But nature is an equally potent source of creativity for solving complex social problems and for responding to the daunting challenges and shocks that cities will face in the future.  Creating urban conditions where residents have ready and near-constant ability to see and experience nature is an important antidote to the stresses of modern life.  It may also supply the essential background and building blocks for creativity, imagination, and artistic expression.

A recent visit to London offered me an important example of the overlap nature and creativity. Though I had visited London numerous times over the years, I had never managed to visit Hampstead Heath, a beloved green space and early park. A rather large park by most urban standards—now comprising around 800 acres–it is the setting for writing and work of one of my favorite poets, John Keats.

The importance of Hampstead Heath to Keats is a well-known demonstration of the role of parks in stimulating our senses and stoking our creative minds. Possibly Britain’s most famous poet, John Keats lived much of his short life in a house a few blocks from the park and was a frequent visitor.  His poetry often takes this nearby nature as its subject.

Nature’s ability to  inspire, to stir deep emotion, and to incite and invoke a depth of feeling and insight is evident in Keats’ work. Much of the subject matter of Keats is nature, experienced in walks and strolls in Hampstead Heath.

Keats’ beautiful poem “I stood tip-toe upon a little hill,” is believed to have been written about Hampstead Heath and is a deeply eloquent testament to power of such urban parks:

Caught from the early sobbing of the morn.
The clouds were pure and white as flocks new shorn,
And fresh from the clear brook; sweetly they slept
On the blue fields of heaven, and then there crept
A little noiseless noise among the leaves,
Born of the very sigh that silence heaves:
For not the faintest motion could be seen
Of all the shades that slanted o’er the green.

The qualities of Hampstead Heath that Keates evokes show the compelling power of a park to change human lives and shape the quality of life in urban neighborhoods. This park demonstrates the incredible value green space and nature can play close to where people live in cities. My visit took place on a chilly March Sunday: here families and large groups could be seen strolling, kids playing, climbing, and lone walkers exploring.  There was a grandparent playing a makeshift game of tennis with a grandchild, and there were kids balancing precariously on large logs and fallen trees. At least one entire family, it seems, could be seen perched in a large tree.

The views from Hampstead Heath are spectacular, with the London’s skyline not far away, though quite different than the one that Keats would have seen.

I gazed awhile, and felt as light, and free
As though the fanning wings of Mercury
Had played upon my heels: I was light-hearted,
And many pleasures to my vision started;
So I straightway began to pluck a posey
Of luxuries bright, milky, soft and rosy.

Hampstead Heath is a remarkably diverse and interesting park, with extensive woodlands, but also open fields, wetlands, and a series of ponds and dams, part of the latter open for swimming in the milder times of the year. There is much biodiversity found here, including some 180 bird species, 350 species of fungi, 23 species of butterflies, and much variety of plants and trees. It is also a great place to see and watch bats.

This is a wonderful park also for its informality. The spaces are not formally-designed, and no formal gardens at all. There are few paved paths or trails. There are many different paths to take.  Several have the feel of deer trails and may take you in a direction where you may not encounter others. This is a park of choices and exploration.

Open afresh your round of starry folds,
Ye ardent marigolds!
Dry up the moisture from your golden lids,
For great Apollo bids
That in these days your praises should be sung
On many harps, which he has lately strung;
And when again your dewiness he kisses,
Tell him, I have you in my world of blisses:
So haply when I rove in some far vale,
His mighty voice may come upon the gale.

                  ………………………………

Linger awhile upon some bending planks
That lean against a streamlet’s rushy banks,
And watch intently Nature’s gentle doings:
They will be found softer than ring-dove’s cooings.
How silent comes the water round that bend;
Not the minutest whisper does it send
To the o’erhanging sallows: blades of grass
Slowly across the chequer’d shadows pass.

Keats’s inspired work so beautifully demonstrates that nature can incite and provoke, can inspire and elicit emotions and creative resolve.  There are likely many sources creativity, of course, and nature is not the only muse or stimulant. But for Keats the nature of Hampstead Heath was a unique fount of literary inspiration, and one that every aspiring creative-city should take note of:

Thee must I praise above all other glories
That smile us on to tell delightful stories.
For what has made the sage or poet write
But the fair paradise of Nature’s light?
In the calm grandeur of a sober line,
We see the waving of the mountain pine;
And when a tale is beautifully staid,
We feel the safety of a hawthorn glade:
When it is moving on luxurious wings,
The soul is lost in pleasant smotherings…

[To read complete version of “I stood tip-toe” visit: http://www.john-keats.com/gedichte/i_stood_tip-toe.htm]

