BIOPHILIC CITIES A Global Journal of Innovation in Urban Nature Vol. 3/No. 1 November 2019 THE NATUREFUL CITY Special Expressions of Nature / Tim Beatley FEATURE Ocean Cities / Simon Pittman & Katherine Moseley PROJECT PROFILE The Green Cloud Project / Vivin Qiang & Xin “Fish” Yu PARTNER CITY PROFILE City Forest Carbon+ Credits/ Lucia Athens & Mark McPherson he Biophilic Cities Journal is produced by Biophilic Cities, which partners with cities, scholars and advocates from across T the globe to build an understanding of the value and contribution of nature in cities to the lives of urban residents. As a central element of its work, Biophilic Cities facilitates a global network of partner cities, organizations and individuals working collectively to pursue the vision of a natureful city within their unique and diverse environments and cultures. The participants in the network are working in concert to conserve and celebrate nature in all its forms and the many important ways in which cities and their inhabitants benefit from the biodiversity and wild urban spaces present in cities. Many individuals and organizations are due thanks for helping to produce the Journal. We owe special thanks to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Summit Foundation for their generous and continuing financial support for Biophilic Cities. We also thank the University of Virginia School of Architecture for hosting and supporting Biophilic Cities in many ways. For more information on Biophilic Cities, and to learn about ways to become involved in this global movement, please visit us at BiophilicCities.org. Founder and Executive Director Tim Beatley Program Director JD Brown Director of Partner Cities Carla Jones Director of Biophilic Research Julia Triman Partner City Coordinator Maria Tahamtani Communications Coordinator Lucia Shuff-Heck Graduate Research Assistants Sean Geygan Carolyn Heaps Kevin Kask Rachel Moon Mary-Michael Robertson BIOPHILIC CITIES ADVISORY BOARD Julian Agyeman (Tufts University); Bill Browning (Terrapin Bright Green); Lena Chan (National Parks Board of Singapore); Nina-Marie Lister (Ryerson University); Richard Louv (Journalist, Author); Peter Newman (Curtin University); Wallace J. Nichols (Blue Mind Fund); Richard Piacentini (Phipps Conservancy and Botanical Gardens); Fritz Steiner (University of Pennsylvania School of Design); Amanda Sturgeon (International Living Future Institute); Catherine Werner (City of St. Louis); Celia Wade-Brown (Wellington City, New Zealand); Jennifer R. Wolch (UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design). BIOPHILIC CITIES STEERING COMMITTEE Julia Africa (Boston, Massachusetts); Peter Brastow (San Francisco Department of the Environment); Matt Burlin (Portland, Oregon, Bureau of Environmental Services); Scott Edmondson (San Francisco Planning Department); Nick Grayson (Birmingham, U.K.); Cecilia Herzog (Inverde Institute); Mike Houck (Urban Greenspaces Institute); David Maddox (The Nature of Cities); Luis Orive (Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain); Jana Soderlund (Curtin University); Stella Tarnay (Biophilic DC); Helena van Vliet (BioPhilly); Maria Wheeler-Dubas (Phipps Conservatory). Solstice Sunrise Yoga, Dorothea Dix Park, 2018 Image Credit: City of Raleigh, NC CONTENTS | BIOPHILIC CITIES JOURNAL Vol. 3/ No. 1 | November 2019 PARK PROFILE: 40 DOROTHEA DIX PARK: A PARK WITH A CITY IN IT BY CAROLINE LINDQUIST HEALTH: 44 HEARING BIRDSONG BY TIM BEATLEY 40 22 TOOLS: 46 YOU CAN’T MANAGE WHAT YOU CAN’T MEASURE BY NADINE GALLE THE NATUREFUL CITY: 6 SPECIAL EXPRESSIONS OF NATURE PIONEER INTERVIEW: 50 A CONVERSATION WITH FLIGHT - PROTECTING INDONESIAN BIRDS with MARISON GUCIANO, FLIGHT FOUNDER FEATURE: 12 TRANSFORMING OUR COASTAL CITIES INTO OCEAN CITIES: 46 RESEARCH: 52 AN URGENT CALL FOR ACTION DE-REGULATING WILDNESS BY SIMON J. PITTMAN and KATHERINE MOSELEY BY JULIA TRIMAN 12 THE BOOKSHELF: 58 FEATURE: 18 BIRD THERAPY BY JOE HARKNESS, FOREWORD BY CHRIS PARKHAM CITY BY NATURE: ReWILDING THE NORTH TEXAS BRANCH WATERS NETWORKS REVIEW BY TIM BEATLEY FOR URBANISM BY KEVIN SLOAN SHORT STORY: 60 52 WATERWAYS AND DREAMSCAPES BUILDING SPOTLIGHT: 22 BY LANNAH MARSHALL DESIGNERS WALK: TORONTO’S NEW FOREST IN THE SKY BY TIM BEATLEY 18 SAVE THE DATE FOR MARCH SYMPOSIUM AT THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA! PARTNER CITY PROJECT PROFILE: 26 REPLANTING RIPARIAN FOREST BUFFERS IN AUSTIN THROUGH CITY FOREST CARBON+ CREDITS BY LUCIA ATHENS and MARK MCPHERSON BUILDING SPOTLIGHT: 30 VITAE IN MILAN: A VERTICAL VINEYARD CREATES A NEW MODEL OF BIOPHILIC INFILL 30 BY TIM BEATLEY PROJECT PROFILE: 32 THE GREEN CLOUD PROJECT BY VIVIN QIANG and XIN “FISH” YU BIODIVERSITY: 36 WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BIRD FRIENDLY? 