I’d like to start a campaign to increase spaces.
We have constant demands for more housing and more infrastructure, yet it’s rare to hear anyone cry “… hold on a minute. Can we have a bit more grass and maybe a hedge please?”
I admit the need for housing is huge and growing, especially in the south and always in London. Any extra housing brings with it a need for more energy, more water, more waste processing, jobs, schools, doctors, shops and everything else needed to create a sustainable community. It’s neither too hard nor expensive to include wildflowers or orchards.
I concede that development is necessary, so the tough question is; how do we increase both greenspace and density? Share your thoughts with us on Twitter @rspbLondon #buildgreen
Ultimately we will not be able to do both, because we have limited space in London. There is a finite amount of land, and while we are building on more brownfield sites or reclaimed land, that too is in demand for wildlife and for linking existing greenspaces. There are some brownfield sites that are now as important for wildlife as many so called greenfield sites. In some cases the brownfield is more valuable because of the species it supports or its location in relation to dense housing.
In Seattle, in northwest America’s Washington State, they have been trying something a little different. City planners calculate how much greenspace they have and when someone proposes a new development, they must maintain or increase the greenspace that would be lost. This has led to a growth of green walls, living roofs, landscaped parks and all the benefits this brings, alongside increased housing and improved infrastructure. Protected areas remain untouched and threatened species saved, but it makes for a more logical whole. Seattle is a better place for this approach.
In the UK, we’re following the age old conservation mantra that sacrificing brownfield instead of greenfield is the way forward. With London cinched by an increasingly strained greenbelt, basements go ever deeper and the skyline ever higher. We are a captive audience in an overcrowded cell. Conserving the best of our natural assets and improving the rest is surely a better roadmap for our future?
The UK is not America. We don’t have anything like the land mass they do. But maybe it’s time to bear in mind our limited land availability and start to develop solutions that give us all space to, metaphorically, spread our wings and fly.