Post by Timothy Beatley

Youth helping to build El Sereno Arroyo Playground
Photo: Parks & Recreation Magazine

Urban parks often feature programming for children, from New York City’s Prospect Park to the Junior Ranger program in San Francisco’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area and many more all over the world. Cities are also exploring ways for kids to participate in designing and shaping the parks and urban green spaces that will become places for them to play, learn and grow. Here are just a few examples of cities inviting children to contribute to urban park planning:

• The organization Healthy Kids, Healthy Communities, collaborated with partners in Flint, Michigan to assess and develop strategic plans for improving city parks. As part of the planning process, the team conducted focus groups with youth to understand their perception and points of view and include their input as the plan was developed.
• The Trust for Public Land, in collaboration with planners for the Bloomingdale Trail in Chicago, set up community participation stations at future access points to the trail (several of which are at current neighborhood parks), at which kids had the opportunity to create artwork representing what they wanted their future park and trail to be.
• A City Parks Forum Briefing Paper about the role of parks in children’s education and development highlights Cary, North Carolina’s Kids Together Park, discussing the inclusive participation process children were a part of to create the park. The briefing paper notes that: “a strong demand was made to retain natural features of the original site and to add many other natural elements to the design” (p. 4).
• The El Sereno Arroyo Playground, according to a recent article by Danielle Taylor in Parks & Recreation magazine, incorporated children’s ideas into the design and planning process. According to Taylor, there are plans to expand the park with a natural play garden that will be a demonstration project of the Natural Play and Learning Area Guidelines Project, and will “showcase national guidelines for nature playscapes.”
• Though a bit further out of the city than most of the parks discussed above, the recent short film “How the Kids Saved the Parks” captures the pioneering efforts of students from Grass Valley Charter School in California to save South Yuba River State Park from closure. The film follows the children’s “mobile media action team,” their collection of 10,000 petition signatures, and highlights their effusive personal accounts of their love for the park, and leaves the viewer with a sense that this and all the other efforts to involve children in park planning and advocacy are worthwhile.

As we continue to plan and design biophilic cities, we should keep our youngest citizens in mind: their thoughts, desires, energies and talents. The more we can involve kids in celebrating wild spaces and integrating nature into urban places, the better they will be for all.

While the 1900s and early 2000s heralded the age of the brightly-hued, manufactured playgrounds, there is now a movement to go back to the days of wooden towers in the sky and dirt children can actually dig in to. These modern playgrounds are a fusion of the traditional wooden playground structures with new elements that ingeniously engage park players with a range of biophilic elements. New companies, such as Play Scapes in Europe or Natural Playgrounds in the United States, are committing to creating “nature play” playgrounds that include climbing trees, nature trails, water pools, undulating surfaces, and even decked out dig areas. While these play areas encourage greater physical interaction with a nature, they also instill in park visitors a sense of environmental stewardship.

Additionally, benefits of natural play places have been linked to a wealth of positive health effects. Studies in the past decade have shown that increased contact of children with nature and natural play areas can:

Nature play areas area certainly making a splash in the playground industry with due cause. However, in meeting the children in their own backyards and school yards with these nature-incorporating designs, it’s also important to remember opportunities for the adult-sized kid…because everyone deserves a playground.

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Image Credits: Natural Playgrounds, PlayScapes, PlayScapes

Mariah Gleason, Biophilic Cities Project Researcher 

Mariah is a masters degree candidate in Urban & Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia. 

DIY.org

There are many different ‘skills‘ that children can learn through this online community, ranging from Astronomy to Zoology! There are many different biophilic skills that your child can learn through this nifty website — and maybe you’ll learn something new too! Sign up today, get the iPhone app, and start learning by doing, the biophilic way!

The change in view in recent years has been dramatic and encouraging, as many cities seek to restore connections to rivers and streams and understand the many larger ecological, social and economic values of these systems, and the emotional and psychological value of rivers to people especially in urban settings. New York City’s Director of City Planning, Amanda Burden, has recently declared the need to think of water as the city’s “Sixth Borough,” and that city has worked hard to create new connections to its waterfront (for instance the new Hudson River Park). Richmond, Virginia, has adopted an urban design plan for its downtown that seeks to re-connect to the James River, declaring it to be that city’s Central Park.

Almost all of the cities we have been studying and working with through the Biophilic Cities Project have a compelling river or water story. Milwaukee has undertaken impressive river conservation efforts, and recently saw the opening of a third branch of the Urban Ecology Center, focused on a vision of restoring and re-connecting surrounding neighborhoods to the Menomonee River.  Oslo has developed a bold green plan which imagines restoring and bringing back to the surface all its major river systems, connecting its large forested zone with the Oslo fjord. The value of such efforts here can already be seen in the Akerselva, where residents come to walk, run, bike and picnic along the banks of this former industrial river. Complete with water falls, pedestrian bridges, and expansive meadows, it is a popular daily destination.

