Natural England - Why is ‘Natural Development’ important?

Why is ‘Natural Development’ important?

In 2008, the world reached an invisible but momentous milestone: For the first time in history, more than half its human population, 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban areas (1).

Mile End Park

Mile End Park

Four in every five people in England live in an urban area. Towns and cities provide the day to day context for most people’s lives. Urban areas are increasingly suffering from the effects of climate change, poor health issues and wildlife and habitat fragmentation.

Green infrastructure should be a key component of developments and regeneration as it can help address these problems by providing multiple benefits for people, the natural environment and our economy. We have been working with the development sector over the last few years within major regeneration areas to help secure green infrastructure as a key component of a profitable development.

Whilst we now have examples of good practice: (1.2mb)pdf document, the challenge is to raise the standard of green infrastructure delivery to ensure that it is implemented across all developments and regeneration projects.

Our Natural Development project will help provide the focus and opportunity for the both the development and environmental sectors to meet this challenge. Incorporating green infrastructure into the very core of urban design will have countless benefits for our cities, towns and their inhabitants.

By showcasing examples and sharing good practise across the sector we can take important steps towards creating vibrant, healthy communities for the future.

Reference
(1) Peering into the Dawn of an Urban Millenniumexternal link (UNFPA State of world population 2007))