Name: Rewilding: What it is and why it's good for well-being
Uploaded: 2023-06-14T10:35:53.666Z
Duration: 412.92

MIMS Rewilding_Final_Real-Final.mp4

MIMS Rewilding.vtt

English

{{00:00:00}}
Hi, I am Dr.

{{00:00:01}}
Angela Loader.

{{00:00:02}}
I work at research at I W B I, and I look at the
relationship between humans and their environment

{{00:00:07}}
at multiple scales with a particular focus on
access to nature, how it impacts our sense of

{{00:00:13}}
place, our wellbeing, and even our productivity.

{{00:00:35}}
You might have heard about the term
rewilding and wondered what exactly is it.

{{00:00:40}}
Rewilding is really trying to bring nature back
into cities in really unusual ways, so less

{{00:00:45}}
parks, more trees sprouting from buildings.

{{00:00:48}}
Vines climbing up buildings.

{{00:00:50}}
This is pretty new for most cities, especially North
American cities, and it's really taking the world by storm.

{{00:00:57}}
So some examples of rewilding is Milan's Bosco
Verticale; London has a new project which

{{00:01:03}}
has got trees sprouting from a  green roof.

{{00:01:07}}
There's a new project in Denver, which is also
sprouting trees on different terraces, and

{{00:01:13}}
Singapore is one of the oldest areas for Rewilding.

{{00:01:16}}
Dr.

{{00:01:16}}
Ken Yang's work, which has got
vines climbing up of high rises.

{{00:01:21}}
These are really a resting very
visually appealing types of rewilding.

{{00:01:26}}
Even things like the Promenade Plantée or the
New York City Highliner, all examples of putting

{{00:01:33}}
nature on places that you wouldn't expect it.

{{00:01:41}}
This is not the first time we've
tried to add nature back into cities.

{{00:01:44}}
We've had the city beautiful movement, which is given
as beautiful boulevards and parks, lakefront  parkland.

{{00:01:51}}
But what's different about this type of
urban greening is that it's explicitly

{{00:01:56}}
trying to address a lot of different things.

{{00:01:58}}
It's trying to address environmental value,
so ecosystem services, storm water management.

{{00:02:04}}
You've got vegetated swales.

{{00:02:07}}
It's trying to address city beautification.

{{00:02:09}}
So in Chicago, for example, investors knew that
the next neighborhood was gonna pop, was the

{{00:02:14}}
one that started having flowers in the medians.

{{00:02:17}}
And lastly, one of the newest
things to come up is around equity.

{{00:02:20}}
They're realizing that.

{{00:02:21}}
It is not enough to have any one goal, and
certainly not only environmental goals.

{{00:02:26}}
To make this work, it has to involve community,
because community in the end is the one

{{00:02:31}}
that's gonna have to maintain it and the
one that's gonna get the benefits from it.

{{00:02:41}}
So the benefits of rewilding are numerous.

{{00:02:44}}
Of course this links to climate change initiatives with
increased biodiversity and giving more green space.

{{00:02:51}}
Many of you would've heard of the urban heat
island effect, which means that cities, because

{{00:02:55}}
they've got lots of impervious services,
are hotter than the surrounding countryside.

{{00:03:00}}
This leads to heat waves and storm water
runoff and flooding which has caused a lot

{{00:03:05}}
of  chaos and is only anticipated to increase.

{{00:03:08}}
So that's the most obvious.

{{00:03:10}}
Slightly less obvious, is increased
habitat for birds and animals.

{{00:03:14}}
And the last benefit, which you might not realize
is that it's connects people to nature in a way

{{00:03:19}}
that we haven't seen in a long time for cities.

{{00:03:22}}
There's something called the Pigeon Paradox, which
says, why would people care about the environment, this

{{00:03:27}}
global idea of climate change in the environment if
their only experience of nature is pigeons in a park?

{{00:03:33}}
Connecting people with wilder, more biodiverse
nature, particularly if it's for habitat--they

{{00:03:39}}
see falcons nesting on a green roof.

{{00:03:41}}
Things like that really gives people
a sense of that otherness of nature.