In Singapore, through its ABC water initiative (active, beautiful, clean), a major shift in thinking has taken place, moving that city away from engineered water management and flood control, towards one of re-naturalizing rivers and streams. The premier example is the Kallang River at Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park which has been taken out of a concrete encasement and returned to a meandering, beautiful, biodiverse river.

In Portland, Oregon, there is even a Rivers Office, created in 2009, to give more concerted attention to protection of and development along the river (see our recent interview with Director Ann Beier here). In many ways Portland exemplified the re-discovery of urban rivers, and famously took out a section of interstate highway in the 1970s to create the Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

Urban rivers and streams lay an important foundation for outdoor living and physical activity in cities.  I’ve just returned from a trip to the UK where I spent time in Birmingham, a city beginning to develop new and innovative strategies for connecting health improvements with environmental conservation. A key element in this new vision of the city as a green and healthy place are the 400 km of mostly above- ground small waterways.  While lacking a large, major river, this is an impressive blue network that reaches every part of the city. Nick Grayson, who heads up the city’s program in Climate Change and Sustainability, explained to me his notion that by opening up access to this network, it could become the basis for a city-wide grid of walking trails and pathways. Grayson envisions a future in which the health-enhancing value of those streams might then flow back to the city in the form of funds (from forgone medical expenses as more residents walk and spend time in nature), allowing the city to better manage and maintain them.  And there are other potential new income streams, for instance from the sustainable harvesting of wood and its use as a biomass energy source.

Here in our own small City of Charlottesville there is a remarkable stream restoration story unfolding, showing what water and access to water can mean in enhancing quality of life, and promoting outdoor activity. It is an impressive restoration project—some 9000 linear feet—and has involved realigning the stream, restoring meanders, enhancing aquatic habitat, and planting native trees and vegetation. A collaborative project between the City of Charlottesville and the Nature Conservancy (TNC), it will have many benefits, including water quality enhancement and restoring the ecological functioning of the stream. But most importantly will be the benefit to the surrounding neighborhoods, as a place to stroll and wander, and for kids to explore. Our family is there often, and the allure is great: each stretch of water is bit unique and there are many different places and ways to cross and follow this gurgling blue ribbon.

Rivers and streams are in many ways the hydrologic “veins” of our communities. They provide many ecological services, of course, but they also provide the basis for emotional connections with nature and the other life forms with which we share the city, extending as a kind of blue web of mutuality and interdependence. We are typically never very far from a river or stream in a city, and if we commit to it, never far from a restorative walk, touch or gaze that adds immeasurably to urban living.

Q: Can you share a bit of background on Portland’s Office for Healthy Working Rivers, what the office does, and your role? 

Portland, like many other cities, is a river city. Most U.S. cities (and everywhere else too) settled around rivers for drinking water, for manufacturing, etc. Portland has a long tradition of being a river city. In the early 1990s, the then-Mayor said: “we need to have a vision for how we as a city relate to our rivers.” So the city developed a River Renaissance Visioning Project, asking “what do we want our rivers to be?” Common goals that came from the project included that the rivers be healthy for people and wildlife, to support a working harbor, to allow for access to river, for the rivers to be lively and vital for the city. The City Council adopted the vision, and the idea was that in order to implement the vision, different city bureaus would need to operate more holistically with regard to the river. So after about five years, the then-Mayor asked how we were doing and whether we were implementing the vision – the answer was that there was still fragmentation, and we needed some sort of government structure to allow us to address river-related issues. So in 2009 the city created the Rivers Office (the Office of Healthy Working Rivers) with the notion that it would include both environmental and ecological health and the economy, making sure that working waterfront businesses would thrive. I was hired in 2009 to lead the office. We have this very broad mission, and our funding comes from Portland’s Bureau of Environmental Services’ sewer rate payers. Because of that funding we have really only focused on the connection to the river for people and ecological, watershed health not the working waterfront part of our mandate. That is kind of a challenge for us, because we were set up to have a broad mandate, and with limited funding we have to respect that our issues are watershed health and connecting people to the river.

Q: What are your biggest challenges working with water and rivers in an urban setting?

