Regulating the Bee Buzz
   Jennifer Baljko, Barcelona

Setting Priorities with the Human Footprint, or Why I Am an Urban Conservationist
   Eric Sanderson, New York

Let’s Reinvent the Wheel: Helping Local Governments Protect Nature
   Oliver Hillel, Montreal

History, the Detroit River and Building an International Wildlife Refuge Right
   David Goode, Bath

Urban Mining: A Sustainable Alternative to the Environmental Impacts and Social Injustices of Extractive Mining
   Graciela Arosemena, Panama City

Popup Parks Reveal the Nature of Cities
   Amy Hahs, Ballarat

What South Asian Cities Seem to be Missing
   Jennifer Baljko, Barcelona

Covid has upended all the normal routines in our lives and work. How do you imagine you might be changed by it, both professionally, but also personally as you negotiate a new post-virus “normal”?
   Pippin Anderson, Cape Town    Isabelle Michele Sophie Anguelovski, Barcelona    Janice Astbury, Buenos Aires    Lindsay Campbell, New York    Sarah Charlop-Powers, New York    Katrine Claassens, Montreal    M'Lisa Colbert, Montreal    Carmen Bouyer, Paris    Marcus Collier, Dublin    Paul Currie, Cape Town    Samarth Das, Mumbai    Gillian Dick, Glasgow    Paul Downton, Melbourne    Emilio Fantin, Milan    Todd Forest, New York    Andrew Grant, Bath    Eduardo Guerrero, Bogotá    Bram Gunther, New York    Dagmar Haase, Berlin    Annegret Haase, Leipzig    Fadi Hamdan, Athens    Cecilia Herzog, Rio de Janeiro    Alex Herzog, Rio de Janeiro    Matthew Jensen, New York    Panagiota Kotsila, Barcelona    Gilles Lecuir, Paris    Nina-Marie Lister, Toronto    Kevin Lunzalu, Nairobi    Patrick M. Lydon, Daejeon    Yvonne Lynch, Riyadh    David Maddox, New York    Antonia Machado, Portland    Francois Mancebo, Paris    Rob McDonald, Basel    Brian McGrath, New York    Siobhán McQuaid, Dublin    Ragene Palma, London    Diane Pataki, Salt Lake City    Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman, College Park    Steward Pickett, Poughkeepsie    Mary Rowe, Toronto    Andrew Rudd, New York City    Eric Sanderson, New York    Olivier Scheffer, Bordeaux    Huda Shaka, Dubai    Laura Shillington, Montreal    Elisa Silva, Caracas    David Simon, London    Mary Hall Surface, Washington    Erika Svendsen, New York    Abdallah Tawfic, Cairo    Christine Thuring, Vancouver    Naomi Tsur, Jerusalem    Stéphane Verlet-Bottéro, Paris    Andreas Weber, Berlin    Diana Wiesner, Bogota    Darlene Wolnik, New Orleans    Xin Yu, Shenzhen    Carly Ziter, Montreal
Many voices. Greener cities. Better cities.

TNOC’s Mission

We believe the route to cities and communities that are better for nature and all people is through transdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration. We combine art, science, and practice in innovative and publicly available engagements for knowledge-driven, imaginative, and just green city making.

ESSAYS | POINT OF VIEW

ROUNDTABLES

EVENTS

A group of trees in wooden planters in a room
How Could an Orchard Installed in a Gallery Affect Us (And The Gallery)?
Chris Fremantle,  Ayrshire, Scotland

The Nature of Cities focuses on creative approaches to greening urban environments, what that means, why it is important, who is involved, and how, including Roundtables on “cities and pollinators“, and regenerative urban agriculture. The focus of this piece is 18 fruit trees installed for 6 months in an art gallery ― an odd sort of urban greening and an...
An open book with a picture of a tree and pressed leaves
A Tree Grows in Queens
Magali Duzant,  New York City

In 2020, to halt the building of a logging road in Canada, a group of activists set up blockades to protect woodland in British Columbia. A Pacheedaht elder named Bill Jones was quoted in The Guardian as saying, “We must not stand down”. He went on to call ancient trees “guides, teachers, spiritual beings”. I dragged a link to this...
A picture of glowing lanterns of colorful animals
Whimsy. Is there a role for laughter, subversive curve balls, ironic romance and “oh wow that’s cool” moments in the mainstreaming of knowledge and action in sustainability, climate change, and biodiversity?
Molly Anderson,  Cape Town |  Pippin Anderson,  Cape Town |  Emmalee Barnett,  Spokane |  Nic Bennett,  Austin |  James Bonner,  Glasgow |  Tam Dean Burn,  Glasgow |  Bill McGuire,  Glasgow |  Ian Douglas,  Manchester |  Paul Downton,  Melbourne |  Lisa Fitzsimons,  Dublin |  Chris Fremantle,  Ayrshire, Scotland |  Elizabeth Frickey,  New York City |  Tony Kendle,  Saint Austell |  Gareth Kennedy,  Dublin |  David Maddox,  New York |  Rob McDonald,  Basel |  Gareth Moore-Jones,  Ohope Beach |  Richard Scott,  Liverpool |  Hita Unnikrishnan,  Warwick |  Ania Upstill,  New York |  Wendy Wischer,  Connecticut |  Claudia Misteli,  Barcelona |  Alastair McIntosh,  Glasgow | 

THE NATURE OF CITIES FESTIVAL 2024

The Distance Between
Dreams and Reality
is Action

In 2024 we focus on translating knowledge to results. Join us.

EXHIBITS

PROJECTS

Reverberations

Reverberations An exhibition exploring the elements through art, science, and sound, Reverberations features more than 30 contributors from various disciplines in a multimedia experience. Produced by the USDA Forest Service and The Nature of Cities. This is an immersive sound-based exhibition. Headphones are recommended Enable Audio “Can you imagine listening to all that is sounding as if your body were...
Fiction

We asked people to imagine future cities, in the form of a flash or very short fiction. The series now includes two volumes: the latest is titled CITY IN A WILD GARDEN, a collection of 49 stories from 21 countries.
Poetry

With SPROUT, we are curating a space for trans- and multi-disciplinary collaborations between poets, researchers, and citizens with a focus on geographical diversity, polyvocality, and translation. We are a creative project of The Nature of Cities, specifically interested in the character of green cities from many ways of knowing.
The Just City Essays: 26 Visions for Urban Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity

Today’s headlines—from Ferguson to Baltimore, Paris to Johannesburg—resound with the need for a frank conversation about the structures and processes that affect the quality of life and livelihoods of urban residents. Issues of equity, inclusion, race, participation, access and ownership remain unresolved in many communities around the world,  even as we begin to address the challenges of affordability, climate change adaptation and resilience.