{{00:03:46}}
It brings them outta themselves and really is being shown in
my research to calm them down, to give a sense of wellbeing.

{{00:03:53}}
Even a sense of awe that is similar to the kind
of nature experiences people find on retreats.

{{00:03:58}}
This has huge implications for people's
wellbeing as well as for environmental education.

{{00:04:04}}
The next generation of young leaders for the environment
can get trained on these  rewilding initiatives and

{{00:04:10}}
start to care about the nature outside the city.

{{00:04:19}}
So even Rewilding projects sounds great, right?

{{00:04:22}}
What could be possibly wrong with it?

{{00:04:24}}
Very well-meaning projects being implemented and have
faced a host of criticism and backlash with claims of

{{00:04:30}}
green gentrification and a lack of equitable disbursement.

{{00:04:34}}
The very people that need access to nature
most are usually the ones that get pushed

{{00:04:38}}
out when the prices increase for real estate.

{{00:04:41}}
This has happened even in Chicago for the 606
line, a converted rail line, which has been

{{00:04:47}}
used for active transportation and rewilding and
there's been criticisms that it has increased

{{00:04:51}}
prices despite the best efforts of the city.

{{00:04:54}}
There are a couple key things to think about for this.

{{00:04:58}}
One is that community needs to be involved from the
very beginning and co-create what these spaces are for.

{{00:05:04}}
The second is land trusts, which are gaining increasing
popularity so that the people that have the least

{{00:05:09}}
amount of access to green spaces in cities, which tend
to be the poorest and the most ethnically diverse.

{{00:05:14}}
Still benefit from that nature without getting pushed out.

{{00:05:18}}
And lastly, maintenance.

{{00:05:20}}
Nobody wants to talk about maintenance when
talking about rewilding, and most cities simply

{{00:05:24}}
don't have the budgets, or they're not set up to
continually maintain something a little more complex

{{00:05:29}}
than regular pavement or stormwater management.

{{00:05:31}}
That's where you get people involved.

{{00:05:33}}
That could be the community, that can
be green jobs, that can be education.

{{00:05:38}}
There's such possibilities with rewilding to
really ground people in place in sustainable and

{{00:05:43}}
resilient ways that are equitable for everyone.

{{00:05:52}}
If you are a business owner and you've got property
that has the ability to say, put a green roof on

{{00:05:58}}
top, or a terrace, that is a great place to start.

{{00:06:01}}
During the pandemic, there was a 50% increase in
the desire for residential and office buildings

{{00:06:07}}
with access to green space in New York City.

{{00:06:09}}
50%.

{{00:06:10}}
That is huge.

{{00:06:11}}
One of the reasons we're seeing that people don't
necessarily wanna go back to the office anecdotally, is

{{00:06:16}}
that they get more access to daylight and nature at home.

{{00:06:19}}
So why don't you bring nature back into
the space that you work and that you live?

{{00:06:24}}
That could be a green roof, that could
be terraces, that could be pocket parks.

{{00:06:29}}
Those are all great examples of rewilding.

{{00:06:31}}
If it's a new project.

{{00:06:33}}
The sky's the limit.

{{00:06:34}}
We've seen incredible examples of trees growing on
terraces, provide people micro abilities to restore,

{{00:06:42}}
take a step away from work and experience nature.

{{00:06:45}}
The benefits are tenfold.

I work at research at I W B I, and I look at the
relationship between humans and their environment

at multiple scales with a particular focus on
access to nature, how it impacts our sense of

place, our wellbeing, and even our productivity.

You might have heard about the term
rewilding and wondered what exactly is it.

Rewilding is really trying to bring nature back
into cities in really unusual ways, so less

parks, more trees sprouting from buildings.

This is pretty new for most cities, especially North
American cities, and it's really taking the world by storm.

So some examples of rewilding is Milan's Bosco
Verticale; London has a new project which

has got trees sprouting from a  green roof.

There's a new project in Denver, which is also
sprouting trees on different terraces, and

Singapore is one of the oldest areas for Rewilding.

Ken Yang's work, which has got
vines climbing up of high rises.

These are really a resting very
visually appealing types of rewilding.

