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A startling finding from the report is that people of BAME origin are more than twice as likely as white people to live in parts of England with the highest levels of green space deprivation.
If people need easy access to green space for their mental and physical health, shouldn’t we push for all our shared green spaces to be protected?
The Importance of Biodiversity & Commoning In Urban Green Spaces
In the UK, we’re lucky to have swathes of protected countryside and beauty spots - like our 49 Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty and 15 National Parks. We're also blessed with urban green spaces, woven into the fabric of our cities, that help biodiversity to thrive.
When we talk about biodiversity, we're referring to varieties of life in a specific area of the natural world, from animals to plants and microorganisms, all working together in harmony.
As the WWF puts it, if this system is disturbed - for example, by deforestation or water pollution, we put pressure on the planet. By consuming too many resources and losing green spaces, we risk upsetting the ecosystem’s balance and ultimately, losing this biodiversity.
We know that high-quality space in London is shrinking at an alarming rate. Lack of urban green space negatively affects city dwellers, from higher air pollution to reduced areas for children to play and roam free.
The push and pull of the capital and decades of urban sprawl have taken a toll on these green spaces.
When we talk about the Commons in the UK, we’re often referring to the common ground that belongs to all of us. And yet, it’s not an equal playing field.
If you live and breathe in a city like London, you'll know it’s not always realistic to get out to a landmark park whenever the mood strikes. High-quality green spaces, like National Parks, are protected by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Here’s their definition of a protected area:
"A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values.”
When a city is redeveloped, we should question: do the residents benefit from it?
Who truly decides which space has cultural value, when arguably, a common space has value to all who use it? If people need easy access to green space for their mental and physical health, shouldn’t we push for all our shared green spaces to be protected?
Friends of The Earth’s Green Space Gap report mapped the availability of open space for communities across England. It exposed wide-ranging societal issues, from public health to racial injustice. The group’s analysis revealed a “marked disparity in access to green space and particularly a strong correlation between green space deprivation, income and race.”
This disparity is what we mean when we discuss the Green Space Gap.
A startling finding from the report is that people of BAME origin are more than twice as likely as white people to live in parts of England with the highest levels of green space deprivation.
This, of course, relates to the contestation of city space between planning officers, developers and the community at large, Ed Wall, author of Contesting Public Spaces: Social Lives of Urban Redevelopment in London wrote that “market traders and residents’ public lives are “inseparable from their neighbourhoods being reconfigured.”
Earlier in the series, we introduced Dr Matilda van den Bosch’s description of ‘green gentrification’ and how higher-quality green spaces are usually found in affluent, ‘leafy’ areas.
The issue is also related to spatial injustice, where “facilities or services required for the health and wellbeing of a community are not adequately available…. particularly where access to space is unfairly or unjustly controlled.”
So, what can we do to help biodiversity in the public green space we do have access to - and positively impact flora and fauna?
According to Forest Research, to increase biodiversity and promote urban regeneration we, when managing green space, should vary the range of habitats and vegetation structures.
That might include switching up the way grass is mown or planting native trees and shrub species for animals to nestle in. We can provide animals with different fruits by refraining from clipping bushes with berries until the winter months.
If we promote the bloom of wildflowers, we can increase the amount of nectar available for birds and insects. Similarly, in urban sites, it’s important to identify where the nutrients come from while managing overgrown vegetation like nettles.
It’s not all about land, though. Water, like Mount Pond, is also vital.
George, 25, is a Project Engineer at Biomatrix Water. The team designs floating gardens, working alongside volunteers to install them across the UK’s waterways. The company’s past projects include a ‘pocket park’ on the Royal Docks in London, which was designed to become a hotspot for urban biodiversity and incorporated over 4,000 aquatic plants. The company’s mission is “bringing water to life.”
George explains: “We’re greening urban waterways and introducing plant pockets to recreate the riparian (zones between land and riverbanks) habitats we’ve lost from increased urbanisation. My job is rewarding because – through introducing plants and carbon sequestration – we help to clean up the water and air for all of us."
"Floating gardens create an environment for nature to thrive, not just survive, and really establish ecosystems – and that improves biodiversity.
“It’s also great collaborating with like-minded communities across the UK to improve our collective green spaces. Spending time in them improves our mental wellbeing; a topic I think is incredibly important.”
According to the Urban Common Handbook, Commons can refer to the generation of social processes that maintain, reproduce and reinvent our lives in times of uncertainty. It provides collective resources that permeate social stature and structural inequalities.
It also provides us with a framework to understand the commons; a process of how we as a society organise ourselves, based on principles of care and collaboration.
Urban commoning is based upon the idea that public spaces, city land and infrastructure. Sheila Foster and Christian Iaouine's book Urban Commons states the concept “ought to be accessible to, and be utilised by urban communities to produce and support a range of goods and services important for the sustainability of those populations, particularly the most vulnerable populations.”
