Urban rewilding is a specific form of rewilding, a movement that gained prominence in the 1990s. [1] Urban rewilding aims to integrate ecosystems into cities, blending nature and urban settings. This nature can be anything from vegetation to animals. [1] Despite different ideologies existing on the most effective way to rewild urban areas successfully, research shows that positive benefits ensue as long as some form of rewilding takes place. While some countries take more drastic measures than others, urban rewilding occurs globally in countries such as the U.S, Bangladesh, South Africa, China, Singapore, the U.K, Australia, India, and more. [1]
There are four types of urban rewilding: urban greening, corridors, small scale, and large scale. [2]
While urban greening is not fully considered urban rewilding, it is still the first step to introducing ecosystems into urban areas. Urban greening is the process of ingraining natural ecosystems into the city environment for multifunctional use. [3] It is typically used in infrastructure with limited space to include a proper rewilding project. [2] This type of urban rewilding can be found in Dhaka, Bangladesh (Sultana) and Brownfield sites throughout the U.K. [4]
In the context of urban rewilding, corridors connect habitats so that animals in cities can freely move throughout the urban environment. [2] Restored bodies of water or green pathways are examples of corridors. [2] An example of corridors can be found in Hebei Province, China. [2]
A small-scale urban rewilding project is under 50 hectares and involves restoring distinct urban landscape elements within an ecosystem. [2] These projects include restoring parks, gardens, and forests. [2] Examples of this type of project include the renaturing of community gardens in New York City, [5] renaturing pocket parks in Singapore, [6] and providing urban wetlands in Melbourne, Australia. [7]
Urban rewilding projects are large scale when they are over 50 hectares and restore large areas to support healthy, self-sustaining habitats and wildlife. [2] Large scale projects occur in green spaces, land types, marine reserves, and national parks. [2] There are examples throughout the world, such as Kamla Nehru Ridge in India [2] and Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park in Singapore. [8]
Urban Rewilding causes multiple positive environmental, mental, and economic benefits. [9] For example, greenery can help filter pollutants, creating cleaner air. [2] Furthermore, urban rewilding projects have been found to lower carbon amounts, helping to fight climate change. [9] Urban Rewilding leads to higher levels of pollination, soil fertility, and clean water. [2] Alongside the physical benefits of providing cleaner air, urban rewilding also leads to decreased stress and an overall boost to mental health. [2] Urban rewilding can lead to positive economic benefits due to increased tourism and the creating of jobs as people are needed to sustain these projects. [9]
The combination of initial investments and long-term funding required makes urban rewilding projects expensive. [9] For example, the Buffelsdraai reforestation project’s funding was about 138.5 million ZAR, [2] which equals about 7.7 million USD. [10] The Frédéric-Back Park, Montreal, Canada, project has an estimated 140 million dollar developmental cost until 2032, with further investments not calculated. [2] Furthermore, using land for urban rewilding projects has an opportunity cost. [9] Property owners could utilize the land used in urban rewilding projects for a different purpose that is more economically beneficial. [9] Generally speaking, the preservation of wildlife conflicts with human development and sustainability. [9] For example, in areas like the Alps, wolves were reintroduced to their native habitat, and the locals were having issues with the wolves disrupting livestock. [9]
Urban rewilding is a global movement, evident in different countries. [2]
Through urban rewilding, Beijing, China, is becoming one of the most biodiverse cities in the world, containing 2088 vascular plant species and 596 wild vertebrates. [11] China has continued to push rewilding projects into Beijing through wetland protection and the afforestation of a million acres. [11] While Beijing is diligently trying to maintain its ecosystems and nature, it still faces environmental threats from climate change. [11] For example, in Beijing, 2012-2023 was the warmest decade in the past 70 years, and an increase in waterfalls damaged local ecosystems. [11] More urban rewilding projects in Beijing are required to help tackle said problems. [11]
All three German cities participated in a project from 2016-2021 called “Städte wagen Wildnis,” which translates to "Cities Dare Wilderness" or "Cities Venturing into Wilderness". [12] The project aimed to conserve species and increase the quality of life for the local populations. [12] These cities achieved their goal by setting aside plots of land like parks, vacant lots, and old buildings and letting nature naturally develop in these locations. [13] The project succeeded as in these cities greater drought tolerance and increased wildlife, such as bees, birds, and butterflies, were noticed. [13] Near threatened locust species were sighted in Frankfurt following the initiation of this plan. [14]
Due to a 6 week lockdown in April 2020, nature grew throughout Barcelona, Spain. [14] With the new nature creating a positive effect on citizens, the city took the opportunity to instill new rules and laws to further urban rewilding. [14] Weeds are now allowed to grow in public spaces, and they installed 80 insect hotel gardens, 40 beehives, and 200 bird and bat nesting towers. [14] Furthermore, the city aims to create 783,000 square meters of green open space with 49,000 square meters of "greened streets." [14] On top of that, the city also has a nature plan for 2030 with the primary goal of increasing the amount of “green infrastructure” throughout the city to combat climate change and increase overall quality of life. [15] The city is pushing this plan through multiple agendas, such as ensuring the conservation of trees and increasing the amount of quality urban agriculture land. [15]
The Buffelsdraai reforestation project took place in Durban, South Africa. [2] The project’s motivation was to create a buffer between the city of Durban and local landfill sites to increase quality of life through a positive stimulation of the local economy, cleaner air and water, cooler temperatures for locals, and flood protection. [2] Jobless locals planted trees in the buffer zone in return for free food and other services. [2] Furthermore, over 500 new jobs were created due to this project. [2] This project has been recognized globally for its success by institutions such as the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. [2]
Urban ecology is the scientific study of the relation of living organisms with each other and their surroundings in an urban environment. An urban environment refers to environments dominated by high-density residential and commercial buildings, paved surfaces, and other urban-related factors that create a unique landscape. The goal of urban ecology is to achieve a balance between human culture and the natural environment.