Many of the bureaus in the city touch the water. We have about ten different city bureaus all with an interest in the water, whether it is our fire folks, our parks, our environmental services, our development people. So we have a lot of almost “clients.” We also have a complex river system with endangered salmon, which makes any work around the rivers really challenging, because we are trying to make sure we don’t fail to meet our obligations under the endangered species act. We are also in a really built environment, we have a seawall on one side with no access and a hard surface, we have rip rap up and down the river. I’ve seen a statistic that historically as the Willamette flowed through Portland, it had 80% beaches and 20% rock and hardened surfaces, it was a much broader floodplain than it is today – now it’s about 20% beaches and 80% hardened surfaces, so there’s not much natural area left. A large share of the north part of the river, close to probably 11 miles, is in a superfund site due to contaminants and historic pollutants, and that means that any sort of restoration effort in that part of the watershed and other parts as well has to deal with making sure we don’t release contaminants into the environment which raises the price tag of any sort of restoration.

Q: Do you have a favorite story about your work you could share? A success story or a lesson learned?

The good news about the river is that our Bureau of Environmental Services made us one of the first cities to really work on addressing the combined sewer overflows. Like a number of older cities in the U.S., we built our sanitary sewer and our storm sewers together. But when it rains, those overflow into the river. Portland, like some other cities, has invested a lot of money into providing additional storage for those big rain events, and our Big Pipes project came online at the end of 2011. We went from about 50 to 60 overflows each year down to 1 or 2. That means we have basically cut out bacteria loadings to the river. We have moved from a fishable river to a fishable, swimmable river (click here to learn about Portland’s Combined Sewer Overflows Control Program).

The bad news is, the river still comes with a really high “yuck” factor, because for years there was industrial discharge, paper mills, all sorts of things, and it was a nasty sort of place, so people think – “why would I ever swim in that river?” But now because of the Big Pipes and other improvements, the water quality has gone to very good or excellent as measured by our Department of Environmental Quality. So back in the summer of 2011, before the Pipe Project was finished, a young guy who runs a business in the city came to me and said, “you know, I want people to get into the river, I want this river to be an amenity for the city. I want people not to be afraid of it. I have this idea that we should just get everybody in inner tubes to come down and float across the Willamette.” I said, “you know, I kind of like that!” My goal is to get people to care about the river – if they care about the river, they’ll invest in restoration. Some of my colleagues thought I was a little crazy, but I thought “how better? This is free, this is cheap”…so we all pulled together, we talked to the Coast Guard we talked to everybody who uses the river to make sure we could safely get people on the river. And we didn’t know how many people would show up, but we picked a nice sunny Sunday in July and we had 1,300 people in inner tubes on the Willamette. It was so successful and so fun that we did it again last year, and we’ll do it again this year. To me, that is a success. That says this is a healthy river, people can enjoy it, it’s our river, and we care about it. That’s the kind of message we are really trying to send: it’s your river, care about it (to join the fun, check out The Big Float).

Now we are trying to find other places for people to have access to the river, whether in kayaks or by walking down and wading in the river, now that it is cleaner. There is a challenge still, because even though the water chemistry, the water quality is much better, we still have contaminated sediments, and we still have habitat restoration that needs to occur. We are part of the way there, but we still have a lot of work to do.

Q: What have you discovered about the relationship between people and rivers? How does your work relate to Portland as a Biophilic City?

I think our biggest goal here is to get people to understand that the river is a natural system, that it is another kind of open space that they can enjoy, that it supports all these amazing critters (which is shorthand for wildlife and fish), that we have changed it so dramatically, but that we can help it heal, and that it is ours to heal, it is our responsibility – it’s that 1970s saying that “you don’t care about what you don’t understand.” We want to help people understand that it’s part of our greater fabric and that it is healing and it is an amenity for the city and we shouldn’t turn our back on it. We have a great watershed health program and we have done a lot of work on the tributaries to the Willamette, but we have this huge river that needs a different touch, that has different challenges, and trying to figure out solutions that work in a really big river, a highly urban river – to restore the ecological functions of this river. We know we can’t restore the floodplain completely, we are built up. But what can we do in smaller ways to give back the ecological function and to get people to realize the value of that?

Q: Are there any new/current projects we should be on the lookout for that might explore connections between Portland residents and water / nature?

We are trying to do little projects like get some beach access and do a river taxi so people can get on the water – those are little things, but big things. We are going to have to as a city figure out what we want from Portland Harbor’s cleanup. EPA will be issuing a draft cleanup plan probably about a year from now, but what is the city’s vision for a cleaned up river? Do we want everything removed? Do we see our working harbor continuing to work as a port that exports goods? Those are going to be big challenges for us. We’ve got some great restoration projects going on right now that were both put in in the last year or so, so within five years or so that should transform about a mile of riverfront. We’re really excited to see how that will transform a former industrial area and to see how people respond to the river once the vegetation comes out.

