Discover Top Posts Tagged with #urban environments

'pussy power'

#grafitti #graffittiart #spray paint #street art #vandalism #pussy power #abandoned #abandonedcore #urban exploration #urban explorers #urban environments

06.2024 Hamburg

City-Nord

#photographers on tumblr #city-nord #urban environments #parking space #hamburg #©p.mandelkow

Stelhi Silk Mill Lanco broken windows

“Stehli Silk Mill listed on the NRHP on April 29, 2014 (#14000195). Located at 701 Martha Avenue, Manheim Township, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. This is south of US 30, so it almost seems to be in Lancaster city. It's a very long building - over 100 yards?” - via Wikimedia Commons

#stehli silk mill #wikipedia #wikipedia pictures #wikimedia commons #manheim township #lancaster county #pennsylvania #united states #lancaster #urban #urban landscape #urban photography #urban environments #broken glass #abandoned buildings #abandoned #urbex #urban exploration

Behind the restaurant

#liminal #flash photography #back alley #surreal #eerie #backyard #industrial #closecore #familiar #urban environments #photography

We don’t recognize the wild animals living in our concrete jungles. But when we look for them, we realize how much there is to protect.

Excerpt from this story from The Revelator:

Last summer I took advantage of my break from teaching by enjoying long, daily walks around my neighborhood. I indulged my mind and body in the blueness, stillness, and leafiness that is North Carolina in June and July. It’s truly astounding how many leaves a willow oak can cram into one tiny piece of sky.

On my walks, the yard of one house stuck out. It was unlike any yard I’ve seen around my city or in any of the other cities in the United States, Canada, and Australia where I’ve lived. It is a forest yard. Nearly a dozen large trees are interspersed amid a dense stand of saplings and shrubs. That summer, leaf litter covered the ground. The top of the house was only visible if I craned my neck to see down the paved driveway, itself narrowing and crumbling as roots, lichens, and fungi worked their inexorable magic.

Depending on your perspective, the house with the forest yard could be seen either as an eyesore — and the scariest place to trick-or-treat — or, as in my case, the most splendid place imaginable.

At this point, I should probably mention that I’m an urban ecologist and that the forest yard makes my heart flutter at the possibility and hope of nature in cities.

I looked at aerial images for the area, and they revealed that the trees around that home, which haven’t been actively “managed,” are about 50 years old. Over that time the forest yard has accumulated a bewildering array of species and ecological interactions. Its tulip poplars, walnuts, cedars, redbuds, pines, and willow oaks have soaked up the atmosphere’s carbon dioxide and turned it into much-needed habitat for wildlife: butterflies, bees, and other insects; lizards, snakes, and turtles; frogs and toads; birds; and mammals. It’s home to a multitude of soil invertebrates and fungi that keep the business side of an ecosystem — aka decomposition — going. All the species that share this shady third-of-an-acre lot are intertwined in a complex tangle of relationships that keeps them fed and feeding on one another, interdependent to varying degrees for their life and livelihood.

And all of this exists amidst a matrix of roads, single-family and multiplex housing, commercial plazas, light industry, and high rises that make up a medium-sized city in the Southeast. The forest yard is a little island of nature in a nearly lifeless sea of concrete, asphalt and lawn.

But, to my inexhaustible surprise, that sea of concrete, asphalt, and lawn is not as empty as we tend to assume. Very far from it. Places of dense human habitation are also where many species reside, including some that are threatened. A recent analysis of the birds and plants that occur in 147 cities across the globe revealed that the sampled cities were home to 2,041 bird species — about one-fifth of Earth’s total avian diversity — and 14,240 plant species. These include 36 bird and 65 plant species threatened with global extinction.

To get a better idea of just how much of the urban biodiversity iceberg lies below the surface of our awareness, consider this: Last year participants in the City Nature Challenge made nearly 1.9 million observations in 480 cities, with the residents of the La Paz metropolitan area in Bolivia recording the high score of 5,320 species.

Add to this the estimate that we share our homes and yards with an average of 9,000 species of fungi and bacteria and you’ll begin to suspect, as I do, that cities are in fact incredibly biodiverse. And it’s not just the all-too-rare forest yard: Scientific evidence shows that the more people you find in a place, the more types of birds, mammals, and plants you’ll find there too.

So why don’t we see it that way? Why do we perceive our urban centers as unworthy and undeserving of our conservation efforts and attention?

#urban ecology #urban environments #urban wildlife

The Magic of Street-Side Trees. Beauty, Coolness, and Urban Prosperity.

The beauty, coolness, and urban prosperity brought by street-side trees.

Trees lining urban streets are integral elements of the urban landscape, serving multiple ecological roles and socio-economic functions. In general, incorporating trees along the roads in urban areas can elevate the aesthetic appeal, regulate temperatures, and foster prosperity growth. And if our goal is to enhance the role of cities in driving economic growth and fully utilizing human resources, then we must prioritize making tangible improvements to urban environments.

