New Tools and Institutions to Foster Biophilic Cities

Abstract

Moving cities in the direction of recognizing and fostering biophilic qualities will not be easy and will require significant and sustained investments in social and governmental infrastructure. Physical design, at the building, neighborhood, city, and regional levels, will only take us part of the way in creating a truly biophilic city. In addition to new design and planning codes and incentives that institutionalize biophilic design and planning, we need institutions that educate about nature or facilitate access and nudge us to explore nature and to live more outdoor lives.

Chapter 5

• 1. Chicago Landscape Ordinance, found at egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalContentItemAction. do ?blockName =Promo +Item&channelId=536899053&programId=536888905&topChannelName=Business& contentOID=536910033&Failed_Reason=Invalid+timestamp,+engine+has+ been+restarted&contenTypeName=COC_EDITORIAL&com.broadvision. session.new=Yes&Failed_Page=%2fwebportal%2fportalContentItemAction.do, accessed March 13, 2010.

• 2. David A. Taylor, “Growing Green Roofs, City by City,” Environmental Health Perspectives 115 (no. 6, June 2007):A308-A311.

• 3. By-law No. 583–2009; see City of Toronto, “Green Roof Bylaw,” found at www.toronto.ca/greenroofs/overview.html, accessed November 20, 2009.

• 4. See City of Berlin, “Biotope Area Factor,” found at www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/umwelt/landschaftsplanung/bff/en/berechnungsbeispiele.shtml.

• 5. See City of Seattle, “Seattle Green Factor,” found at www.seattle.gov/dpd/permits/greenfactor/Overview/.

• 6. City of Seattle, “Director’s Report and Recommendations: Commercial Code Clean-up Amendments,” March 9, 2009.

• 7. As an example, K. L. Getter and D. B. Rowe report that the German city of Esslingen will cover up to half the cost of installing a new green roof there. See Getter and Rowe, “Effect of Substrate Depth and Planting Season on Sedum Plug Establishment for Extensive Green Roofs,” Proceedings of the Fifth North American Green Roof Conference: Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities, Minneapolis, 2007.

• 8. See Portland Metropolitan Services District, “Nature in Neighborhoods Capital Grants,” found at www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=18203.

• 9. See Portland Metropolitan Services District, “Nature in Neighborhoods,” found at www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id+13745, accessed September 7, 2009.

• 10. Portland Metro, “Nature in Neighborhood Restoration and Enhancement Grants,” found at www.oregonmetro.gov/index.cfm/go/by.web/id=24982, accessed on May 28, 2010.

• 11. See City of Greensboro, NC, “Greensboro Water Resources,” found at www.greensboro-nc.gov/departments/Water/customer/stormwaterrates.htm, accessed March 2, 2010.

• 12. Community Boating Inc., “Mission,” found at www.communityboating.org/mission.php, accessed October 7, 2009.

• 13. Barbara Shema, “Learn to Sail at Community Boating Programs,” Suite 101.com.

• 14. For instance, in California, under the Mello-Roos Community Facilities Act of 1982, localities can create public facility districts, float bonds to pay for a variety of community improvements, and property owners agree to tax themselves over 20 years to pay debt service on the bonds. Berkeley was the first jurisdiction in Calif ornia to use this authority specifically to provide upfront financing for solar energy systems, under its Berkeley FIRST program.

• 15. Ashoka Community Greens, Alley Gating and Greening Toolkit Baltimore, written by Benjamin Nathanson and Danielle Emmet,edited by Kate Harrod,found at www.cleanergreenerbaltimore.org/.../Toolkit%20%20Latham%20OK%20Ver%205%200x.pdf.

• 16. “Measuring Impact,” at www.communitygreens.org/measuringimpact, accessed October 15, 2009. “After alley gating and greening, properties abutting alley greens tend to increase in value by 5% to 15%. As a result, these blocks with alley greens attract new homeowners and therefore decrease the number of vacant and abandoned houses in the area. In addition, higher home values increase real est ate revenues benefiting the entire community,” p. 7, Alley Gating and Greening Toolkit.

• 17. Jan C. Semenza, “The Intersection of Urban Planning, Art, and Public Health: The Sunnyside Piazza,” American Journal of Public Health 93 (no. 9, September 2003):1439–1441.

• 18. “Pavement to Parks,” found at sfpavementtoparks.sfplanning.org/, accessed December 16, 2009.