Even things like the Promenade Plantée or the
New York City Highliner, all examples of putting

nature on places that you wouldn't expect it.

This is not the first time we've
tried to add nature back into cities.

We've had the city beautiful movement, which is given
as beautiful boulevards and parks, lakefront  parkland.

But what's different about this type of
urban greening is that it's explicitly

trying to address a lot of different things.

It's trying to address environmental value,
so ecosystem services, storm water management.

It's trying to address city beautification.

So in Chicago, for example, investors knew that
the next neighborhood was gonna pop, was the

one that started having flowers in the medians.

And lastly, one of the newest
things to come up is around equity.

It is not enough to have any one goal, and
certainly not only environmental goals.

To make this work, it has to involve community,
because community in the end is the one

that's gonna have to maintain it and the
one that's gonna get the benefits from it.

So the benefits of rewilding are numerous.

Of course this links to climate change initiatives with
increased biodiversity and giving more green space.

Many of you would've heard of the urban heat
island effect, which means that cities, because

they've got lots of impervious services,
are hotter than the surrounding countryside.

This leads to heat waves and storm water
runoff and flooding which has caused a lot

of  chaos and is only anticipated to increase.

Slightly less obvious, is increased
habitat for birds and animals.

And the last benefit, which you might not realize
is that it's connects people to nature in a way

that we haven't seen in a long time for cities.

There's something called the Pigeon Paradox, which
says, why would people care about the environment, this

global idea of climate change in the environment if
their only experience of nature is pigeons in a park?

Connecting people with wilder, more biodiverse
nature, particularly if it's for habitat--they

Things like that really gives people
a sense of that otherness of nature.

It brings them outta themselves and really is being shown in
my research to calm them down, to give a sense of wellbeing.

Even a sense of awe that is similar to the kind
of nature experiences people find on retreats.

This has huge implications for people's
wellbeing as well as for environmental education.

The next generation of young leaders for the environment
can get trained on these  rewilding initiatives and

start to care about the nature outside the city.

So even Rewilding projects sounds great, right?

Very well-meaning projects being implemented and have
faced a host of criticism and backlash with claims of

green gentrification and a lack of equitable disbursement.

The very people that need access to nature
most are usually the ones that get pushed

out when the prices increase for real estate.

This has happened even in Chicago for the 606
line, a converted rail line, which has been

used for active transportation and rewilding and
there's been criticisms that it has increased

prices despite the best efforts of the city.

There are a couple key things to think about for this.

One is that community needs to be involved from the
very beginning and co-create what these spaces are for.

The second is land trusts, which are gaining increasing
popularity so that the people that have the least

amount of access to green spaces in cities, which tend
to be the poorest and the most ethnically diverse.

Still benefit from that nature without getting pushed out.

Nobody wants to talk about maintenance when
talking about rewilding, and most cities simply

don't have the budgets, or they're not set up to
continually maintain something a little more complex

than regular pavement or stormwater management.

That could be the community, that can
be green jobs, that can be education.

There's such possibilities with rewilding to
really ground people in place in sustainable and

resilient ways that are equitable for everyone.

If you are a business owner and you've got property
that has the ability to say, put a green roof on

top, or a terrace, that is a great place to start.

During the pandemic, there was a 50% increase in
the desire for residential and office buildings

with access to green space in New York City.

One of the reasons we're seeing that people don't
necessarily wanna go back to the office anecdotally, is

that they get more access to daylight and nature at home.

So why don't you bring nature back into
the space that you work and that you live?

That could be a green roof, that could
be terraces, that could be pocket parks.

Those are all great examples of rewilding.

We've seen incredible examples of trees growing on
terraces, provide people micro abilities to restore,

take a step away from work and experience nature.

Make it Make Sense

Sustainability in the workplace

Explainer

Have you ever felt that moment of peace when you're out in nature? Dr Angela Loader  believes that feeling is something everyone should have access to, even those living in urban environments. 
In this episode of Make It Make Sense, Dr Loader discusses rewilding, an initiative that aims to bring nature back into cities in a unique way.
Discover the benefits of rewilding both for climate change mitigation and increased biodiversity, and as a way of connecting people with nature for greater well-being for all.