I’m currently working on some writing about nature and urbanism. It’s also a theme I’ve long been interested in and a central focus at Pedestrian Space since its inception, with an interest in how nature in the city supports walkability and the importance of nature for diverse aspects of human health and many other species. I have countless photos across many cities (lived and visited) of examples of nature in urbanism providing climatic, aesthetic, ecological, economic benefits, and more.
I snapped some of these photos this morning on my neighbourhood walk, and some others are drawn from my photo archive. They include diverse scenes of what I call ‘ordinary urbanism’ – nothing spectacular, just the mundane spaces of everyday passage and living in the city but also, importantly (as captured in these photos) with the benefit of nature in and surrounding them- providing thermal comfort and other benefits.
Included here are scenes of:
🌳🌳🌳 A well-shaded path leading up to an apartment building
🛝 A playground with great shade (I’ve been documenting great play spaces for years, and the presence of healthy nature is often framing such spaces!)
🚏🚍 A shaded bus stop
🌲🌲🌲 Well-shaded neighbourhood paths
💪🏽 A well-shaded outdoor gym
🌸 A scene of what is referred to as ‘urban meadows’, which is a specific strategy undertaken by the city green authority to reduce or eliminate mowing as a strategy to contribute to a reduction of urban heat, benefit multiple species & more. I researched & wrote about this topic in the Central European Resilience Handbook for Best Practices (CEURES- an International Visegrad Fund project), which you can read here:
In many cities, urban heat is becoming more of an issue, affecting quality of life and public health. These are what some common and very important nature-based ‘solutions’ look like in practice.