Q: Any last thoughts you would like to leave us with?

I think what we need is to better understand urban rivers and how we restore them, because the things that we do in tributaries aren’t necessarily the best solution. So we need to try to understand how we first get our urban population interested and then what restoration sites can do to help us understand how to restore those functions.

Interview by Julia Triman, Biophilic Cities Project Researcher 

Julia is a Masters Candidate in Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia.

While many city greening programs focus on reintroducing plants and nature through imaginative and even interactive designs, some cities are taking this opportunity to address other needs.

Stormwater filtration and cleaning are becoming a concern for cities as pollution and water contamination become more frequent and detrimental to public health. Rain gardens offer low-cost, low-maintenance, “at-the-source” stormwater filtration as well as aesthetically rejuvenating and productive areas that contrast with the gray infrastructure of the city. Common designs for rain gardens include in-ground gardens, planter boxes, green roofs, and swales.

While easing city stormwater pressures, placing rain gardens in highly traveled areas encourages daily human interaction.  Many cities have used rain garden designs on curbsides, metro stops as well as medians and side-walks. One popular in-home use for rain gardens is a family food garden! The rain garden design holds water so that vegetables and herbs are able to grow even during droughts.

So, what does it take to make an urban  rain garden program successful and how can we encourage people to build rain gardens in their own backyards? Answer:

1. Giving it purpose,
2. Creating open and available channels of resources, and
3. Making it fun!

            Following the severe drought from 2006-2007, Melbourne, Australia launched a fabulously innovative program to build 10,000 new rain gardens across the city. The program was initiated in 2008 by Melbourne Water, a water supply company of the Victorian State Government. It works by encouraging community councils and citizens to build rain gardens throughout their communities. To help promote this effort among residents in-particular, the Raingardens program offers a “fully-loaded” website that includes everything a new rain garden owner needs to know such as; what rain gardens are, their process, how to pick the appropriate rain garden based on area or need, how to build it, and what plants to use. The website more importantly offers support by sharing tips for care and where to seek help. When done, residents are asked to REGISTER THEIR RAIN GARDEN! By registering, residents are able to compete to win vouchers to a local home-improvement and gardening store.

As of March 2013, Melbourne has reached 8,267 new rain gardens across the city!

Initially, the Melbourne Water Raingarden program came out of local mission to maintain healthy, productive gardens that could withstand the severe droughts Melbourne experiences. However, the lasting success of the program has largely come from the open and available resources the program provides, as well as encouragement for innovation. The best way to ensure lasting success is to make it FUN and let creativity thrive!

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Image Credits: Melbourne Water Raingardens

Mariah Gleason, Biophilic Cities Project Researcher 

Mariah is a masters degree candidate in Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia. 

Across the United States, and in many other countries, we have begun to feel the strain that our crumbling infrastructure has on our economy and daily lives. Replacing large, centralized infrastructure is costly, highly political, and frequently sees no payback. Many localities are incentivizing point-source reductions in water and energy consumption and production of waste. In the case of the latter, Living Machines are used to treat the waste water produced within a building’s envelope. When operating properly, Living Machines  can significantly reduce the total water demand by treating the waste water generated and recycling it throughout the building for non-consumptive uses.

Living Machines are, by design, a combination of aquaculture and constructed wetland systems. They combine and facilitate biological, chemical, and physical interactions between the wastewater and the ecologically engineered system. Within these systems are specifically chosen plants and micro- and macro-organisms that help break down and uptake pollutants within the water. The wastewater is a shared resource that enables the symbiotic relationships that allow each organism to co-benefit from the other’s function. At the end of the treatment process, these systems create a highly treated, ‘clean’ water source that can be reused within a building by both the human and biophilic residents – all of this, under one roof!

These ecologically engineered systems reacquaint us with power of nature and its ability  to clean and renew what is considered ‘waste’ and convert it into a desirable, precious resource. Historically, urban areas have made the conscious effort to expel waste in the most quick and ‘efficient’ means possible via underground culverts, concrete open channels, etc. These have proven to cause long-term environmental degradation, high-cost for replacement, and socially undesirable. Implementing systems like the Living Machine in the urban context can be cost-effective, highly resilient when maintained, efficient in pollutant removal, and socially valuable in public and private spaces. Case studies of implementing these types of systems include Oberlin College, City of Fuzhou, Fujian Province, China and City of South Burlington, South Burlington, Vermont.

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Ty Smith, Biophilic Cities Research Assistant

Ty Smith is a Dual-Master’s candidate at the University of Virginia studying Civil Engineering & Environmental Planning.

