Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2020 - 34

ON SPEC

POST COVID-19 POLICIES FOR
BIODIVERSITY ARE NEEDED
BY DAN SLONE

arlier this year, before everything turned upside down, I
spoke to a new Biophilic City regarding the trends in biodiversity being integrated into city plans and ordinances. My
theme was that our historic approach to public landscape
was like our approach to junk food. It's inexpensive, convenient,
filling, somewhat tasty but lacking in nutrition. I encouraged
them to adopt four policies to guide their planning for more
nutritious physical spaces and the ordinances that might relate
to them.
As humans were absent from the parks, waterfronts and
streets of their cities and towns during the lockdown, wildlife
asserted itself, manifesting its resilience and displaying its
willingness to share human habitat. If the number of tweets and
postings is any measure, humans are increasingly realizing they
would like to share space with wildlife. I believe that these policies will become even more central to the decisions of cities to
create "high nutrition" urban landscapes.
The first is to think in clusters (everything is connected). It is
not sufficient to create a park, without also creating corridors such
as landscaped boulevards, green infrastructure or connected living
buildings, connecting it to other parks or habitats. Those connections will be insufficient if there are not protected road crossings
and regulations for lighting and sound along the corridor.
The second is to layer purposes (no dollar does one job). City
budgets will be strained as cities deal with debt and reduced
taxes after the pandemic. Some leaders will be tempted to cut
back on landscape expenditures. Given the significant physical,
psychological, and fiscal returns on biophilic investments, the
opposite should occur. But investment in grass should not be in
turf grass requiring mowing, fertilizing, pesticides, and irrigation, but in seasonal grasses that provide food and habitat and
have minimal maintenance costs. Investment in trees and shrubs
LIVING ARCHITECTURE MONITOR / SUMMER 2020 / 34

should not be solely for aesthetics but for food for pollinators
and birds, for wildlife habitat or even food for people.
The third policy is to anticipate consequences (do no harm).
Working with experienced professionals, cities should anticipate
the things that can go wrong in inviting living creatures into
human habitat. This policy would require cities to mandate bird
friendly buildings along the corridors that have been protected
or preserved for bird movement, and to prohibit the application
of herbicides and pesticides at least along wildlife routes. Other
practical regulations on food waste disposal help prevent the
creation of "problem wildlife."
The final policy is to create experience (think like Singapore).
Humans will protect what they love, so there needs to be many
ways for residents to experience the wildlife around them, both
directly and virtually. They need to have access to training so
that they can understand the creatures and their behaviors, can
overcome any fears, and so they can avoid creating behaviors
that are bad for the wildlife.
A gift from the virus has been a glimpse of the rich landscape
that could fill our cities if we would consciously facilitate it.
For More Information
Through his law firm Vertical Vision, Dan Slone helps cities craft code
and planned communities design governance documents for sustainable
and resilient placemaking. He coaches developers in using community
storytelling to embed their values and helping green business and nonprofit start-ups such as the Congress for the New Urbanism, the US
Green Building Counsel, the World Green Building Counsel, EcoDistricts, and Green Roofs for Healthy Cities. dan@verticalvision.legal.
biophiliccities.org
https://www.npr.org/2020/04/14/833876048/wildlife-takeadvantage-of-fewer-people-out-and-about
LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

https://www.npr.org/2020/04/14/833876048/wildlife-take-advantage-of-fewer-people-out-and-about http://www.LIVINGARCHITECTUREMONITOR.COM

Green Roofs - Living Architecture Monitor - Summer 2020

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