Weaving Natural Ecosystems [Back] into Urban Commons
This research explores solutions to increase urban nature footprint within existing city fabric. Although cities around the world are exploring strategies to integrate nature and its biodiversity into the urban fabric, it is urgent to go further than tokenism and offer effective and regular access to nature for the urbanites. How can urban design contribute to achieving on-site biodiversity benefits in the urban matrix for the citizens? How can city designers improve on biodiversity potential of urban (green) spaces? We will refer to Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design protocols to explore a strategy of inserting key wilderness elements, with focus on native plants species, into potent urban spaces. Highly impactful and economically viable, the method facilitates weaving nature’s elements into city’s accessible landscape. We aim at concluding in referable information and recommendations for urban designers to increase biodiversity in urban realm. This will further guide’s recent research work and ongoing DRP on appropriate native plant species and their combination and possible public urban spaces for their insertion, anchored in Ahmedabad city as research laboratory. Research will involve secondary resources, primary data from site observations and recordings, and interaction with specialists.
