A review of CIRIA's Urban Ecology and City Resilience event

By 2050 the global population is predicted to reach 9.2 billion with 70% of the earth’s population living in cities and urban areas. This is leading to increased pressure on the earth’s resources and increased carbon emissions from built up and urban areas. Sustaining a balanced ecology is an important part of global sustainability, climate change mitigation and adaptation and healthy environments. By integrating natural ecosystems into the built infrastructure there are a number of benefits which can be seen not just for the environment but for city occupants also. Whilst it is difficult to understand the full extent of these benefits there is now a growing emphasis on giving them a monetary value. 

On Tuesday 3 November industry experts came together to discuss the role of urban ecology in future cities, considering emerging ideas and concepts for increasing city resilience and the multiple benefits of adopting a proactive approach to increasing urban ecology and green space in cities.

Tom Amour, Director, Arup & event chair opened the event which examined some of the challenges of valuing urban ecosystems and natural capital and the opportunities for improving and strengthening green infrastructure in the UK. 

The first speaker of the evening, Gary Grant provided an overview of the multiple benefits associated with ecosystem services and the important role they play. Highlighting the increasing focus of nature based solutions, he stated that ‘the war with nature is over’, as we continue to embrace biomimicry and bioengineering approaches to cities and infrastructure requirements, with numerous high profile projects, European funding competition such as the Horizon 2020 and the recent NERC Green Infrastructure Innovation Programme.  

There is a growing emphasis on the role that more green places and spaces can have on improving public health and wellbeing and Val Kirby highlighted some of the key drivers for creating these in her presentation including; the ageing population, increased obesity, health inequalities and the cost of treating ill health. Val also highlighted key points from a recent Landscape Institute guidance document ‘Public Health and Landscape, Creating healthy places’.  

Brian Horton, Environmental Economist, MWH spoke of the benefits of valuing SuDs and went on to introduce a new innovative free tool developed with CIRIA, the BeST tool,  which can help businesses to improve decision making, meet financial targets and also support their business case for SuDS. 

Nigel Dunnett, University of Sheffield, gave an overview of the concept ‘Future Nature’, explaining the need to re-purpose and re-frame urban green areas and public realm. His presentations highlighted the need for smart ecology with aesthetic quality, he boldly pointed out that perhaps the term ‘green infrastructure’ should be reconsidered as green areas should be colourful, interactive and fun. 

Amelia Woodley, Network Rail and Team London Bridge, then outlined their 12 point plan for green infrastructure which set out to improve linkage either side of the Thames and a summary of the greening London Bridge project which was part of the Thameslink programme which runs between Bedford and Brighton. Green infrastructure interventions for the project included green roofs and green walls. 

Relating to the London Bridge project, Darly Moore from Cityscapes, an organisation that brings people together to improve the ecology, aesthetic and community aspects of towns and cities, ran through a number of case studies including fresh air square, gibbons rent and Greenwood Theatre pocket park. 

The final presentation from Monica Barker, Atkins focused on the economic valuation of ecosystem services and the use of a value transfer approach. Camley Street Natural Park, the case study described in detail, is a small park covering 0.7ha and is located close to Kings Cross/ St Pancras. Using the value transfer approach ecosystem services, including recreation, health and education, of the park were given a value accordingly and the park was later valued at 2.7 million a year in cultural services. 

A panel discussion closed the seminar focused on the importance of both empowering local people to do more within their environment and reinforcing the importance of the physical and mental wellbeing benefits. As cities are under increasing pressure to develop land, and provide housing and workplaces for growing populations, the competition for land is becoming increasingly tough. Without studying and identifying the value of city ecosystems and urban, we face the danger of city green spaces, parks and green corridors being deprioritised for other uses. 

CIRIA has been examining a number of projects and activities within this area, for more information on the work we are involved in please visit our Sustainability and Built Environment webpage.