 The most exciting part of the Trust’s program is that it is engaging the students, parents, and teachers at each school to help design the playgrounds that will both meet their specific needs and the needs of the city to reduce stormwater runoff.  Students are tasked and encouraged to participate in the design process.  During that time, they learn about the problems with outdated urban infrastructure—such as combined sewer systems and asphalt paving—and the ways in which soft infrastructure solutions like trees and grass, roof gardens, and permeable surfaces can help to mitigate and ameliorate those issues. Through this knowledge, their playground “wish list” evolves from the standard items like basketball courts, swing sets, and slides to include butterfly and meditation gardens and gravel-lined turf fields (NY Times).

As cities around the U.S. continue to face concerns such as outdated stormwater infrastructure and climate change, it will be imperative that citizens understand the issues and possibility for innovative and integrated solutions.  By engaging New York City’s school children, the Trust for Public Land is laying a foundation for an informed citizenry that is more aware and engaged.  Through incorporating them in the design process, they are also encouraging students to be active participants that can work together to solve problems and build a better community for themselves.

Image Credits: The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times

Harriett Jameson, Biophilic Cities Project Researcher 

Harriett is a masters degree  candidate for the Urban and Environmental Planning and Landscape Architecture disciplines at the University of Virginia. 

Below, is an interview of the Honor’s students created for this blog. In the future, we also plan to highlight a more comprehensive overview of each team’s work, so stay tuned!

1. Introduce yourselves!

Hello-dy! I am Sky Eigen. I am a freshman majoring in Sustainability (B.S.) at Arizona
State University. I have lived all over the U.S., as well as parts of Central America and the
Caribbean; although, I have been living in the Phoenix area for the past five years. My goal is
to become a “world-saver,” and I find research extremely enticing and engaging, so when I was
presented with the opportunity to participate in this project, I was excited to start on the path to
becoming…well, a “world-saver.” Haha.

Howdy!! I am Bridget Harding. I am a Sustainability major at Arizona State University. I’ve
lived in the northern Phoenix suburbs my whole life, but I have recently had the chance to
get to know the downtown area of Phoenix better. I’ve become interested in the idea of urban
gardening, whether it be for food for the community, or even if it is for the purpose of educating
Arizonans about the native species! My favorite desert flower is the firecracker penstemon!

Hello, my name is Emily Alvarez. This is my third year at Arizona State University and am
majoring in Urban Planning (B.S.P) with a minor in Sustainability. I have been working in an arid
ecology research lab at ASU since my freshman year and was beyond excited when I got the
opportunity to study two things that I love in one project- plants and cities! My goal is to become
a city planner who helps preserve nature by incorporating it into cities to create sustainable,
green living spaces.

2. Which site did your groups focus on for the Phoenix-metro area location, for the
“desert city” aspect of the project? What were the goals for those projects?

S – My group focused on the McDowell Sonoran Preserve, and even a bit of the surrounding
area (when attempting to determine how “biophilic” it is). Our goal was to find out how people
interacted with nature while in the preserve, so we asked them how frequently they visited the
preserve, how they found out about it, what they generally did when they were there–and other
questions along that line.

B – The group I took part of focused mainly on vacant lots in the downtown area. We narrowed
our focus down to a seven by seven block area within the Roosevelt Row Arts District–one
of the most culturally exuberant areas in Phoenix today. Hidden among Roosevelt’s local
businesses and residents is a lot known as the Sunflower lot that is a part of the Valley of the
Sunflower Project. This project gave our group inspiration to think of innovative ways we could
transform vacant, dirt lots into some way to better the community.

E – My group was faced with a unique challenge- we were asked to compile a video showing
the diverse landscapes of Phoenix. Being a Phoenix native, I knew how great a task this would
be. With some help from an ASU faculty member, we chose four points along a transect that cut
from northern Phoenix (Tatum and Dynamite) to southern Phoenix (Broadway and 19th Ave).
This ensured a diverse sampling of the greater Phoenix area.

3. How did you approach the research project? How did you decide to collect said
research?

S – We initially planned to speak with the volunteers, asking about their stewardship at the
McDowell Sonoran Preserve. However, our project goal changed, to be focused, instead,
on people who visit the Preserve, how they connect to nature, and the like. So, we set about
making a survey to collect the research. I attended the GIS workshop that Bridget mentions
below me–I even signed out the equipment, but because we ended up surveying visitors from
two different trailheads, we decided to do without the program. I think there was a lot of potential
with it, though, and I suggest that next semester’s crop check it out! They could go to multiple
trailheads, with the device, and see where different types of visitors tend to be, i.e., the runners
are usually “these” trailheads, the hikers go “here,” the equestrians tend to stick to “these” trail–
information like that.

