Diversity or neglect as the city turns into new biotopes

Most people today live in cities. Access to nature is often restricted to parks, gardens, schoolyards and other public spaces. To increase biodiversity in such areas might mean turning lawns into meadows, building insect hotels and leaving old logs where they are.

A new Strategic Reserve Project at Mistra Environmental Communication investigates communication about pros and cons with more biodiverse urban spaces. Formerly tidy gardens and parks risk being seen as neglected. The project will investigate current local knowledge. Thoughts about how a garden, park or schoolyard should look are influenced by earlier experiences. Different perceptions of biological diversity are also important.

Excursions and discussions

The project will organize an excursion with city planners and other interested parties, departing from the Biotopia biological museum. There a meadow, a bee hotel and a sand heap for bees nesting in sand is already in place. The excursion continues to the English park and stops outside Uppsala castle. Uppsala Art Museum is interested in transforming an area outside the castle.

Middle school classes are also invited to learn more about pollinators. Pupils can plant their own wildflowers and build bee nests in the park outside the old hospital in Ultuna. Pupils are also invited to discuss how the biological diversity of their schoolyards can increase.

In the autumn of 2022 there will be several further talks and an exhibition to conclude the project.