Mastodawn

🐍 #TNOCessay
Sharing Space: People and Wildlife in Bengaluru's Home Gardens
by Varsha Bhaskaran

She found a cobra in her garden. She didn't call a snake catcher. She avoided that part of the garden for a few days. 🌿

Most conservation assumes people need to be taught to care. This study suggests many already do.

📖 Read the essay: https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/2026/06/02/sharing-space-people-and-wildlife-in-bengalurus-home-gardens/

#UrbanBiodiversity #UrbanNature #UrbanWildlife #Biodiversity #Bengaluru #Ecology #UrbanEcology

The Nature of Cities May 28

🌿 New #TNOCessay
The first rule of their campus BioBlitz? Put your phone away.

Before documenting a single species, students at Azim Premji University were asked simply to slow down and notice. Then they got to work: 436 trees · 25 species · 44 snake sightings · 263 observations logged in two days.

Which tree near you do you actually know by name?

📖 Read the essay: https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/2026/05/27/students-and-stewardship-connecting-with-nature-in-a-peri-urban-university-campus/

#UrbanNature #Biodiversity #EnvironmentalEducation #NatureBasedSolutions #Bengaluru #Ecology

The Nature of Cities May 19

Sacred groves outlast bulldozers. Funeral trees host migratory birds. Temple ficus reroute highways.

Hussain Ebrahim's #TNOCEssay Plant Journal makes the case that ritual and reverence are some of the most resilient urban conservation tools we have.

Join the conversation:
https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/2026/05/18/plant-journal/ 🌳

#Bengaluru #UrbanNature #CulturalStrategy #BiodiverCities

The Nature of Cities May 13

Who really gets to feel at home in "green space for all"?

A new TNOC essay on queer intimacy, biodiversity, and the quiet politics of pruning. 🌿

Read it. Join the conversation.
🔗 https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/2026/05/11/just-cruising-around-copenhagen-insights-at-the-nexus-of-queer-intimacy-and-public-green-area-management/

#TNOCessay #QueerEcology #UrbanNature

The Nature of Cities May 1

#TNOCEssay Plays as Social Dialogue: Theatre as a Meeting Ground for Environmental Debate
By David Maddox — New York City

What if The Cherry Orchard sparked debate on land use? Or An Enemy of the People became a lesson in environmental whistleblowing?

Let drama, science, and civics meet on stage.

🔗 Read the full essay:
https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/2026/04/28/plays-as-social-dialogue-theatre-as-a-meeting-ground-for-environmental-debate-and-cross-disciplinary-learning/

#EnvironmentalCommunication #TheatreAndEcology #TheNatureOfCities

The Nature of Cities Apr 22

#TNOCEssay What if the way forward is also a way back—to sensing, to listening, to remembering we are part of the living world?

In this 3-part #TNOCessay, Yasuhiro Kobayashi (Tokyo, Japan) explores ryuiki—a way of knowing where inner and outer worlds flow as one.

🔗 Read the series:
https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/category/essay/

💬 What would it mean to design cities from this place of deep connection?

#NatureOfCities #RegenerativeFutures #UrbanNature #MoreThanHuman

The Nature of Cities Apr 16

#TNOCessay

Mini-Forests: Rewilding the contemporary schoolyard**
Ana Pinheira & Daniel Ferreira — Guimarães

What if a child’s first forest grew in their schoolyard? 🌿

In just 16 m², students planted 60+ native species—
not learning *about* nature, but growing it.

“They watch seasons change. They name the birds. They feel the soil.”

#NatureBasedSolutions #UrbanNature #Rewilding #GreenCitiesv#EnvironmentalEducation #Biodiversity

The Nature of Cities Apr 13

#TNOCessay

Faith and the Sea by Vivek Ganesh — Bengaluru

A place where faith, fishing, and identity are inseparable—now facing the pressures of tourism, development, and environmental change.

This essay explores the delicate balance between tradition and progress, and why listening to local voices matters more than ever.

👉 https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/2026/04/06/faith-and-the-sea-balancing-progress-and-tradition-in-indian-fishing-communities/

#NatureBasedSolutions #ClimateJustice #CoastalCommunities #TNOC

The Nature of Cities Mar 18

What if every street tree was a story waiting to be read?

A tarot deck as urban lens: noticing care, damage, creativity, and the quiet relationships that hold cities together. Matthew López-Jensen & Lindsay Campbell show us that nothing in the city has to change — only how you look at it.

And once you start noticing… the city starts asking something back.

👉 Read the full essay: https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/2026/03/17/street-tree-tarot-is-a-tool-for-storytelling-connection-and-reflection/

#UrbanNature #StreetTrees #TNOCessay #Storytelling #CityAsText #UrbanEcology

The Nature of Cities Mar 11

#TNOCessay Cities promise opportunity and connection. But for many young people experiencing homelessness, urban life means navigating fragmented systems of care, moving between shelters, clinics, and services that rarely connect.

What would it mean to design cities where care systems truly connect?

Read the essay and join the conversation:

https://bit.ly/3NdBNIg