Improving urban design to bring nature back into our cities

Nature friendly urban design is being encouraged to make our cities more liveable.

SDGs

Bringing nature back into our cities to benefit the environment and human health and wellbeing is the focus of research led by RMIT’s Professor Sarah Bekessy.

There is a growing body of evidence that nature in our urban spaces is vital for human health and wellbeing, yet biodiversity is declining at a rapid rate across the globe.

Habitat loss caused by land clearing for urban development and other pressures such as climate change are highlighting the urgent need to actively develop and protect ‘nature-positive’ and green urban spaces.

Professor Bekessy, Convener of ICON Science at RMIT’s Centre for Urban Research and her colleagues are working closely with local governments, developers and architects across Australia to encourage biodiversity inclusive design throughout their planning and design processes.

“We’ve been working with these groups to help them understand what it means on the ground to design urban green spaces that support and enhance biodiversity and encourage people’s everyday access to nature,” said Bekessy.

She said the shift in thinking has been promising, with policy changes already being introduced in some regions and nature friendly designs being implemented.

“The changes in policy are good tangible evidence that we’re starting to make a difference and it’s also fantastic to see that public interest is growing,” she said.

The real impact and better resilience for our communities and ecosystems will be reflected by the trees in the ground and more animals in our cities.

Why do we need ‘nature positive’ urban areas?

As Bekessy explains, research is showing that in addition to environmental benefits, contact with nature is highly beneficial for human health and well-being and critical for the future liveability of our cities. Furthermore, on average Australian cities are home to three times as many threatened species per unit area as rural environments.

“It used to be that nature was seen as a bit of a problem in cities, for example if there was a threatened species inhabiting an area where a development was planned,” said Bekessy.

“But it’s been a more recent shift that we’re saying, ‘well actually, cities are going to be unliveable unless we invite nature back in,’” she said.

people enjoying a grassy, tree filled recreation area, surrounded by buildings.

Bringing nature back into our cities benefits the environment and human health and wellbeing.

The research is showing us that there are all sorts of benefits for people having close contact with nature including less asthma, improved immune systems, improved childhood cognitive development and better mental health for all ages.

Tackling the biodiversity and urban development challenge

Bekessy said a key challenge includes balancing urban growth with biodiversity conservation, while also facilitating new and practical approaches to urban design.

“There has been a strong need to introduce a systematic and evidence-based approach to land use planning in established suburbs and greenfield developments,” said Bekessy.

What is Biodiversity Urban Sensitive Design?

The Biodiversity Urban Sensitive Design (BUSD) framework developed by the team provides an approach that aims to embed biodiversity considerations into urban design, planning and development from the beginning.

“BSUD improves the transparency of decision making and represents a fundamental shift in the way we think about including biodiversity in urban planning,” said Bekessy.

The five principles guiding BSUD implementation are:

maintain and or create habitat for target species
facilitate dispersal of plants and animals
minimise disturbance and other threats
facilitate natural ecological processes
and facilitate positive human-nature interactions.

Biodiversity sensitive urban design aims to better protect and enhance biodiversity. Drawing design credit: Casey Visintin.

Research impact

Bekessy and team have been working closely with local governments, developers, consultants, architects, and engineers across Australia to ensure their BSUD concepts are making a tangible difference for the community and environment.

She said it was exciting to see the momentum for the BSUD approach building, with guidelines, policies and or/legislation now being introduced in many regions across Australia.

“We’re pleased that governments, developers and designers are reaching out to us for advice,” said Bekessy.

A successful case study – developing a nature-positive Adelaide

The team’s work with Green Adelaide has informed the city’s Urban Greening Strategy and outlines an approach to better protect and enhance biodiversity in the region.

This includes suggested activities to enhance, protect and create new biodiverse green space with initiatives including:

Developing metropolitan-wide and locally-specific targets for biodiversity conservation and restoration with the overarching goal of becoming nature-positive
Engaging with Traditional Owners, the Kaurna people, to guide urban Caring for Country
Establishing a new program of retrofits for parks and verges, starting with a ‘showpiece’ biodiverse park and a set of biodiverse streets

Bekessy said she and the team were excited that biodiversity and biodiversity sensitive urban design is now a legislated priority in Adelaide following their work with Green Adelaide.

“It’s now one of their seven legislative requirements, so developers will be obliged to think about how their projects can deliver benefits to biodiversity,” she said.

International momentum

Bekessy said it was also really pleasing to see that the concepts of Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design—a term coined by her team and colleagues at ICON Science — were being spoken about at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP 15) in Montreal in 2022.

“We were really happy to see that at the COP 15 meeting in Montreal, they came up with a new target for biodiversity, called Target 12,” said Bekessy.

“This talks specifically about biodiversity inclusive design in urban settings and how we really need to bring nature back into cities,” she said.

What's next

Bekessy feels the momentum for positive change is only going to increase.

“The concepts of Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design are being rapidly embraced and I think there will be a new wave of policy and legislation with a shift towards biodiversity and nature positive design that industry will need to respond to,” said Bekessy.

“People may still worry about snakes, fire risk and safety etc, but we have to systematically work through those barriers, and keep testing and improving things so we can come up with new designs to help BSUD become mainstream,” she said.

“I think as the new nature positive regulation comes in, the framing of it is changing and nature is finally being seen as an asset.

“And people also understand we need to start making cities resilient to climate change.

“The key for us is to help people appreciate that it is core business to embed nature in cities, and I think that is starting to happen,” she said.

Key contact

Professor Sarah Bekessy

Convenor of ICON Science
Lecturer in Sustainability and Urban Planning
Centre for Urban Research
College of Design and Social Context

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RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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