• 19. Ibid.

• 20. Michael M. Grynbaum, “A Closing on Broadway Becomes Permanent,” New York Times, February 10, 2010.

• 21. Under Sadik-Khan’s leadership, bike lane miles have almost doubled in about two years; see Kuitenbrouwer, “NYC Transit Chief Eager to See Streetcars; She’s Making Her City a Better Place to Talk, Cycle,” National Post, Toronto Edition, April 22, 2009.

• 22. Joe Nasr, presentation, University of Virginia, November 30, 2009.

• 23. For a review of state “Leave No Child Inside” laws and initiatives, see Allen Cooper, “Children and the Outdoors: State Policy Solutions Guide,” National Wildlife Federation, 2008.

• 24. This is an abbreviated list; for the complete text of the Chicago Wilderness “Children’s Outdoor Bill of Rights,” see www.kidsoutside.info/billofrights/, accessed June 2, 2009.

• 25. Ibid.

• 26. Examples of such maps include a map of the Cuyahoga Bioregion, prepared by EcoCity Cleveland, and at smaller neighborhood scale, a map of the Pimmit Run watershed, in Arlington County, Virginia. See Timothy Beatley, Native to Nowhere, for discussion of both.

• 27. NYC Green Codes Task Force, Executive Summary, found at www.urbangreencouncil.org/greencodes/, accessed March 13, 2010.

• 28. The report specifically recommends a requirement that at least half of the nonbuilt area of a new development be designed to be permeable.

• 29. Amina Khan, “Orange Officials Sue Couple Who Removed Their Lawn,” Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2010.

• 30. Ann Cameron Siegal, “Bats Be Gone!” Washington Post, September 19, 2009, p. E1.

• 31. The month following the Los Angeles attack, a Canadian singer, Taylor Mitchell, was apparently attacked and killed by coyotes while hiking in Nova Scotia. This will undoubtedly give support to those who advise a more cautious route and extermination when in doubt. But the circumstances of the Mitchell attack are unclear and may have involved one or more rabid coyotes, or at least coyotes who were young and desperately hungry. And there is some speculation that the animals might have been wolf-coyote hybrids and that the victim may have assumed a prey posture by running. Still, this was only the second human death from coyotes ever reported in North America, speaking again to the highly improbable danger associated with what are usually very shy animals.

• 32. See Junior Natural Program, the Wildlife Center, www.wildwnc.org/information/junior-naturalist.

• 33. Cleveland Botanical Garden, “Green Corps Urban Learning Farms.” Undated, p. 1.

• 34. Ibid.

• 35. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, “Greenest Block in Brooklyn,” found at www.bbg.org/edu/greenbridge/greenestblock/, accessed August 31, 2009.

• 36. Brooklyn Botanic Garden, “Deadline for Entering the Annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn Contest is Monday, June 1,” www.bbg.org, May 15, 2009.

• 37. See Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, “Tending the Urban Forest,” Philadelphia, 2007.

• 38. “Residents will use the skills they acquire to become stewards of their neigh borhoods. The project is off to a vibrant start with engaged citizens, eager part ners, and a solid vision for a greener, more sustainable future.” Annual Report, Pennsylvania Horticultural Society, 2009, p. 17. Funding for this initiative is coming from Home Depot Foundation, the Local Initiatives Support Corporation, the William Penn Foundation, and the Philadelphia Water Department.

• 39. For example, see “Ten Years Later: NYRP’s Community Garden Program Is Growing Stronger,” Gooddirt, the NYRP Newsletter, Spring/Summer, 2009, p. 1.

• 40. Personal communication with Sara Borgstrom, October 14, 2008.

• 41. For example, see Richmond Audubon Society, www.richmondaudubon.org/index.html.

• 42. Citizens are encouraged to pledge to take one of seven actions: plant drought-resistant plants, plant a mixed hedgerow, plant a broad-leaved tree, make a pond, use mulch, add a green roof to your shed, and wild up your decking; see London Wildlife Trust, 1www.wildlondon.org.uk/gardening/Home/tabid/384/Default.aspx, accessed June 1, 2010.

• 43. For a full history of the organization, see Washington Biologists’ Field Club, The Washington Biologists’ Field Club: Its Members and Its History (1900–2006), Mathew C. Perry ed., 2007.