Designed by J&L Gibbons and Feilden Fowles, Urban Nature Project tells the story of Earth’s 2.7 billion years of history.
© Trustees of the Natural History Museum / J&L Gibbons / Feilden Fowles

The recently opened Urban Nature Project, describes Neil, transforms the Natural History Museum’s underused garden of two hectares into an urban oasis that will be a hotbed of biodiversity, outdoor nature-based learning, and scientific research.

It aims to inculcate a love for nature amongst the citizens (particularly the youth) of London, many of whom are disconnected from wildlife.

The large expanse of landscape in the middle of the city also provides benefits such as urban cooling and increased biodiversity.
© Trustees of the Natural History Museum / J&L Gibbons / Feilden Fowles

Developed in close collaboration with the museum’s expert scientists, the project features accessible outdoor ‘living’ galleries. These include the Nature Discovery Garden in the west, designed with an emphasis on ecological systems, and the Evolution Garden in the east, which tells the story of deep time.

Openact Architecture’s Stream Co-Habitat envisions a socio-ecological green corridor shaped by the region’s water channels.
© Openact Architecture

Stream Co-Habitat, Carlos explains, is a regenerative project spread across 25.5 hectares that will help Tuzla peninsula in Istanbul, Turkey, recover from the effects of industrialisation and unregulated urbanisation, which have negatively impacted its crucial water resources.

A 7.5-kilometre-long green corridor loop, passing through several neighbourhoods, will revive the local ecology, and restore connections between the peninsula’s stream and lake, and the sea.

The project will remove the concrete embankment edging the stream, replacing it with naturally landscaped stream beds.
© Openact Architecture

In addition, recreational public spaces and amenities, and infrastructural provisions for sustainable modes of mobility, such as walking and biking routes, will be built into the corridor.

The local community, explains Carlos, has played a central role throughout the design process—from the conception of the design to post-construction monitoring of the project’s newly opened phase one.

In both projects, intertwining the social with the ecological came with challenges.

As a part of the Urban Nature Project, the Natural History Museum created a Youth Worker Toolkit with ideas to engage youth with urban nature.
© Trustees of the Natural History Museum / J&L Gibbons / Feilden Fowles

Neil, for example, pointed out that with around 27,000 people visiting the Urban Nature Project per day since its opening, some of the real-life use patterns observed have differed from what was anticipated.

But the flexibility afforded by landscapes has allowed the design team to make the requisite changes. Neil points to the bright side: over time, these small, incremental improvements will make the project even better.

What is crucial also, he says, is balancing the fine line between creating ecosystemic landscapes that the planet really needs, and people’s well-being and comfort in relation to natural spaces.

A cycling route surrounded by native vegetation at the newly opened zone of Stream Co-Habitat.
© Egemen Karakaya / Openact Architecture

For Carlos, the key challenge did not come from the locals, but from other critical actors who could have favoured short-term economic and political gains as opposed to long-term environmental thinking.

To resolve this, Stream Co-Habitat proposes strategic interventions that minimise costs and resource use, allowing nature to “self-sustain, self-maintain, and self-regulate”. For instance, hardy native plants that don’t require additional irrigation and maintenance will be used wherever possible.

Additionally, Carlos reveals that the local community’s sense of ownership towards the project has fostered “a common force” that continues to help his team steer through difficulties.

The outdoor ‘living’ galleries create natural habitats to support biodiversity at the Urban Nature Project.
© Trustees of the Natural History Museum / J&L Gibbons / Feilden Fowles

As opposed to buildings, sustainability metrics for landscapes can be tough to track, which in turn can make outcomes difficult to assess.

Carlos has relied on acquiring qualitative feedback from the stakeholders, including the local community, along with observational studies. For the Urban Nature project, Neil states that the design team worked with Mace to develop a carbon calculator as they navigated various design stages.

A permeable pedestrian path made from stabilised soil and surrounded by native vegetation at the newly opened zone of Stream Co-Habitat.
© Egemen Karakaya / Openact Architecture

Stream Co-Habitat converts large expanses of underused asphalt roads into green areas that sequester carbon. The landscape aims to become carbon-negative in about ten years.

At the Urban Nature Project, carbon neutrality is supported by interventions such as responsible material sourcing, the use of 100% renewable energy during construction and beyond, and low-tech features such as bioswales and infiltration basins for the distribution of water on site.

For Neil, the Urban Nature Project has been a dream to work on; he hopes it will inspire young people to take a real interest in the planet. For Carlos, Stream Co-Habitat has unveiled the real power of community; he suggests that more architects should consider a participatory approach to design.