B – One tool I found most useful was GIS, or Geographic Information System. Using GIS, our
team mapped all of the vacant lots in the area. We recorded around 27 lots! We had many other
ideas for possible research, such as doing a geothermal map of the area to see how vacant lots
affect the temperature of the area (we wanted to know if the lots were making Phoenix even
hotter). We had another idea which was to test the pH levels of the soil on the lots.

E – At first we were stumped. How were we going to condense all of the diversity Phoenix
posses into a five minute video? Our project guide, Dorothy Trippel got in contact with an ASU
researcher to provide us with some data what would aid us in choosing our final shooting
locations. Based on average family income, density, area per square mile and population size,
we chose four locations that would lend us the most diverse locations. The four intersections we
chose were Tatum/Dynamite, Northern/16th Street, McDowell/7th Ave, and lastly, Broadway/
19th Ave.

4. Was the data-collection experience successful?

S – Yes! We chose a Saturday morning (that seemed like a day when many folks trekked to the
preserve–perhaps because they don’t work then, or that is a day their friends could all meet
together) and we were able to get over fifty surveys filled out, from two different trailheads, and
a variety of different visitors. We even got quite a few people from out of state–even out of the
country! We did attempt to go another day, a Friday morning, but there were very few people, so
we dedicated that day to picture and video-capturing.

B -A majority of the lots we wanted to test on, however, were property of the City of Phoenix and
we were restricted by regulations on the property…so our research was unfortunately limited to
just GIS. The GIS did show some shocking evidence that there are quite a number of vacant
lots. The maps also showed how the lots are basically just dirt with little to no fauna (maybe a

non-native palm tree here or there).

E – We chose a day all of us could meet and drove along the transect, successfully capturing
images of our locations. We wound up with about 45 minutes of footage and had to condense
that into only five.

5. What were some challenges you faced throughout the project?

S – Initially, we weren’t quite sure what I main goal of our project was, what the instructors
wanted it to be. We were able to create a –the visitors–and were able to plan our project,
accordingly. We had a few team communication problems, in the very beginning, but we were
able to remedy that, quickly, and get back to work. Using “Google Docs” were especially helpful,
because we were able to work “together,” while not actually having to work around our busy
schedules to meet in person every time.

B – Our team faced quite a few challenges. We lost connection with our only contact downtown,
in the beginning stages of the project. This posed a challenge, however were figured we could
move on and take different approach to the area.

E – There was really only one problem that we ran into and that was our initial problem of
choosing our locations. After we got that done it was pretty much just smooth sailing, so to
speak. We had a bit of a hiccup toward the end when we all could not find a time to meet, but
we quickly overcame that by delegating tasks to each member that we would compile at the
end.

6. What aspects of doing a project focusing on biophilia do you feel you got the most out
of?

S – Learning about this revolutionary concept in the first place is, I think, supremely beneficial.
The notion that we have been constructing our cities–our lives–”incorrectly,” selfishly, without
regard for the other beings in this world, is radical. As humans, it really has been “all about us.”
This takes awareness–“conscious living,” as Thich Nhat Hanh say–to a totally different level–
a higher echelon, so to speak. That such a movement is taking place, that I am able, in some
small way, to be apart of it…is incredible. I first came to Arizona, thinking I was going to some
wretched desert, without grass, without snow, without GREEN. I mean, people have gravel
as lawns–something I have never witnessed before moving here. And, although I came to
experience living in my first suburb, which had grassy lawns, (man-made) lakes, plants (forced
to take root in a foreign area)…something always felt artificial. It’s time to change that–we can
have agriculture here, we can have a greener city, we can have a sustainable city–a biophilic
city–but we have to truly want it. We have to progress, move forward, make change–and I think
we’re ready.

B – Personally, I wondered how could a downtown, urban area in one of the driest cities in the
United States have any potential to be biophilic? Would that mean planting cacti every five
feet? Well, what I realized was that there currently is little trace of nature downtown. However,
there is a movement, a quiet one, but one nonetheless, for starting up urban gardens. To
me, this idea seemed ingenious because as Phoenix is expanding, our agriculture is being
pushed farther and farther into the desert. If we have ways to take that agriculture and place it
right in the center of Phoenix, that would solve issues like the increasing number of miles the
food is traveling, it would provide jobs, and it would provide opportunity to develop a sense of
community.