36 BY ADAM BETUEL Cover: ReWilding the Trinity Image Credit: Kevin Sloan Studio 4 BIOPHILIC CITIES JOURNAL | NOVEMBER 2019 | 5 BIOPHILIC CITIES JOURNAL / THE NATUREFUL CITY role in creating meaningful and flourishing lives. For Chelsea Johnson that meant working to find a reasonable compromise that would allow for the protection of trees but also some development flexibility. She started convening weekly discussions with developers and environmentalists around her dining room table that eventually led to a new ordinance, adopted by the Tampa City Council in April of 2019. It is a story that shows the power of grassroots activism, the benefits of bringing sometimes warring community Tampa, Florida factions around a table, and the Photo Credit: Matthew Paulson enduring power that trees and other forms of nature have to The Natureful City: Special Expressions of Nature deeply enhance the quality of our lives. Tampa, Florida By Tim Beatley Photo Credit: Michael Cutillo The rest of the story is not so Chelsea Johnson remembers that trees were an essential part the face of tree protection in optimistic. Some weeks later towers as an essential element in “a terraced hillside community well when she got word that of the quality of life in Tampa Tampa. the conservative-leaning Florida reaching that city’s tree canopy of trees,” which is why they have the homebuilders association and an especially important state legislature adopted a law and climate goals. The first of been very adamant in their in Tampa was trying to push part of the beauty of her own The value of trees and other that included a prohibition of these forested towers—a project support of the new development. through changes in the city’s neighborhood. urban ecosystems extends far local tree protection laws such called Designers Walk—has This project shows clearly that iconic tree protection ordinance. beyond aesthetics of course. as Tampa’s. It seems immensely recently been approved, but biophilic design is something These changes would have made Chelsea Johnson quickly Heat is the most deadly weather- undemocratic, that distant only after months of opposition that can overcome the typical it much easier for developers and responded to the alerts she related killer. Trees reduce the legislators can overturn the from the city. Indeed, as Brisbin opposition to increased urban homebuilders to cut and clear heard about the gutting of urban heat-island effect, lower animated will of local residents explained, the high-rise tower density. trees that stood in the way of Tampa’s tree code, and she cooling costs, provide wildlife to create the kind of community became something the residents’ new construction. Put another managed to stop this proposal habitat, absorb climate-changing they wish, but it illustrates the association strongly supported, One of the most inspiring way, it apparently would allow in its tracks. She soon became carbon dioxide, reduce flooding kinds of obstacles faced in actively pushing the project’s places where density and nature “clear-cutting” on residential lots. deeply immersed in efforts to and help recharge groundwater. protecting local nature and in approval. This is interesting are both accommodated is The proposal seemingly came more carefully update and revise They are just one of the many advancing biophilic cities in the and unusual given the typical Paris, and in June we had the out of nowhere. Tampa’s tree code, which has ecosystem services that natural US and around the world. NIMBYism that prevails. wonderful chance to see the been on the books since 1972. environments can provide in fruition of months of planning A similar twist to this tree story Johnson was the president of She founded the local group cities, usually at no cost to “We’re excited, we’re approved, by David Maddox and his team can be found in recent months the South Tampa Neighborhood Tree Something, Say Something taxpayers. Recognizing their we’re going forward,” Brisbin told of volunteers for the Nature in Toronto. I spoke with Brian Association and, as she explained to engage and organize importance, many cities are me this summer. It is a structure of Cities Summit, a four-day Brisbin, a biophilic-oriented to me in a recent phone call, was citizens but also to negotiate putting nature back to work that, if the renderings are any conference, which Biophilic architect who has designed a not especially knowledgeable a practical compromise with and making natural systems a reasonable indication, will deliver Cities joined as a sponsoring new kind of forest tower. There about trees or the city’s tree the homebuilders pushing to high priority in urban design new forms of nature not just to organization. It was unlike any is more detail in the lead story protection ordinance when she eliminate the tree code. Holding and planning. And they are residents but to the surrounding