Welcome back

Hello, and welcome to week two of our course on building nature into urban centres. This week we’ll take a more in-depth look at how to deliver nature-based solutions for cities, overcoming key barriers. And importantly, engaging stakeholders. To do this, we dive deep into a diverse range of international case studies. And hear from practitioners working at the cutting edge of this field. Topics include choosing the right nature-based solution to address diverse challenges. Using biodiversity sensitive urban design to help embed nature at the right stages of the development process. Thinking about the barriers and obstacles you might encounter as a practitioner. And the importance of engaging key stakeholders to ensure successful implementation.

As we’ll discover, building nature into urban centres requires close collaboration between ecologists, planners, engineers, and designers. We need diverse expertise to tackle the complex challenges that we’re often confronted with. As part of our discussion, we’ll explore the practise of implementing nature-based solutions in cities, drawing on some really exciting examples from around the world. A massive urban renewal project in the centre of Melbourne, Australia. A market green roof in Valladolid, Spain. Naturalised canals in Singapore to prevent flooding. And a building in Milan, Italy that has embedded biodiversity into its very fabric. Over the week, you’ll have the opportunity to participate in activities that will encourage you to reflect on how the ideas presented could influence your own professional practise.

This will allow you to consider how you apply the theories and frameworks that we’ve looked at in this course to bring about nature-based solutions for the cities that you work in. By the end of the week, we should be ready to put together everything we’ve learnt so far to answer the big question that we set ourselves in week one. That is, how can nature help us overcome the challenges facing cities? I hope you enjoy the week. I’m looking forward to hearing more from your contributions.