E – As a team, we were all just interested in how biophilia and biophilic design can vary between
the different regions of Phoenix. Personally, I was excited to do research on biophilia in general.
I love nature and I love cities, so getting to do this type of research in the city I grew up in was a
great experience.

7. What were a few creative ideas you or your team developed in order to improve the
biophilia of the sites?

S – While the preserve, itself, has many biophilic qualities (in terms of design), its accessibility
is lacking. Without a car, it would be very difficult to get to the McDowell Sonoran Preserve,
because public transit only goes so far, and the site is a bit on the edge of Scottsdale. This was
a “biggie,” for us. As a college student, I, personally, don’t own a car (nor do I own a license…).
Luckily, one of our members did, or at least had access to one, when we went out to collect
data. Maybe, having a special shuttle from the closest bus stop–or just having the public
transportation system expanding to that area–would definitely help.

B – Our team felt that urban gardening was the best solution. There are many different way to
approaching this though, since most of the lots are privately owned by the City of Phoenix or
other business owners. First, we learned that some people literally just go to the lots and begin
to garden, sans permission. This idea is radical, but it may be the best way to have the silent
movement transform into one that everyone knows about. Second, we learned that some urban
gardeners in Phoenix lease the land from the owners and garden there until the owners decide
to develop the land. This takes cooperation and willingness, however, this is the most ethical
way to go.

E – A lot of the buildings we saw were build pre- 2000. Our group thought it necessary to retrofit
the buildings so that they could become more sustainable and incorporate biophilic design.

8. Do you have any tips for next semester’s/future students working on this research
project–or even just research projects in general?

S – First of all, make a plan. Plan out the whole semester–in person. I believe this is vital, in
order to achieve the best possible outcome. Of course, it can be kept a bit flexible, depending
on certain situations, but having something to keep everyone in check–in-the-know–is
important. Second, make sure to communicate, and don’t be afraid to lay down the facts
and take charge in order to “get ‘er done,” if need be. Third, make a Google Doc, in the very
beginning. It is super helpful, and gets everyone involved. Fourth…check out the GIS idea!
I think it would be a fantastic addition to this project. Fifth, go for a hike! Enjoy yourself–the
preserve has some great trails, and it is really beautiful. I could go on, but some things need to
be experienced. And remember, “go with the flow” (to a point, of course).

B – My biggest piece of advice for next semester’s Team Vacant Lots, focus on the people and
the community. Many parts of Phoenix’s downtown area lack community, but Roosevelt Row
is a unique gem that has the potential to act as a trendsetter. So, focus on the people who live
around the lots and experience the lots, get a taste of the locally grown food, and see what the
residents have to say.

E – As a group we only focused on visuals. So, it would interesting for the next group to get out
of the car and speak with people who live in the different areas of Phoenix.

9. How has your vision of the city changed over the course of your project?

S – Coincidentally, I got a job working for a local, organic farm/farmer’s market vendor/micro-
grocery in Downtown Phoenix–on Roosevelt (where Bridget’s group was studying), so that
experience coupled with learning about the preserve opened my eyes to many avenues
of the Greater Phoenix area that I didn’t even know existed. Granted, I still favor a green,
mountainous, tree-dense, four-seasons climate, but Arizona has a growing vibe that I really like.
The “sustainable scene” is growing, and I am extremely excited for that.

B – My vision of Phoenix has definitely changed. Back in high school, in northern Phoenix,
I knew nothing of downtown. To me, it was an annoying place to drive through during my
drivers test. That was it. Now that I have been out on the lightrail, the wonderful and new public
transportation Phoenix now has, I have been to the First Fridays put on by the Roosevelt Row
community, and I have become an official volunteer at the Japanese Friendship Garden right
in the Roosevelt Row area. Downtown Phoenix has so much potential, not only space-wise,
with all of the vacant lots begging to be used as a garden, but among the people, as well. The
community is pushing a “Buy Local” campaign with biweekly local farmers market right in the
center of the tall buildings and bustling traffic. The potential for biophilia in downtown is just
amazing.

E – It’s funny to be asked about how my “vision” of Phoenix has changed because the whole
point of my group’s project was to get a vision of the city. Growing up and going to school only
a street or two down from Tatum and Dynamite, my vision of it was not changed throughout this
project. Since I’ve lived here for almost 21 years, I knew that Phoenix was packed with diversity.
However, my vision of this city has changed in regards to how I feel about it. Before, I just thought I lived in a huge city filled with all sorts of people and places. After looking at Phoenix through the lense of biophilia, I see that it is much more than that. Phoenix is a desert city with many diverse landscapes that all tie into how we live our lives day to day. Northern Phoenix is inhabited much differently than southern Phoenix.