were in line with the “objectively” measured subdivisions of high, medium and low biodiversity. So also were their estimations of the importance of trees and plants for perception of bird species in urban greenery, although differing only between high and medium/low biodiversity conditions. Persons rating themselves as highly nature-oriented were shown to give higher scores to urban green space aesthetics and to value greenery-related sounds higher, and to attach greater importance to trees and plants in their perception of bird species in urban greenery, than less nature-oriented persons. Highly urban-oriented persons compared to less urban-oriented persons did the same, but only regarding urban greenery-related aesthetics and sounds of nature. We conclude that environment-related attitudes influence perceptions of green space. Moreover, our findings support the idea that biodiversity per se also influences perceptions; people value green space significantly more with high than with low measured biodiversity. Urban planning needs to provide city inhabitants with green spaces that are species-rich, lush, varied and rich with natural sounds.”

Gunnarsson, B., Knez, I., Hedblom, M. et al. Urban Ecosyst (2017) 20: 37. doi:10.1007/s11252-016-0581-x

(Nothing But) Flowers

Talking Heads, Naked

Written by David Byrne • Copyright © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc

Here we stand

Like an Adam and an Eve

Waterfalls

The Garden of Eden

Two fools in love

So beautiful and strong

The birds in the trees

Are smiling upon them

From the age of the dinosaurs

Cars have run on gasoline

Where, where have they gone?

Now, it's nothing but flowers

There was a factory

Now there are mountains and rivers

You got it, you got it

We caught a rattlesnake

Now we got something for dinner

We got it, we got it

There was a shopping mall

Now it's all covered with flowers

You've got it, you've got it

If this is paradise

I wish I had a lawnmower

You've got it, you've got it

Years ago

I was an angry young man

And I'd pretend

That I was a billboard

Standing tall

By the side of the road

I fell in love

With a beautiful highway

This used to be real estate

Now it's only fields and trees

Where, where is the town

Now, it's nothing but flowers

The highways and cars

Were sacrificed for agriculture

I thought that we'd start over

But I guess I was wrong

Once there were parking lots

Now it's a peaceful oasis

You've got it, you've got it

This was a Pizza Hut

Now it's all covered with daisies

You got it, you got it

I miss the honky tonks,

Dairy Queens, and 7-Elevens

You got it, you got it

And as things fell apart

Nobody paid much attention

You got it, you got it

I dream of cherry pies,

Candy bars, and chocolate chip cookies

You got it, you got it

We used to microwave

Now we just eat nuts and berries

You got it, you got it

This was a discount store,

Now it's turned into a cornfield

You've got it, you've got it

Don't leave me stranded here

I can't get used to this lifestyle

Listen on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c3t5nmgRVMs

The Living Urban Matrix: Ivy on Brick Walls

“Look at the ivy on the cold clinging wall,

Look at the flowers and the green grass so tall;

It’s not a matter of when push comes to shove,

It’s just an hour on the wings of a dove.”

                        --Van Morrison

Photo: Virginia Creeper (Parthenocissus quinquefolia) is used by many birds and mammals for food and habitat. (Brzuszek, 2016)

Bricks are fired handfuls of soil that once nurtured generations of grasses, shrubs and wildflowers. Now they lie dormant in plumb level rows between thin sheets of cold building mortar. Do they dream of a day to once again nurture life for an emerging seed? Maybe the ivy, used here as a general term for ivy-like things, senses this time-honored plant + soil relationship and creeps across the brick in a lover’s touch. Bricks support ivy so that its leaves can reach the sky and in return ivy drapes the building in a lace skin, cooling it to the touch in the hot summer sun.

Living Urban Matrix Element: Ivy on brick walls

Habitat: on buildings everywhere

Ecological services: the cooling of structures (2014 research by C. Bolton, et al, found that ivy coverings averaged 1.4 degrees Celsius warming at night, with 1.7 degrees Celsius cooling in day—resulting in an 8% energy savings ((Building and Environment 80:32–35, October 2014)). Plants also absorb rain water that ameliorates stormwater flooding (Living Architecture: Green Roofs and Walls, 2011, CSIRO Publishing).

Biodiversity values: creates excellent habitat and nesting for wildlife throughout the year for “many species of birds, insects and small mammals” (http://www.suffolkwildlifetrust.org/sites/default/files/ivy_0.pdf)

A Secondhand Life

“A row of daffodils and red tulips nestled against the walkway beneath my feet. Stray weeds peeked up through the cracks in the concrete, a reminder that that nature had the final say. No matter how much mankind bulldozed or built, all was vulnerable to Mother Nature's whims.”

― Pamela Crane, A Secondhand Life

The Ruined Cottage

“It was a plot

Of garden-ground, now wild, its matted weeds

Marked with the steps of those whom as they pass’d,

The goose-berry trees that shot in long lank slips,

Or currants hanging from their leafless stems

In scanty strings, had tempted to o’erleap

The broken wall. Within that cheerless spot,

Where two tall hedgerows of thick willow boughs

Joined in a damp cold nook, I found a well

Half-choked with willow flowers and weeds.

I slaked my thirst and to the shady bench

Returned, and while I stood unbonneted

To catch the motion of the cooler air

The old Man said, “I see around me here

Things which you cannot see: we die, my Friend,

Nor we alone, but that which each man loved

And prized in his peculiar nook of earth

Dies with him or is changed, and very soon

Even of the good is no memorial left.”

---Wordsworth, The Excursion, Book I ("The Ruined Cottage")

Flora of the Now

Peter Del Tredici, senior research scientist at Arnold Arboretum and a lecturer at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, makes an excellent case for urban ecologies. In his article, Flora of the Future, in Places journal (April 2014, available at https://placesjournal.org/article/the-flora-of-the-future/?gclid=COrKpNWPo88CFdcWgQod1UkAEA), Del Tredici emphasizes two ecological tenets: that environmental stability is an illusion, and that an unpredictable future belongs to the best adapted. Hence, the dynamics of urban plants. Peter also points out some fun “new infrastructural taxonomies” that include:

                                                       

·         The chain link fence. “They provide plants — especially vines — with a convenient trellis to spread out on and a measure of protection from the predation of maintenance crews.”

·         Vacant lots. “Their soils typically have high pH levels, and they are usually colonized by a suite of plants that I like to refer to as a “cosmopolitan urban meadow.” 

·         The road median strip. “In short, the median strip is perfect for crabgrass.”

·         Stone and masonry walls. “From the plant’s perspective, these structures are good stand-ins for a limestone cliff, and many cliff species are well adapted to growing on city walls. “

·         Pavement cracks. “We tend to think of pavement cracks as stressful habitats, but in fact, as the water sheets off the pavement, it flows right into the crack, making it a rich site in terms of its ability to accumulate moisture and nutrients”

·         Specialized microclimates. “As an example, carpetweed (Mollugo verticillata), a summer annual from Central America, subsists only on air-conditioner drip.”

·        River corridors. “They serve as important pathways for the migration of both plants and animals into and out of the city.”

These are fun to think about, what are some other spaces unique to the urban fabric that create their own micro-ecologies—drainage swales, brick walls, flat roofs, parking lots, steps, utility rights-of-way, etc. How many species can we find?