This book collects the many stories, experiences, and innovative policies and strategies by which cities and local governments have helped to facilitate and strengthen essential pandemic-era nature connections. It makes the central point that contact with nature and the outdoors was (and is) an essential element of a healthy, resilient city. Investing in wild nature and the many opportunities to experience and enjoy will be critical for cities in preparing for the next pandemic, as well as the many other crises and stressors, small and large, that cities will face.
The book discusses in detail the many different spaces and places in cities where nature was discovered or rediscovered, from parks and urban forests to balconies and rooftops and stoops. From repurposing the physical spaces of the city to allow strolling, hiking, bicycling, and outdoor eating, to the ways the cities are beginning to address pandemic-induced unemployment through nature-based enterprises, the book provides an extensive collection and catalogue of the many different and unique things cities and local governments are doing. The authors explore how these nature connections (before and after the pandemic) have helped individuals, families, and communities to successfully respond to and weather the pandemic. And each chapter is forward-looking–what can the experiences of wild nature during the pandemic tell us about future urban planning and design, and can these experiences inspire and motivate us to protect, grow, and design-in more wild nature in cities?
The book provides a view to the longer-term effects of the pandemic on the design of cities and how nature will figure into these trends and likely future changes. The book will be useful to policymakers, urban researchers, and citizens, as well as students and faculty.