Ann Krouthén
Most people associate cities with grey concrete buildings, big streets and lots of cars. But what would more green spaces and biodiversity do within a city? In this post I will show the resulting effects on communities and children as well as on plants and animals.
Source: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/rewilding-our-cities-beauty-biodiversity-and-the-biophilic-cities-movement–385128205643542666/
Impact on cities and communities
Biodiversity plays a crucial role in all Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities (Convention on Biological Diversity, 2016). Ecosystems and biodiversity itself are important for the “foods, building materials, energy and medicines” coming into the city and are thereby needed for the cities and communities to function (CBD Press Brief, 2018). But urban biodiversity – meaning biodiversity within the city – contributes to human wellbeing, the connection to nature and provides ecosystem services (Kowarik, Fischer & Kendal, 2020). Human wellbeing is improved, e.g. through health benefits due to the cleaner air created by more plants. The better connection to nature is given through less distance to green spaces. One example for an ecosystem service through biodiversity is achieved by planting trees. According to the Convention on Biological Diversity (2016) planting trees helps reducing the temperature about 2°C to 8°C, which then allows energy consumption to be reduced, as less air conditioning is needed. This will become increasingly important as climate change progresses and air temperatures increase globally. However, cities are particularly affected because their building materials, such as concrete and steel, retain heat and they are already hotter than non-urban areas (Elliott & Borunda, 2020).
Contribution to children’s development
Target 11.7 of the Sustainable Development Goal 11 says: “By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities” (United Nations, n.d.). Therefore I want to show the effects of urban biodiversity on children. The report “Urban Biodiversity and Ecological Design for Sustainable Cities” by K. Ito (2021) describes what kinds of impacts playing outdoors and in natural environments can have on children. Particularly it was mentioned that playing in nature is important for the development of children on many levels: it helps them to develop their motor skills and imagination and it promotes their connection to nature. And the motto is: “The more diverse, the more challenging” and this results in more learning and development opportunities for the children (2021, p. 125). Therefore, outdoor play environments should be preferred over traditional playgrounds. Studies, which are mentioned in “Urban Biodiversity and Ecological Design for Sustainable Cities” by K. Ito (2021), show that children themselves also prefer such outdoor environments because they offer more opportunities and there is more to explore. In addition, the children gain a better environmental awareness and come into direct contact with nature, and thus with plants and animals, which is otherwise rather rare in cities.
Implementation
One possibility to implement biodiversity into cities could be the approach of “biodiversity-sensitive urban design” (BSUD). The BSUD contains five principles (Garrard, Williams & Bekessy, 2018):
- Protect and create habitat
- Help species disperse
- Minimize anthropogenic threats and disturbances
- Promote natural ecological processes
- Encourage positive human-nature interactions
An argument for this approach is, that biodiversity can be incorporated into buildings and infrastructures instead of confining it to fragmented areas. This saves space because no additional areas are taken up for biodiversity implementation and further, it can be implemented in areas that originally are not considered as great biodiversity areas but can now be used in this way. Further, it is important that biodiversity is considered early in the planning process (cf. Garrard et al., 2018).
Examples for more urban biodiversity are “planted roofs, green facades, roadside trees, […] parks and wetlands”, they can provide habitat, food and shelter for animals and allow plants to disperse (Cutieru, 2022). Furthermore, negative impacts of cities on biodiversity are to be contained and reduced. This can be done, for example, by dimming lights, which reduces light pollution. Another possibility would be to build sound barriers, for example along major roads, in order to reduce noise pollution (cf. Garrard & Bekessy, 2021).
Effects on plants and animals
Many species from animal to plants live in urban areas and depend on places to nest and find shelter. Therefore, cities are important places for biodiversity conservation. With population growth and increasing urbanization, more and more habitats are being built on. That is why it is important to consider biodiversity implementation in future city planning. The problems that city life brings for species include fragmentation and loss of habitat, more neozoa or neophytes and pollution from noise, light and exhaust fumes. In cities neozoa and neophytes are common because of the warmer climate, more trade and people flows and less competition with other species. The pollution as mentioned before can disturb animals because it does not represent their natural habitat. Increased light pollution could upset their internal clock and noise and exhaust fumes could cause physical damage. BSUD, as introduced in the previous section, is one way to promote species and conserve their habitat. Habitat connectivity is promoted, which enables animals to better access food and open up new habitats. Creating and maintaining habitat allows species to colonize and disperse. When planning, care is taken to promote native species rather than exotic ones. Moreover, endangered species can also be given more consideration (cf. Cutieru, 2022; Garrard & Bekessy, 2021). The more diverse the habitats, the more different species can settle, which in turn leads to greater biodiversity.
Conclusion
Designing cities so that people, animals and plants can live and grow together on a small scale is becoming increasingly important for the future of cities and their sustainability. Biodiversity-sensitive urban design (BSUD) could play a big role in this and make a difference. Many would think that it is difficult to combine cities and biodiversity. But as my text shows, it is possible – with good planning and for important reasons. For the population, urban biodiversity means improved human well-being, easier connection to nature and better development opportunities for children on many levels. For animals and plants, more biodiversity means more habitats for many different species, including endangered ones. And promoting biodiversity at every level is important for our livelihoods such as “human production, consumption and housing” (CBD Press Brief, 2018).
Bibliography
CBD Press Brief. (2018). CBD Press Brief. Biodiversity and the Sustainable Development Goals. Retrieved from https://www.cbd.int/cop/cop-14/media/briefs/en/cop14-press-brief-sdgs.pdf
Convention on Biological Diversity. (2016). Biodiversity and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.Technical Note. Retrieved from https://www.cbd.int/development/doc/biodiversity-2030-agenda-technical-note-en.pdf
Cutieru, A. (2022). Biodiversity in Urban Environments. Retrieved from https://www.archdaily.com/974707/biodiversity-in-urban-environments
Elliott, K., & Borunda, A. (2020). See which cities will feel the brunt of climate change. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/these-cities-will-feel-climate-changes-effects-the-most-feature
Garrard, G., & Bekessy, S. (2021). Biodiversity sensitive urban design: The future of cities. Retrieved from https://www.nespthreatenedspecies.edu.au/news-and-media/latest-news/biodiversity-sensitive-urban-design-the-future-of-cities
Garrard, G., Williams, N., & Bekessy, S. (2018). Here’s how to design cities where people and nature can both flourish. Retrieved from https://phys.org/news/2018-10-cities-people-nature-flourish.html
Ito, K. (2021). Urban Biodiversity and Ecological Design for Sustainable Cities. Springer Nature.
Kowarik, I., Fischer, L. K., & Kendal, D. (2020). Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Urban Development. Retrieved from https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/12/4964
United Nations. (n.d.). Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. Retrieved from https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11