Let's look at the significance of Clapham Common. According to London Assembly’s research, Clapham Common provides £10-14 million of environmental and public health benefits to six million users each year.
So, how can our green spaces increase biodiversity within the seams of hegemonic urban orders?
The answer may well lie in community-driven initiatives. In the UK, there are approximately 7,000 of them.
The Clapham Society aims to rewild the Common, undertaking woodland regeneration of redefining lost pathways, particularly in Battersea Woods. The Society also plans to reintroduce forest flora, including wild garlic and bluebells, and recondition the soil.
Efforts include Wild Common, a collaboration between The Friends of Clapham Common and The Clapham Society that aims to bring the community closer to the Common’s wildlife. Both groups are funding a series of projects to support the declining population of bees and butterflies.
Bandstand Beds in Clapham is a volunteer-led organisation that helps the local community discover the joy of growing their own food. Their team of gardening enthusiasts are passionate about developing and sharing horticultural skills and environmental sustainability. The group’s allotments enable residents to “reclaim the Common for the public good”.
The climate emergency has food at its core - having enough of it to feed our growing population is a serious concern. We need to use the planet’s resources more mindfully. According to Our World In Data, food accounts for 20-30% of global emissions.
The organisation also addresses food scarcity, giving back to the community by donating some of its harvested produce to locals. These approaches link to sociality, which the Urban Common Handbook describes as cooperating communities and their capacities to transform urban life through commoning practices.
Therefore, we can suggest that Bandstand Beds provides alternative socialities, based on an intersectional praxis, forging connections within the community along the way.
Elliott, 26, a member of the organisation, said “Bandstand Beds gives us as a community the opportunity to learn, grow and socialise outside where there might not otherwise be a chance to, especially in London. I personally live in a relatively small 1-bed flat with no outdoor space, so I’m incredibly grateful to have this on my doorstep.”
When asked how we can all work towards a central role in increasing food biodiversity to tackle climate change, he highlights “consuming more local produce, as opposed to fruit and veggies from halfway across the world.”
Elliott believes Bandstand Beds’ small-scale, trans-local network of solidarity is a key factor in its success. “If it grew too big, without sufficient volunteers, I feel it would become overwhelming and more chore intensive instead of a relaxing and stimulating gardening experience everyone can enjoy.”
While many organisations are keen to retain a grassroots, non capitalist ethos, alternative economic production - like urban farms and agricultural technology (AgTech) - can also be a welcome effect of urban commoning.
Let’s look at how food production can be reimagined as transformational infrastructure.
Earlier in the series, we looked at air raid shelters’ pivotal role in Clapham’s history.
33 metres below Clapham High Street, in one of these disused air raid shelters, lies Zero Carbon Farms, the UK’s first underground farm. The farm - which is the parent company of Growing Underground - produces salad leaves, herbs and microgreens in a controlled environment, using 100% renewable energy.
Because the crops are grown in this subterranean WWII bunker, the produce is sheltered from seasonal changes and free from pesticides. Zero Carbon Farms uses LED technology to optimise growth and reduce food miles and food waste. Microgreens are also particularly great for our health - they're said to contain 90% more nutrients than their fully-grown leafy counterparts.
In 2021, Zero Carbon Farms became the first UK AgTech to become a B Corp. Part of its biodiversity efforts include offsetting, by planting “British Broad Leaf varieties, supplied by Carbon Footprint Ltd, to provide wildlife habitats, support biodiversity, reduce CO₂ and rewild the natural landscape.”
Co-founder Richard Ballard, in an interview with the University of Cambridge, describes ‘Growing Underground’ as a farm that feeds the city from within the city. They sow, pack, and grow on-site, bringing the harvest to New Covent Garden Market, which is less than a mile away.
The regeneration of urban spaces like these has a positive impact on the local community - from accessible healthy food to enjoy to extra space to socialise. Projects like this can support diverse economies based on mutual interest, sharing and collaboration.
However, it should be noted that these economies are in constant opposition against capitalist market forces. Some companies have sought to enclose and capitalise on common resources for profit. On the surface, this practice is at odds with the trans-local networks aiming to make a difference in their immediate communities.
For these reasons and beyond, companies aiming to transform urban green spaces are unlikely to escape capitalism fully. However, shouldn’t we be striving for progress, not perfection?
Imagine – many people, doing their best to rewild green urban spaces, making conscious choices to promote biodiversity. Companies, using sustainable business practices to produce healthy food that addresses the climate emergency.
Communities, working together imperfectly to steadily make our planet a better, more sustainable place to live.
Urban green spaces are for all of us.
Let’s campaign for the protection of all of them.
Words by Misha Zala, produced for Dear London LIVE, Green Refuge.
Floating gardens create an environment for nature to thrive, not just survive, and really establish ecosystems – and that improves biodiversity.
