REWILDING THE CITY: DESIGNING URBAN SPACES FOR NATURE

Blog entry published by Georgina Walker on 07 December 2023

[FIG. 1] Ventus Naturalised Gardens, Singapore (Joson, 2022)

Theorists and urban designers, such as Ebenezer Howard, have long understood and promoted the benefits of the integration of nature into the urban setting to move towards a healthy urban environment. The benefits extend beyond the visual as it is proven that the natural environment provides clean air, physical health, and extreme weather regulation.

‘Human society and the beauty of nature are meant to be enjoyed together.’

(Howard, 2011, p. 331)

However, with the 68% of the worlds population predicted to be living in urban areas by 2050, the natural environment and habitats are being removed to make way for the ever-increasing requirements for urbanisation.

Furthermore, the increasing focus and need for action towards the climate and biodiversity crisis has encouraged policy makers, designers, and leading professionals to develop a greater understanding of how biodiversity is managed within the urban environment.

‘Biodiversity refers to the variety of species, the genetic variation within them and is also concerned with habitats.’

(Cutieru, 2022)

As urbanisation continues across the world, cities are becoming a fundamental component in supporting biodiversity and how the built environment can facilitate multi-species co-existence.

Understanding Rewilding in Urban Contexts

Rewilding urban environments is described to be the process of transforming manicured landscapes into an intentional and managed state of wilderness (Hwang, Yue, Patil, 2019). This idea of ‘managed’ wilderness can be argued to be contradictory, however, this is an attempt to find the balance between curated and spontaneous plant growth and habitat production.

A global leader for the rewilding concept is Singapore, where interventions such as the Ventus Gardens [see FIG. 1] has become an outdoor exploratory classroom for students and researchers in biology, environmental science, and landscape architecture due to the success of rewilding (Hwang, Yue, Patil, 2019, p. 39).

The Ventus Gardens was once a manicured lawn of 2500 sq/m. However, during an initial two-year period, all maintenance was stopped in a 20×10 m area to allow for spontaneous plant life and habitats to develop. After the initial two years of observation, the area was expanded to the whole of the garden and selective interventions were employed [see FIG. 2]. The interventions and their justifications are listed below:

1. Removal of aggressive species to prevent them from dominating the area,
2. Thinning densely growing spontaneous plants to make room for slower growing plants,
3. Removing plants if too many of the same species were competing against each other to guarantee the full growth of each plant,
4. Maintaining flowering and fruit-bearing plants as a food source for fauna,
5. Maintaining a mown edge around the garden and placing a boardwalk through the rewilded area to allow further appreciation of the garden. (Hwang, Yue, Patil, 2019, p.39)

These interventions ensured a diverse range of plants and habitats could thrive and co-exist with humans in the urban environment.

[FIG. 2] Before and After, Ventus Gardens, Singapore (Hwang, Y H., Yue, Z E J., and Patil, M A., 2019)

The Role of Urban Design in Rewilding

With the benefits to wellbeing and the development of a sustainable and healthy urban environments evident, the role of urban design in this process is essential. Reversing biodiversity loss requires the participation of policy makers, designers, scientific leading professional and the urban communities.

The commitment to this concept and improving the health of the urban environment can be seen globally. One example includes the UK Government in 2019, implemented a planning policy that required developments to achieve a 10% increase in biodiversity to be approved. In reference the case study of Singapore, in 2008 the city launched the ‘Singapore Index on Cities’ Biodiversity’ which is an outline that helps cities evaluate their biodiversity preservation efforts whilst also providing tools for implementing action plans (Cutieru, 2022).

However, whilst professionals may support the concept of rewilding, one of the biggest barriers that is found in Singapore is the is the public’s acceptance that humans need to co-exist with other living beings to benefit from a healthy city (Joson, 2022). To combat this the government has implemented policies such as the ‘Green Plan 2030’ which attempts to motivate everyone to help transform’ Singapore into a glowing global city of sustainability’ (Joson, 2022).

Furthermore, it can be argued that a global push is needed in the construction industry to innovate the existing disruptive and damaging traditional construction methods, and approaches which utilise off-site fabrication should be prioritised.

Conclusion

To conclude, I believe that the concept of rewilding the city to benefit from healthy, resilient urban environments and tackle the climate and biodiversity crisis is essential. Whilst barriers to this concept is evident such as the local communities desire to co-exist with nature, possible gentrification issues and health and safety. I believe that through awareness, community engagement, policy making and a collaborative effort across the design profession, rewilding the city is a promising concept in shaping the future of healthy, vibrant, and sustainable cities.

FIGURE REFERENCES

[1] Joson, J. (2022) ‘How Singapore is Pioneering the way to Creating a Greener Urban Environment’, ArchDaily, Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/976437/how-singapore-is-pioneering-the-way-to-creating-a-greener-urban-environment [accessed 07/12/23]

[2] Hwang, Y H., Yue, Z E J., and Patil, M A. (2019) Urban Wild Initiative: Rewilding Urban Green Spaces to Enhance Biodiversity, Available at: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.nparks.gov.sg/-/media/cuge/ebook/citygreen/cg17/cg17_urban_wild_initiative.ashx [accessed 07/12/23]

REFERENCES

Cutieru, A. (2022) ‘Biodiversity in Urban Environments’, ArchDaily, Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/974707/biodiversity-in-urban-environments#:~:text=While%20the%20value%20of%20urban,to%20the%20global%20biodiversity%20crisis. [accessed 07/12/23]

Howard, Ebenezer (2011), Author’s Introduction and The Town-Country Magnet, in LeGates, R.T. & Stout, F. The city reader. 5th ed. Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, pp.328-335.

Hwang, Y H., Yue, Z E J., and Patil, M A. (2019) Urban Wild Initiative: Rewilding Urban Green Spaces to Enhance Biodiversity, Available at: chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.nparks.gov.sg/-/media/cuge/ebook/citygreen/cg17/cg17_urban_wild_initiative.ashx [accessed 07/12/23]

Joson, J. (2022) ‘How Singapore is Pioneering the way to Creating a Greener Urban Environment’, ArchDaily, Available at: https://www.archdaily.com/976437/how-singapore-is-pioneering-the-way-to-creating-a-greener-urban-environment [accessed 07/12/23]