Urban Forests, Outdoor Awards, Street Cars

Episode 19: Patterns of Development podcast show notes

Don’t have time to read? Check out the podcast where I discuss the best of what I learned about urban planning, architecture, and real estate development, in less than 10 minutes.

Tiny Forests Solve Big Problem?

An article in Nat Geo, “Why ‘tiny forests’ are popping up in big cities” by Elizabeth Hewitt discusses how tiny forests are appearing in big cities.

I love building and thinking incrementally. Here we have incremental forest building and how we can improve the microclimate in our community by building these dense bio-rich tiny forests?

A forest planted by humans, then left to nature’s own devices, typically takes at least 100 years to mature. But what if we could make the process happen ten times faster? In the space as small as 6 parking spots, the vision goes, designed the right way you can accelerate the growth of 100s of trees in a 10th of the time.

The idea has gained popularity worldwide, with projects like this happening in over 44 cities.

Ok so it’s popular but like how? How can you plant all these trees and plants and have it mature at 10x speed? The secret lies in the Miyazaki method. Survey the nearby trees to determine the natural species in the area then design the forest in a way so that plants will grow up to compete for light and mature at different heights. Creating a true, dense, OG forest.

This type of project boosts many types of benefits. You get a biodiversity boost. When you make room for nature, you get more nature. In the Netherlands they did a study across their 11 Tiny Forests they identified 298 native plant species that weren’t originally planted in the plots. You get a noise barrier. You get a carbon sink. You get something that’s maintenance-free.

If you’re looking to replace your lawn or that abandoned lot, maybe there’s an idea or a couple of places to start your research.

Outside Dining

While we’re outside and thinking about planting a low-maintenance, dense forest. Let’s talk about outdoor dining. Dining alfresco. We know that restaurants…