By Dr Ross Cameron Born with green fingers? But why are some people so drawn to gardening? Why garden? A simple question, with a very simple answer in that gardening is surely the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything! OK a very personal answer and I might be a tad biased – although I am not alone in this school of thought. The cultural historian Thomas Berry claimed: “Gardening is an active participation in the deepest mysteries of the universe.” All very highfalutin and grand no doubt, but it does beg the question why do so many people garden? It is indeed, an interesting question ..read more

By Jake Robinson People reportedly spent more time in nature and visited nature more often during the pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about unprecedented changes to human lifestyles across the world. The impacts of the virus and the social restriction measures have been linked to an increase in mental health conditions including anxiety and depression, insomnia, and suicide ideation. There is an ever-increasing body of evidence to show that spending time engaging with ‘natural environments’ such as parks, woodlands, and meadows, is essential for our health and wellbeing. For example ..read more

By Jake M. Robinson and Dr Ross Cameron, Department of Landscape Architecture, University of Sheffield Ever thought about cognitive biases, also known as ‘cognitive blindspots’? Cognitive biases are systematic errors in judgement. Humans are prone to making them each and every day, and they can have major implications for our relationships and work life. Our new paper published in Frontiers in Psychology proposes a novel cognitive bias called The Holobiont Blindspot. We’ll come back to this later in the article, but for now, let’s take a look at some examples of blindspots that have already be ..read more

By Nadine Khayat An aerial view shows the massive damage done to Beirut’s port on 4 August 2020 Image: Alex Gakos / Shutterstock.com On 4 August 2020, a powerful explosion in Beirut’s port left the city devastated with thousands of people injured and dozens dead. It took a few seconds to destroy around 40% of the city’s urban, social and architectural fabric and heritage. In the aftermath of the explosion, we have a rare opportunity to instil social justice in the city and commemorate the victims by reimagining the destroyed port; linking the city’s seafront public spaces and reinstating histo ..read more

If gardeners can vouch for the benefits of their green space, why don’t policy makers listen? The mental and physical benefits of gardens are commonly acknowledged and enthusiastically celebrated. Despite this, there is still a lack of scientific evidence proving their value: until now. By Dr Ross Cameron You don’t have to delve into a lifestyle magazine for very long these days, before someone states how gardening has transformed their lives. Every fourth feature on a gardening TV programme seems to passionately report the value of gardens for one’s health and mental well-being. Before the cu ..read more

Image: Neil Mitchell/Shutterstock By Dr Nicola Dempsey A new book co-edited by Dr Nicola Dempsey highlights the damaging mismatches between what we know about nature and what we do in practice. Online book launch of Naturally Challenged, 08 October 2020, 17.00 BST. Lockdown has been a time when many have appreciated the urban nature around us. Maybe it has been noticing the weeds growing through the cracks in the pavement or hearing birdsong that couldn’t be heard before. Many more people have been visiting parks, which have provided much needed respite from the challenges lockdown has brought ..read more

Nadine Khayat Last year, I embarked on a PhD investigating multiculturalism in public spaces in my hometown Beirut. One of the goals of my work was to learn from Beirut’s crowded and multicultural seafront lessons that could be applicable to the city’s less used green public spaces. And while we tend to think about public spaces as spaces for leisure and respite, in the context I was working on, Beirut- I was also looking at these spaces as spaces of insurgency, temporality, contestation and collective action. This could not be more fitting as on October 17th, 2019 hundreds of thousands of ..read more

Camilla Allen How is it possible that in a period where climate warming is one of the major issues affecting the survival of humanity that street trees are not considered as a vital part of the urban ecosystem, and thus integrated in the political debate? Nature, wildlife and plants are generally considered as being non-political, but as anyone involved with design and management realises, they are anything but; this is none so more than with street trees. In modern history in the West trees have been planted along streets as part of improvement schemes since the seventeenth century, and the ..read more