Trees are crucial components for creating appealing and hospitable urban environments that enhance citizens' psychological and social well-being. They play a vital role in reducing air temperature and humidity, which helps alleviate the effects of heat waves and global warming. Trees bear witness to the history, culture, and identity of cities, which they preserve and pass on to future generations. In addition to their undeniable beauty, trees are valuable allies in the fight against climate change.

They provide a range of local benefits that are often ignored beyond the global role of absorbing carbon dioxide. This article aims to increase awareness among readers about the importance of trees for cities and the planet. It seeks to motivate all of us to value, preserve, and protect the urban tree heritage through a participatory and accountable manner that involves citizens and institutions.

Street-side trees are more than just beautiful to look at. They are an essential resource for cities, providing numerous benefits to residents' health, well-being, and quality of life. In their article on Monocolo, Paolo Massi and Giulia Papaleo highlight the main advantages of trees in urban areas. La magia degli alberi lungo le strade. Bellezza, frescura e prosperità urbana

Among the benefits that trees bring to the urban environment, we can mention:

Trees perform ecological, social, and economic functions that contribute to the well-being and development of cities. They help to reduce air pollution by capturing particles, filtering harmful gases, and producing oxygen. Trees also absorb carbon from the atmosphere and store it in their wood, making them beneficial for climate change mitigation. Additionally, trees create shade, cool the air, and reduce energy consumption for cooling buildings. They prevent flooding, improve water quality, and increase biodiversity by providing shelter and food for many species. Trees enhance the urban landscape, mitigate noise, and even increase the value of properties.

Moreover, they promote physical and mental health by stimulating physical activity, reducing stress, and improving mood and concentration.

Therefore, roadside trees are a valuable resource for cities and their inhabitants. It is critical to protect, care for, and increase them through various means, such as public policies, private actions, and guaranteed maintenance over time, recognizing their fundamental role in the quality of urban life so that maintenance, which develops jobs, in particular, is 'guaranteed' over time,

Urban forestation and eco-neighborhoods.

Urban forestation refers to designing and creating green spaces in urban and peri-urban areas to incorporate nature into the landscape. It is important to both develop new green spaces and enhance existing ones.

Eco-neighborhoods serve as an example of sustainable and livable urban environments. They are designed considering the environment and the health of their residents. Sustainability principles are followed to improve the landscape and economic assets of the urban context. The design of an environmentally sustainable neighborhood aims to reduce its environmental impact during construction, throughout its life cycle, and even during decommissioning while prioritizing the comfort of its residents. These neighborhoods are built to improve people's quality of life by emphasizing energy conservation, renewable energy, environmentally friendly materials, reducing water and waste consumption, and promoting sustainable mobility. They are tangible parts of the city that contribute to the well-being of its inhabitants.

In addition, urban forestation is another example of how urban environments can be made more livable and sustainable. We can seamlessly blend nature into the urban landscape by integrating street trees, gardens, and parks. They represent elements of nature that help purify the air we breathe, capturing pollutants, storing carbon, and mitigating the climate of cities.

In summary, street-side trees are not just a decorative element but a proper green infrastructure that improves the quality of urban life. Therefore, It is vital to encourage planting, caring for, and preserving trees in urban areas, with the participation of government institutions, businesses, and residents, in order to achieve a shared vision to promote sustainable progress.

🟠 Italiano

Intro

Gli alberi sono elementi essenziali per creare paesaggi urbani attraenti e accoglienti, che favoriscono il benessere psicologico e sociale dei cittadini. contribuiscono a ridurre la temperatura e l'umidità dell'aria, mitigando gli effetti delle ondate di calore e del riscaldamento globale. Essi sono testimoni della storia, della cultura e dell'identità delle città, che conservano e trasmettono alle generazioni future. Alleati nella lotta ai cambiamenti climatici, oltre alla loro innegabile bellezza offrono una serie di benefici locali che spesso tendiamo a trascurare (al di là dei benefici globali di assorbimento dell’anidride carbonica). Questo articolo quindi ha lo scopo di sensibilizzare i lettori sull'importanza degli alberi per le città e per il pianeta, invitandoli a conoscere, apprezzare e tutelare il patrimonio arboreo urbano coinvolgendo i cittadini e le istituzioni in un processo partecipativo e responsabile.

La magia degli alberi lungo le strade. Bellezza, frescura e prosperità urbana.

