Once the vision of a futuristic city was shiny glass and high-rise architecture. But, with the threat of climate breakdown increasing, future cityscapes are now more likely to be inspired by modernized buildings, bursting with life, such as the high-rise vertical forest of Milan’s Bosco Verticale.
A community of nature working together
This new vision embraces the concept of ‘biophilia’, the innate positive psychological and physiological response that we humans experience when interacting with the natural world. It involves implementing nature-based solutions (NBS) which are a core component of biophilic cities. Using NBS, these cities work to protect nature and biodiversity, and improve living standards for their residents.
Nature-based solutions can include green infrastructure, such as living walls and roofs on buildings, and blue infrastructure, such as urban wetlands. These features and habitats are extremely valuable when connected at a ground level, especially with urban green spaces, such as parks. For example, woodlands, wetlands, grasslands and marshlands can effectively absorb carbon dioxide and sequester carbon, mitigating emissions.
The rise of the city
Historically however, cities have been built for people (and increasingly, in the last century, motor vehicles), limiting room for green space, natural habitats or wildlife. Across the world, that urban pressure on natural resources continues to grow. The UN projects that by 2030 there will be 43 megacities housing over ten million residents; and that 68 per cent of the world’s population will live in urban areas by 2050.
At the same time, many of the world’s cities are upgrading their infrastructure to facilitate future-proof solutions, such as smart roads and highways, connected and autonomous vehicles and smart utilities, to help ease the day-to-day running of their city and citizens' lives. The question for many now in response is how do we use this digital revolution and other tools to not only connect with and protect our cities’ natural capital better, but also help it thrive?
A sustainable investment opportunity
Natural capital accounting approaches set out the potential value of NBS in economic terms. As they become a mainstream part of the design and construction process, and NBS become more innovative and affordable, there’s an opportunity for biodiverse solutions to help strengthen natural resources, livability and resilience in more cities.
Developing an internet of nature
As a 2019 paper by Galle, Nitoslawski and Pilla argues, we need to consider the potential of an ‘internet of nature’, where technology and nature are integrated to provide us with real-time data about our natural environment and the essential ecosystem services it supports.
For example, average summer temperatures in Paris are typically around 20°C. In July 2019, temperatures in the capital soared to 42°C — an event that is expected to become the norm in years to come. During the summer of 2019, Parisians were able to use a mobile app, Extrema, to find ‘cool spots’ in their city. In the future, by recording local temperatures and the transpiration rates of trees, such an app could recommend places offering shade and respite from the heat, along streets and in parks away from the crowds, using live data.
