Key findings about the World Urbanisation Prospects recently published by The United Nations project that over fifty per cent of the world's population will be living in urban areas by the year 2007. Certainly a 'landmark' achievement as this may very well be the first time in human history that the majority of the world's people no longer live in rural settings.
London's Night Light Visible from the International Space Station (Image by Nasa)
Community initiative is the backbone of Urban Greening - people empowering each other to dream, to re-build, to take simple steps together. The practice of Urban Greening invites us to reclaim, with loving design, our soul relationship with the natural spaces and sacred places within the boundaries of urban life; to live in harmony with the flora and fauna drawn to the urban wilds; and, to evoke the aid of the nature realms, calling upon them to guide us on our way.
Index:
External Links:
- Healing the Earth presents an interview with theorist and activist Richard Register, President of EcoCity Builders, where Richard illustrates the difference between environmental thinking and ecological thinking in terms of urban re-design. Listen to the thought provoking interview, Redesigning and Re-perceiving Cities.
- The Green Map System reframes how we look at our existing urban spaces by charting the natural and cultural spaces rather than just the traditional urban landmarks such as buildings and roadways. Honouring green spaces in an urban centre can perhaps help to protect vital living spaces from future development. Around the world, more than 175 Green Maps have been published to date.
- Green Tourism Association, Toronto, Canada is one of the first of its kind to focus on Ecotourism in the city.
- Working to restore the health of its local natural systems is one of the goals of the North Toronto Green Community (Toronto, Canada) and its Lost River Walks project. It begins with the discovery of the natural world that lies between and beneath the human-built elements of orderly urban environment.
- Detour's Urban Source is a non-profit, mail-order catalogue specializing in information about urban greening. Covering topics from sustainable transportation to telecommuting, from urban ecology to land use planning, the web-site provides well-written summary descriptions of books available which, in and of themselves, can be thought provoking.
Threads: Sustainability Web of Life