Abstract: Transformational Urban Greening: A people-first approach to nature in cities.

We’ve been talking about greening cities and urban nature for decades and decades now, and it still isn’t mainstream. Perhaps one of the reasons for this is that we often focus on the ecological benefits of green cityscapes first and foremost, but pay little attention to the aesthetic or visual qualities of city greening. An alternative is to take a ‘People-First’ approach to nature in cities. To bring nature-rich urban landscapes into the mainstream, they have to work for people. We can cool down overheated cities, we can dry-out flooded cities, we can rehydrate dry cities, we can clean-up polluted cities, and we can bring life to life-less places - all in a way that is beautiful and sustainable. What do we mean by ‘urban nature’? If we look to the nature that happens all by itself on abandoned sites then these are exciting cosmopolitan mixtures of plants from all over the world (escapes from cultivation, gardens and parks), mixed with native plants. It’s fascinating – we are seeing evolution happen before our eyes as new plant communities, completely adapted to the disturbed human conditions of the city, come together. And what a wonderful metaphor for life in cities – plants from different places, coming together, co-existing, and creating something greater than the sum of the parts. I call this new dynamic ecology, ‘Future Nature’, and it teaches us to look forwards, rather than always looking backwards, in the era of climate change. The presentation will consider a range of recent projects and place them in the context of current biodiversity policy.

Biography: Nigel Dunnett

Professor of Planting Design and Urban Horticulture in the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of Sheffield and Director of Nigel Dunnett Studio. He is one of the world’s leading voices on planting design, and a pioneer of the new ecological approach to planting public spaces. His work revolves around the integration of ecology and horticulture to achieve low-input but high-impact landscapes that are dynamic, diverse, and tuned to nature, and is based on decades of detailed experimental work, and widespread application in practice, collaborating with a wide range of other professions, and his work has been widely applied in the UK and abroad. In 2016 Nigel was appointed as an Ambassador for the Royal Horticultural Society to spearhead their ‘Greening Grey Britain’ campaign, and is a former Garden Club of America International Fellow. Nigel has authored and co-authored key books on planting design, water-sensitive design, urban rainwater management, green roofs, and urban landscape planting. In 2020 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Landscape Institute in recognition of his contribution to sustainable urban greening and planting design and in 2023 was made a Royal Designer for Industry.

Launch of People & Nature Lab External Seminar Series and Garden Opening