Cityscape Summer 2020
Welcome to 2020. For our first issue of a new decade, Cityscape has taken up the 5 Ways to Wellbeing as a kaupapa, or set of principles, underpinning our editorial direction for 2020 and beyond. If you haven’t heard of them before, the 5 Ways – Connect, Be active, Take notice, Keep Learning, and Give – have been taken up by mental health agencies and organisations around the world. There is extensive scientific evidence that if practised regularly, the 5 Ways will lift your wellbeing. The challenge is to find ways to introduce these actions into our daily lives. Between the covers of Cityscape we have curated a selection of experts local and international that can help. Supporting local businesses by getting offline and in-store is one way to connect with your community as well as be more active and giving – as consumers, we often make big decisions about where to spend our money on the basis of saving a dollar or two. Remember, when you buy from a small business, an actual person does a happy dance! We have all our regular features and contributors as well, and all that’s hot in beauty, cuisine, home and events.
Welcome to 2020. For our first issue of a new decade, Cityscape has taken up the 5 Ways to Wellbeing as a kaupapa, or set of principles, underpinning our editorial direction for 2020 and beyond. If you haven’t heard of them before, the 5 Ways – Connect, Be active, Take notice, Keep Learning, and Give – have been taken up by mental health agencies and organisations around the world. There is extensive scientific evidence that if practised regularly, the 5 Ways will lift your wellbeing. The challenge is to find ways to introduce these actions into our daily lives. Between the covers of Cityscape we have curated a selection of experts local and international that can help. Supporting local businesses by getting offline and in-store is one way to connect with your community as well as be more active and giving – as consumers, we often make big decisions about where to spend our money on the basis of saving a dollar or two. Remember, when you buy from a small business, an actual person does a happy dance! We have all our regular features and contributors as well, and all that’s hot in beauty, cuisine, home and events.
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HOME & LIFESTYLE
NATURE
IN A FRAME
‘Rewilding’ our urban landscape
benefits flora and fauna. Canopy
Landscape Architects’ Julie
Greenslade and Paul Roper-Gee
explore options for a tidy mess.
C
ontemporary landscapes in
Christchurch are often
minimalist in design, with
clean crisp lines, large lawns and a
reduced palette of plant species set
out in massed blocks. This design
approach is very effective visually
and practically, but it can be lacking
in biodiversity and is of limited
benefit to our urban wildlife.
In recent years there has been
growing awareness of the
importance of encouraging nature
within our urban landscape, and a
move towards “rewilding” public
landscapes and private gardens,
with a looser, less manicured
aesthetic. However, this wild
approach can be perceived as
messy and undesirable, especially
in publicly visible areas.
A key feature of natural systems
is complexity. Massed plantings
and lawns are the antithesis of
complexity, and are in fact
biological deserts. Much more
beneficial ecologically is
maintaining a variety of plant
species, including flowers that
provide nectar and pollen for
pollinators, and leaving leaf litter in
place to enrich soil and provide
habitat for insects.
At Canopy we enjoy designing
contemporary and clean-lined
landscape schemes but are also
keen to see more “wildness” and
nature incorporated into
Christchurch’s gardens and
landscapes. Can the contemporary
and nature-inspired design
approaches be successfully
combined? American landscape
architect Joan Nassauer has
proposed one possible solution,
which she calls “Cues to care”. Her
research suggests that if a
biodiverse or “messy” landscape is
set within a frame of more
manicured or obviously maintained
landscape, it is then understood
overall as a landscape that is well
cared for.
Ways we can frame our
nature-inspired landscapes include:
• Mown edges or mown paths
through wild lawns.
• Using bold patterns through the
natural landscapes.
• Surrounding wild spaces with
contrasting clipped shrubs or
hedges.
• Strategic placement of garden
structures or architectural
elements in the wild landscape.
This approach can also be applied
to the broader city. The proposed
Green Spine within the Ōtākaro
Avon River Corridor in the Red
Zone is a fantastic opportunity
for rewilding our city within a
“tidy frame”.
canopy.co.nz
49 CITYSCAPE.CO.NZ Summer 20
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