Gli alberi sono una risorsa preziosa per le città, non solo per il loro contributo alla mitigazione dei cambiamenti climatici, ma anche per i molteplici benefici che apportano alla salute, al benessere e alla qualità della vita dei cittadini. In questo articolo del Monocolo gli autori Paolo Massi e Giulia Papaleo, vogliono illustrare alcuni dei principali vantaggi che gli alberi offrono alle aree urbane e alle persone che le abitano. La magia degli alberi lungo le strade. Bellezza, frescura e prosperità urbana

La magia degli alberi lungo le strade dunque non si limita alla loro estetica. Gli alberi sono elementi essenziali per il benessere e lo sviluppo delle città, in quanto svolgono funzioni ecologiche, sociali ed economiche. Tra i vantaggi che gli alberi apportano all'ambiente urbano, possiamo citare:

Riduzione dell'inquinamento atmosferico: gli alberi catturano le particelle sospese nell'aria, filtrano i gas nocivi e producono ossigeno.

Mitigazione del cambiamento climatico: gli alberi assorbono il carbonio dall'atmosfera e lo immagazzinano nel loro legno, contribuendo a ridurre l'effetto serra.

Regolazione termica: gli alberi creano ombra e rinfrescano l'aria attraverso la traspirazione, diminuendo la temperatura e il consumo energetico per il raffreddamento degli edifici.

Conservazione del suolo e dell'acqua: gli alberi riducono l'erosione del suolo, aumentano la sua capacità di infiltrazione e ritardano il deflusso delle acque piovane, prevenendo le inondazioni e migliorando la qualità dell'acqua.

Incremento della biodiversità: gli alberi offrono rifugio e cibo a molte specie animali e vegetali, arricchendo la diversità biologica delle città.

Valorizzazione del paesaggio urbano: gli alberi creano scenari naturali, armonizzano l'architettura, attenuano il rumore e aumentano il valore immobiliare delle proprietà.

Promozione della salute e del benessere umano: gli alberi favoriscono la salute fisica e mentale delle persone, stimolando l'attività fisica, riducendo lo stress, migliorando l'umore e la concentrazione.

Gli alberi e le aiuole a verde lungo le strade sono quindi una risorsa preziosa per le città e i loro abitanti. Per questo motivo, è importante proteggerli, curarli e incrementarli, attraverso politiche pubbliche e azioni private che ne riconoscano il ruolo fondamentale per la qualità della vita urbana affinché la manutenzione, che sviluppa posti di lavoro, in particolare venga 'garantita' nel tempo.

La forestazione urbana e gli ecoquartieri

Con il termine forestazione urbana si intende la progettazione e lo sviluppo di aree verdi urbane e periurbane, facendo della natura un'importante protagonista di questo paesaggio. Chiaramente è importante non solo progettare e sviluppare nuove aree verdi, ma anche rivalorizzare e riappropriarsi di quelle esistenti.

Certo! Gli ecoquartieri sono un esempio di ambienti urbani sostenibili e vivibili. Sono quartieri costruiti nel rispetto dell’equilibrio ambientale e della salute delle persone che vi abitano. Sono conformi ai principi della sostenibilità e puntano alla valorizzazione del patrimonio paesaggistico ed economico del contesto urbano in cui sono inseriti. La progettazione di un quartiere ecosostenibile punta a ridurne l’impatto ambientale: dalla fase di costruzione, al ciclo di vita, fino alla sua dismissione, senza mai dimenticare il comfort di chi lo vive. Si tratta di vere e proprie porzioni di città edificate con l’obiettivo di innalzare il livello di qualità della vita e sono realizzate ponendo l’accento su: risparmio energetico; uso delle energie rinnovabili e di materiale ecologico; riduzione del consumo di acqua e di rifiuti; promozione della mobilità sostenibile.

Inoltre, la forestazione urbana è un altro esempio di come gli ambienti urbani possono essere resi più vivibili e sostenibili. Le alberature stradali, i giardini e i parchi urbani rappresentano degli elementi di natura che contribuiscono a purificare l’aria che respiriamo, catturando sostanze inquinanti, immagazzinando carbonio e mitigando il clima delle città.

Come si può notare, gli alberi lungo le strade non sono solo un elemento decorativo, ma una vera e propria infrastruttura verde che migliora la qualità della vita urbana. Per questo motivo, è importante promuovere la piantumazione, la manutenzione e la protezione degli alberi nelle città, coinvolgendo le amministrazioni pubbliche, le imprese e i cittadini in una visione condivisa di sviluppo sostenibile.

More related topics on this matter you might like:

Landscape Architecture: self-reflection on improving and enhancing our cities' run-down suburbs. English /Italian

Give color to the city to celebrate the joy of living.

I appreciate your kind presence and attention on this matter. Thank you for joining us today.

⏩ The Board Behind

#the board behind #sviluppo sostenibile #urban environments #urban tree heritage #ecological restoration #social growth #economic growth #city development #well being #urban living #urban life #heat wave #heat islands #sustainable progress #social innovation