The Good City

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With more than two out of three people predicted to be living in urban areas by 2050, it is more important than ever that our towns and cities are good, thriving places to live. To make this a reality we need to make much more space for nature within our urban neighbourhoods. Nature makes up the life support systems of our planet and provides many physical and social benefits that humans need to thrive.

But while we need nature, nature also needs us. Habitat loss, pollution and climate change have created a global ecological crisis. By making more space for nature in our cities we can help solve these problems.

I designed The Good City research project as part of my current role as Urban Biodiversity and Resilience scientist at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Our aim for this project is to fix the nature gap in urban areas by providing high quality data at local scales and empowering young people to advocate for better, future-adapted cities. From Spring 2021 we have been inviting young people throughout Edinburgh secondary schools to become co-investigators in a scientific research project to assess the resilience of their own neighborhoods using their “route to school” as a sampling tool.

The Good City has been designed in such a way that it can be run in any city in the world. As a citizen-led approach it doesn’t rely on political decisions or detailed city adaptation plans. The Good City has the potential to connect young people across the world with each other via the global issues that they all face.