<
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240222-depaving-the-cities-replacing-concrete-with-earth-and-plants>
'On a hot July day, Katherine Rose picked up a sturdy metal pole and jammed it
under the tempting lip of a pre-cut concrete slab. Rose, communications and
engagement director at Depave, a non-profit in Portland, Oregon, was sweating
in the heat – but she was going to win this fight.
The grubby, rectangular section of urban crust in front of her was about to
move. Pushing down on her metal bar, applying it like a lever, she eased the
concrete covering up and away. Now sunlight could fall once again on the ground
below. A mess of gravel and dirt that was, to Rose, just bursting with
potential.
"It feels like you're liberating soil," she says, recalling the summer
gathering where she and around 50 volunteers removed roughly 1,670 sq m (18,000
sq ft) of concrete from the grounds of a local church. "It's envisioning and
fully realising a dream that I think we all have," says Rose. The dream, that
is, of bringing nature back into our midst.
The idea of depaving, sometimes known as desealing, is a simple one – replace
as much concrete, asphalt and other forms of hard landscaping as possible with
plants and soil. It's been around since at least 2008, when the Depave group in
Portland was founded. Proponents say depaving allows water to soak into the
ground, which reduces flooding in times of heavy rain – aiding the "sponginess"
of cities. Native plants help wildlife cling on in urban spaces, and by
planting trees you can increase shade, protecting residents from heatwaves.
Injecting city streets with greenery may even improve people's mental health,
too.
But if depaving is ever going to really take off, it will have to expand beyond
a handful of eager environmentalists and volunteers. With the climate crisis
deepening, some cities and even entire regions are beginning to adopt depaving
as part of their climate adaptation strategies. It's time, some say, to start
smashing up our concrete streets in a big way – to create spaces better for
nature.'
Via
Fix the News:
<
https://fixthenews.com/good-news-human-rights-greece-education-burundi-reforestation-america/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