Habitat conservation is a management practice that seeks to conserve, protect and restore habitats and prevent species extinction, fragmentation or reduction in range. It is a priority of many groups that cannot be easily characterized in terms of any one ideology.
An eco-city or ecocity is "a human settlement modeled on the self-sustaining resilient structure and function of natural ecosystems", as defined by Ecocity Builders. Simply put, an eco-city is an ecologically healthy city. The World Bank defines eco-cities as "cities that enhance the well-being of citizens and society through integrated urban planning and management that harness the benefits of ecological systems and protect and nurture these assets for future generations". Although there is no universally accepted definition of an 'eco-city', among available definitions, there is some consensus on the basic features of an eco-city.
A Sustainable habitat is an ecosystem that produces food and shelter for people and other organisms, without resource depletion and in such a way that no external waste is produced. Thus the habitat can continue into the future tie without external infusions of resources. Such a sustainable habitat may evolve naturally or be produced under the influence of man. A sustainable habitat that is created and designed by human intelligence will mimic nature, if it is to be successful. Everything within it is connected to a complex array of organisms, physical resources, and functions. Organisms from many different biomes can be brought together to fulfill various ecological niches.
Urban wilderness refers to informal green spaces within urban areas that distant enough from urbanized areas so that human activities cannot be registered. Urban wilderness areas within cities have been shown to beneficially impact the public's perception of wilderness and nature, making this an important element to future city planning
A sustainable city, eco-city, or green city is a city designed with consideration for the social, economic, and environmental impact, as well as a resilient habitat for existing populations. This is done in a way that does not compromise the ability of future generations to experience the same. The UN Sustainable Development Goal 11 defines sustainable cities as those that are dedicated to achieving green sustainability, social sustainability and economic sustainability. In accordance with the UN Sustainable Development Goal 11, a sustainable city is defined as one that is dedicated to achieving green, social, and economic sustainability. They are committed to this objective by facilitating opportunities for all through a design that prioritizes inclusivity as well as maintaining a sustainable economic growth. Furthermore, the objective is to minimize the inputs of energy, water, and food, and to drastically reduce waste, as well as the outputs of heat, air pollution. Richard Register, a visual artist, first coined the term ecocity in his 1987 book Ecocity Berkeley: Building Cities for a Healthy Future, where he offers innovative city planning solutions that would work anywhere. Other leading figures who envisioned sustainable cities are architect Paul F Downton, who later founded the company Ecopolis Pty Ltd, as well as authors Timothy Beatley and Steffen Lehmann, who have written extensively on the subject. The field of industrial ecology is sometimes used in planning these cities.
Sustainable landscape architecture is a category of sustainable design concerned with the planning and design of the built and natural environments.
Green infrastructure or blue-green infrastructure refers to a network that provides the “ingredients” for solving urban and climatic challenges by building with nature. The main components of this approach include stormwater management, climate adaptation, the reduction of heat stress, increasing biodiversity, food production, better air quality, sustainable energy production, clean water, and healthy soils, as well as more human centered functions, such as increased quality of life through recreation and the provision of shade and shelter in and around towns and cities. Green infrastructure also serves to provide an ecological framework for social, economic, and environmental health of the surroundings. More recently scholars and activists have also called for green infrastructure that promotes social inclusion and equity rather than reinforcing pre-existing structures of unequal access to nature-based services.
Greening is the process of transforming living environments, and also artifacts such as a space, a lifestyle or a brand image, into a more environmentally friendly version. The act of greening generally involves incorporating more environmentally friendly systems into one's environment, such as the home, work place, and general lifestyle.
Regenerative design is about designing systems and solutions that work with or mimic the ways that natural ecosystems return energy from less usable forms to more usable forms. Regenerative design uses systems thinking and other approaches to create resilient and equitable systems that integrate the needs of society and the well-being of nature. Regenerative design is an active topic of discussion in engineering, economics, medicine, landscape design, food systems, and urban design & community development generally.
Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions : environmental, economic, and social. Many definitions emphasize the environmental dimension. This can include addressing key environmental problems, including climate change and biodiversity loss. The idea of sustainability can guide decisions at the global, national, organizational, and individual levels. A related concept is that of sustainable development, and the terms are often used to mean the same thing. UNESCO distinguishes the two like this: "Sustainability is often thought of as a long-term goal, while sustainable development refers to the many processes and pathways to achieve it."
In land-use planning, urban green spaces are open-space areas reserved for parks and other "green spaces", including plant life, water features – also referred to as blue spaces – and other kinds of natural environment. Most urban open spaces are green spaces, but occasionally include other kinds of open areas. The landscape of urban open spaces can range from playing fields, to highly maintained environments, to relatively natural landscapes.
Rewilding is a form of ecological restoration aimed at increasing biodiversity and restoring natural processes. It differs from other forms of ecological restoration in that rewilding aspires to reduce human influence on ecosystems. It is also distinct from other forms of restoration in that, while it places emphasis on recovering geographically specific sets of ecological interactions and functions that would have maintained ecosystems prior to human influence, rewilding is open to novel or emerging ecosystems which encompass new species and new interactions.
Sustainable gardening includes the more specific sustainable landscapes, sustainable landscape design, sustainable landscaping, sustainable landscape architecture, resulting in sustainable sites. It comprises a disparate group of horticultural interests that can share the aims and objectives associated with the international post-1980s sustainable development and sustainability programs developed to address that humans are now using natural biophysical resources faster than they can be replenished by nature.
Land recycling is the reuse of abandoned, vacant, or underused properties for redevelopment or repurposing.
Sustainable urbanism is both the study of cities and the practices to build them (urbanism), that focuses on promoting their long term viability by reducing consumption, waste and harmful impacts on people and place while enhancing the overall well-being of both people and place. Well-being includes the physical, ecological, economic, social, health and equity factors, among others, that comprise cities and their populations. In the context of contemporary urbanism, the term cities refers to several scales of human settlements from towns to cities, metropolises and mega-city regions that includes their peripheries / suburbs / exurbs. Sustainability is a key component to professional practice in urban planning and urban design along with its related disciplines landscape architecture, architecture, and civil and environmental engineering. Green urbanism and ecological urbanism are other common terms that are similar to sustainable urbanism, however they can be construed as focusing more on the natural environment and ecosystems and less on economic and social aspects. Also related to sustainable urbanism are the practices of land development called Sustainable development, which is the process of physically constructing sustainable buildings, as well as the practices of urban planning called smart growth or growth management, which denote the processes of planning, designing, and building urban settlements that are more sustainable than if they were not planned according to sustainability criteria and principles.
Rewilding Europe is a non-profit organization based in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, dedicated to creating rewilded landscapes throughout Europe. The group's efforts have contributed to increasing the stock of previously endangered species such as the European bison and the Iberian lynx.
Nature-based solutions describe the development and use of nature (biodiversity) and natural processes to address diverse socio-environmental issues. These issues include climate change mitigation and adaptation, human security issues such as water security and food security, and disaster risk reduction. The aim is that resilient ecosystems provide solutions for the benefit of both societies and biodiversity. The 2019 UN Climate Action Summit highlighted nature-based solutions as an effective method to combat climate change. For example, nature-based systems for climate change adaptation can include natural flood management, restoring natural coastal defences, and providing local cooling.
Environmental, ecological or green gentrification is a process in which cleaning up pollution or providing green amenities increases local property values and attracts wealthier residents to a previously polluted or disenfranchised neighbourhood. Green amenities include green spaces, parks, green roofs, gardens and green and energy efficient building materials. These initiatives can heal many environmental ills from industrialization and beautify urban landscapes. Additionally, greening is imperative for reaching a sustainable future. However, if accompanied by gentrification, these initiatives can have an ambiguous social impact. More specifically, in certain cases the introduction of green amenities might lead to (1) the physical displacement of low income households due to soaring housing costs, and/or (2) the cultural, social, and political displacement of long-time residents. First coined by Sieg et al. (2004), environmental gentrification is a relatively new concept, although it can be considered as a new hybrid of the older and wider topics of gentrification and environmental justice. Social implications of greening projects specifically with regards to housing affordability and displacement of vulnerable citizens. Greening in cities can be both healthy and just.
Biophilic design is a concept used within the building industry to increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, and space and place conditions. Used at both the building and city-scale, it is argued that Biophilic design offers health, environmental, and economic benefits for building occupants and urban environments, with few drawbacks. Although its name was coined in recent history, indicators of biophilic design have been seen in architecture from as far back as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon. While the design features that characterize Biophilic design were all traceable in preceding sustainable design guidelines, the new term sparked wider interest and lent academic credibility.
