INTRODUCTION

Who is Rewild with YARD for?

Biodiversity is the variety of life on Earth in all its forms. It underpins the planet’s health, and all living species and future generations depend on it. As stewards of the built and natural environment, we must design for all species, respect planetary boundaries and use agreed science-based targets to help mother nature not only survive but thrive.

Arup and the LEGO Group have combined their expertise on child-friendly urban planning, biodiversity, climate change, digital design, play, and children’s engagement, to create ReWild with YARD and support the design of nature-positive solutions in cities.

This interactive and playful learning approach can be used by teachers, urban practitioners and city authorities to create awareness about the connection between human and natural wellbeing, climate change, and biodiversity, as well as to work with children, nature and the wider community to co-create ideas to rewild our cities.

A student uses YARD on a tablet to add a tree and a green wall to a bare space to the side of a building

" If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it. Perhaps this is what Thoreau had in mind when he said, “the more slowly trees grow at first, the sounder they are at the core, and I think the same is true of human beings. – David Sobel, educator and academic "

Why City ReWilding?

Our planet is in the middle of an interconnected, human-induced climate and biodiversity crisis and we must act now.

The interrelationship between climate change, biodiversity loss and human wellbeing is indisputable. Human activities are causing a catastrophic decline in biodiversity, which is endangering food supply, clean water, energy systems, economies, and livelihoods for billions of people worldwide. Changes in land and sea use, the overexploitation of plants and animals, climate change, pollution and invasive alien species are the main causes of biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems. Also, as urbanisation increases, our exposure to and relationship with the natural environment drastically decreases.

WWF’s Living Planet Report 2022 shows an average 69% decline in the diversity of wildlife populations around the world between 1970 and 2018. One million plants and animals are threatened with extinction, and 1-2.5% of birds, mammals, amphibians, reptiles, and fish have already become extinct since 1970. Population abundances and genetic diversity have decreased; and species are losing their habitats – the natural spaces where they thrive.

The loss of connection with nature has a significant long-term consequence for our wellbeing, and for the health of our planet. A connection with the natural world is associated with a range of physical and mental health benefits, including lower rates of obesity, depression, stress, and attention disorders. Urban green spaces have been shown to particularly benefit children, youth, and older people: children especially need places they can explore, feel safe and form attachments with both other people and the environment. And, parks and nature can give everyone the sense of being part of a community.

By incorporating well-planned natural habitats into cities, we can provide and safeguard the ecological systems and resources that support urban populations and the natural world.

Urban ReWilding Principles and Scales

Urban rewilding can simultaneously increase biodiversity within cities and help tackle the climate crisis. It is an ecological strategy for restoring natural habitats and their processes in urban spaces, working towards a state of human-nature coexistence.

This generates environmental, climate and social benefits through the delivery of 'Ecosystem Services’. These include flood attenuation, carbon sequestration, improved air quality, local food production, enhanced pollination and a strengthened sense of place. Together these help to mitigate and adapt to climate change, and improve human health and wellbeing.

As highlighted in Arup and C40 Cities publication Urban Rewilding, the five principles that underpin successful interventions include:

Let nature lead. Using natural processes to create new and revitalise existing ecological spaces, for example through introducing native plants and species, supports the functioning of a sustainable, biodiverse and connected ecosystem.
Work at an appropriate scale for the urban context. The scale of a project should respond to its context, including population characteristics and density, economic and social functions, built form and size.
Create resilient landscapes by considering the past, present, and future. The restoration and/or creation of habitats and ecosystems should both acknowledge the topography and history of the landscape, and the current and future impacts of the climate crisis.
Ensuring rewilding can be experienced by all. Urban rewilding projects require initial and ongoing interventions and maintenance to ensure the safe co-existence of nature and people.

Recognise opportunities to support local economies. Urban rewilding projects can provide socio-economic benefits and opportunities, including access to ecosystem services such as improved air quality, green space, and job and skills creation.

Urban rewilding interventions can happen at different urban scales:

Small scale: Small-scale urban rewilding is the restoration of ecosystems such as pocket forests and wildflower meadows, and the re-naturalisation of neighbourhood parks, gardens, roadside verges and hedges.
Large scale: Landscape-scale restoration is focused on self-sustaining habitats and species interdependence, such as catchment areas (including river systems), various geology, marine protected zones, and national parks and other areas protected for nature conservation.
Corridors: Connecting spaces designed to link the small scale to the large scale through creating green corridors, restoring rivers and streams, and ensuring pathways exist between habitats to enable wildlife to move freely across urban spaces.

The ReWild with YARD methodology targets mainly small scale and corridor interventions. These are the places where children and their caregivers spend time. These are the places they can directly experience, where their ideas and activities can influence rewilding.

" Passion is lifted from the earth itself by the muddy hands of the young; it travels along grass-stained sleeves to the heart. If we are going to save environmentalism and the environment, we must also save an endangered indicator species: the child in nature – Richard Louv, environmentalist author and journalist "

Partnership & Project Team

Arup and the LEGO Group partnered to combine their design expertise and knowledge on playful learning to contribute to a nature-positive change in cities!

ReWild with YARD brings together YARD (Arup’s augmented reality engagement tool, developed for communities to co-design and co-create better urban places), and The LEGO Group’s Build the Change initiative, in which children use their creativity to solve real-world challenges via a playful learning approach.

Our aim is to support teachers, professionals and decision makers working in urban contexts to make lasting nature-positive change in collaboration with children, youth, communities, and the natural environment, with benefits for people and planet.

Have a look at some recent publications, such as Nature-based Play, Playful Cities Toolkit, Play for All Design Guide, the Proximity of Care Design Guide, the Biodiversity & Natural Resources Cards, and Urban rewilding: the value and co-benefits of nature in urban spaces publication.