Man and nature: common priorities

Abstract

The conference, Urban Biodiversity and Design: Implementing the Convention on Biological Diversity in Towns and Cities, was held at Erfurt, Germany, in May 2008. It attracted 400 participants from 50 countries, including ecologists, city planners, landscape architects and city’s administrators. The main goals of this large forum were to discuss different aspects of urban biodiversity and practical design implementation.

Four keynote speakers addressed five main sessions of the conference: “Biodiversity of urban-industrial areas and its evaluation, “Cultural aspects and urban biodiversity”, “Social aspects of urban biodiversity”, “Urban biodiversity and climate change” and “Design and future of biodiversity”.

The choice of the venue for this conference signified the role of Germany as a “cradle” of urban ecology. The Second World War left many German cities in ruins. Among them, West Berlin had the most difficult situation of being separated from the rest of West Germany by the Wall. Ecologists and landscape architects were left to research what they had remaining after the destruction: wastelands, abandoned railways and urban streets. They had no choice but to value each, even a very small piece of “nature”. Professor Herbert Sukopp, a West Berliner, is recognised today as “the father of urban ecology”. He created a very strong national school on urban ecology. The conference organisers not surprising invited Sukopp to open this important international event.

Professor Norbert Muller from the University of Applied Sciences in Erfurt, the host of the conference, stressed in his address that “for most people the every day contact with nature happens in cities which can and must be centres for biodiversity protection”. The Convention on Biological Diversity was accepted in 1992 and reinforced in the following eight conferences. One of the crucial steps towards understanding and accepting cities as potential centres for biodiversity was made in the Brasilian city of Curitiba in 2007, when 34 mayors and other officials initiated a global partnership aiming to push local authorities into implementing of the Convention on Biological Diversity in urban areas. The Erfurt conference supported this Convention and called for further research in urban biodiversity and design.

Many participants touched on the problem of globalisation and unification of urban landscapes, biodiversity loss, the introduction of new organisms, and the threat of alien species replacing native biota. The term “ecological imperialism” reflects a new tendency towards global urban flora and fauna whereby the same species can be found in most of the world’s cities. Many scientists warned about the crucial role of native plant communities in urban areas, not only for their values to people (recreational, aesthetical and physiological) but also as potential centres for species biodiversity and as an inspiration for landscape architects.

Climate change and its influence on urban biodiversity was a topic covered by many of the presentations. For example, the “Urban Heat Island Effect” leads to the appearance of thermophilic species, and more xerophytic (arid) urban environments. Global climate change and in particular rising temperatures will demand revisiting and reprinting of existing local planting guides.

The largest session of the conference was dedicated to practical design solutions for urban biodiversity. For example, the European method of “biotope mapping” assists urban designers in planning strategies and protection of the most valuable and rare plant and bird species. European approaches such as “Go Wild” (UK), “Go Spontaneous” (Germany) and “Pictorial Meadows” (UK) are very evident in new ecological aesthetics in landscape architecture.

Australasian ecologists and landscape architects shared with other colleagues their concerns for native biodiversity loss in urban environments, increasing environmental weeds (debate native/versus exotic) and the new paradigm of national identity by design with native plants. Research in urban biodiversity and in urban ecology generally is very young in New Zealand. Our delegates reported results from the Low Impact Urban Design and Development (LIUDD) programme carried out by Landcare Research, Lincoln University and others over the last five years.

An entire session of the conference was dedicated to green roofs and their importance for urban biodiversity. Green roofs are an actively growing industry in all European countries and in the United States.