Greening a green city Towards A Healthy Liveable City? Speaking - PDF document

Greening a green city Towards A Healthy Liveable City? Speaking notes for Urban Nature by Design presentation Slide 1 Title slide Slide 2 London is a green city. This is on part due to its history. Unlike many European cities it wasn’t built as a defensive citadel. Therefore, it grew organically, absorbing fields and areas of countryside as it grew. Slide 3 These green spaces were subsequently protected through the introduction of planning rules which recognised that open space was an essential part of a thriving city, especially as they provided spaces for fresh air and exercise which become increasingly important for the urban working class during the industrial revelation. As early as 1943, with the publication of the County of London Plan, the protection of green spaces became a central tenet of planning policy. This has remained a constant ever since. Slides 4 + 5 But despite the importance of protecting green space it is not necessarily a policy that by itself is fit for purpose in a modern, growing city. Green space may end up being simply the space between buildings (so called amenity space) or space that performs very limited functions such as underused sports pitches. Slide 6 (animated – click once for first image, click again for overlay) Consequently, in the 1980’s, planning policy and land management practice began to adopt the principles of urban ecology. In addition to many green spaces being identified for protection because of their nature conservation value rather than just their recreational value, parks began to be managed to encourage more habitats for wildlife. Fairly simple techniques such as the creation of wildflower meadows and reedbeds transform the ecological value of these spaces. Slides 7 + 8

Again, these policies were successful, but the focus was still on protecting and conserving special places rather than thinking about how they could be better integrated with the built environment. Slides 9 London’s current economic, social and environmental context requires us to refine the policy framework still further. London’s population is growing. It currently stands at about 8.5 million (the same as it was in 1940 when many people lived in overcrowded slums) but is expected to rise to around 12 million by 2050. This population needs to be accommodated within London’s existing urban boundary. Slide 10 The city also faces environmental challenges such as poor air quality…. Slide 11 …an d climate change. Slide 12 In order to develop a new, up to date policy framework to address these challenges and to develop a more integrated suite of policies appropriate for a growing the current Mayor has initiated the production of a new set of strategies and a new London Plan. The London Environment Strategy covers issues such as Air Quality, Waste Management, Climate Change mitigation and Climate Change Adaptation. It also includes a core theme of establishing a network of green infrastructure and promoting the economic value of this green infrastructure through the concept of natural capital. Adopting the term green infrastructure is important. It ensures that we discuss the management of the green parts of the city in the same ways as we discuss the other infrastructure such as pipes, cables roads and rails that makes a city function. It defines it as something that is essential rather than just nice to have. Slide 13 Importantly, the principles of green infrastructure are also being incorporated into other Mayoral strategies. A major new theme in the Transport Strategy is the concept of ‘ Healthy Streets ’ which promotes streets as public realm as well as thoroughfares for vehicles, and the need to green this public realm to encourage more walking and cycling and to contribute to improving air quality.

Slide 14 Similarly, the new Health Inequalities Strategy recognises the importance of green infrastructure to improving public health and particularly the inequalities in health outcomes across London. Slide 15 (animated – click once for first image, click again for overlay) So, what does this new policy framework look like in practice? It has resulted in an increasing number of rivers being broken out of concrete channels and restored to a more natural course. This is done primarily to improve flood management and improve water quality to enable better quality waterfront development downstream; but it has the additional benefit of improving the quality of the park and providing better habitats for wildlife. Slide 16 (animated – click once for first image, click again for overlay) The redundant amenity spaces between houses (especially on housing estates) has been transformed into gardens and growing spaces which not only improve the visual appeal of the space but create spaces which bring people together. They play an important role in promoting social inclusion. Slide 17 (animated – click once for first image, click again for overlay) We have also begun to reimagine and repurpose the underused grey space in the city. Space that is used only for car-parking is being made available to a wider a wider range of users as well as incorporating features that help adapt the city to climate change. This dead-end street in east London has been converted into a civic space and walking and cycling route which also incorporate sustainable drainage – all the water from the roofs of the buildings is directed into the central bio-swale before slowly being released into the drainage network. Hundreds of similar projects are now being implemented across the city. Slide 18 London is now fast becoming the European capital for green roofs. The latest assessment indicates that there are now over 100 hectares of green roof in London and more are being installed every day. Slide 19 Businesses can also make a contribution. In central London, Business Improvement Districts, work with local authorities to improve the security and resilience of the public realm. The GLA initiated the Greening the BIDs initiative which has resulted in several private institutions investing in green

infrastructure such as green roofs and this rain garden outside the head office of John Lewis in Victoria. Slide 20 Importantly, green infrastructure is increasingly being integrated with the walking and cycling network to encourage more active travel. This cycle-hire hub is located on the edge of a park and includes a sustainable drainage system to take run off from the surrounding hard-surfaces. Slide 21 These different elements of green infrastructure can be brought together to inform and shape urban regeneration projects. The new developments, such as Chobham Manor, that surround the Olympic Park include an integrated network of green roofs, pocket parks, swales and green corridors to provide pathways for people, wildlife and water which mimics a more ecological approach to connectivity through the urban environment. Slide 22 The new wetlands which lie at the end of these pathways are designed primarily to reduce flooding and improve water quality, but also provide high value wildlife habitats and pleasant tranquil spaces for people to retreat from the noise and pollution of surrounding streets. Importantly, these spaces aren’t traditional parks surrounded by fences. The are designed to be part of the city, not something separate from it. Slide 23 + 24 A similar approach at Woodberry Down, where a regeneration project has incorporated greening and new walking and cycling routes within the built environment and enables access to an adjacent reservoir which had been fenced and inaccessible for over 100 years. And wildlife benefits too. A nature reserve and new reedbeds have been created on one of the reservoirs. Slide 25 And to strengthen this new policy framework we have begun to properly account for the economic value of the green infrastructure asset. We have published a Natural Capital Account for London’s Public Green Spaces . The new methodology of natural capital accounting, which is gradually being embraced by Government, clearly shows that maintaining and managing green infrastructure has significant economic benefits, particularly with respect to health. The return on investment for green infrastructure is much higher that the return on investment for other infrastructure assets.

The main problem is that the benefits provided are public goods, not tradeable commodities or services, so the current market-based economic model does not always recognise value the real economic value of green infrastructure. Slide 26 End slide