Classification: E-books/books
Nature in Place: Placemaking in the Biosphere. Placemaking Fundamentals for the Built Environment
Palgrave Macmillan
Nature forms the biological building blocks for the landscape elements of place. But urban nature is much more than the supporting cast for the buildings. Nature is fundamental to life, to health and well-being of humans and nonhuman biodiversity. Nature contributes to social cohesion and to thriving people and communities. This chapter explores concepts of social-ecological systems, sense of place and stewardship to inform approaches to embedding nature in placemaking. Indigenous perspectives to place deepen the understandings of connections with place and custodianship of Country. We demonstrate how placemaking processes and elements can be redirected to integrate nature. Nature-placemaking approaches create a more holistic identity and character of a place and underpin the emotional and cultural connections and human relationships with place.
Greenspace-Oriented Development – Reconciling Urban Density and Nature in Suburban Cities
Springer Briefs in Geography
Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) planning principles have informed Australian city planning for over two decades. As such, policy makers and planners often unquestioningly apply its principles. In contrast, this book critiques TOD and argues that while orientating development towards public transport hubs makes some sense, the application of TOD principles in Australia has proven a significant challenge. As a complementary strategy, the book stakes out the potential of Greenspace-Oriented Development (GOD) in which urban density is correlated with upgraded green spaces with reasonable access to public transport. Concentrating urban densification around green spaces offers many advantages to residents including ecosystem services such as physical and mental health benefits, the mitigation of extreme heat events, biodiversity and clean air and water. Moreover, the open space and leafy green qualities of GOD will ensure it resonates with the lifestyle aspirations of suburban residents who may otherwise resist urban densification. We believe in this way, that GOD could be an urban dream that befits the challenges of this 21st century.
Understanding sentiments and activities in green spaces using a social data-driven approach
In A. Visvizi & M. Lytras (Eds.), Smart Cities. Elsevier. Pages 77-107
This chapter builds on existing research highlighting the potential wellbeing benefits of nature by exploring largescale effects of green spaces for people in urban areas. To do this the researchers examined sentiment, emotion, and activities of people in Melbourne, Australia, focusing on the role of being in and around urban green spaces, across seasons and days, as well as the types of activities undertaken. These findings could help inform urban planning authorities, managers, and online recommendation systems, and could be extended to consider the effects of a range of different types of green spaces including those with different vegetation characteristics.
Health and social benefits of living with ‘wild’ nature
In JT du Toit, N Pettorelli & SM Durant (eds), Rewilding, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 165-181
This chapter reviews evidence of the health and social benefits of living with ‘wild’ nature in cities – from viewing trees and plants from inner-city windows through to wildlife gardening or restoring a creek side habitat. The growing momentum around the globe to bring nature back into urban environments is often referred to as ‘rewilding cities’. Cities are in focus for rewilding for several reasons – not only because they’re the most dominant form of human settlement. Cities present a unique context for thinking about nature and health because of the impacts and changes brought about by people and urbanisation processes on ecosystems. Individual health and wellbeing benefits are enhanced when it comes to more active interactions with nature in cities, such as citizens contributing to wildlife gardening on public land.