‘The Road to Absolute Sustainability’ is this year’s theme at Building Green Copenhagen on 2-3 November in the Forum. You will learn why we need to act now and why it is important that we make the discourse on sustainability about the carrying capacity of the planet and the fact that all people must be able to meet their needs. You may hear about Absolute Sustainability as a necessary concept to bring into the conversations, as it is urgent that we only use solutions in construction and architecture that do not harm the planet, the atmosphere and humanity unnecessarily.

Through debates and keynotes, you can help investigate and discuss which materials take up the fewest of the planet’s resources, how digital solutions can be part of the solution, why collaboration across the value chain is necessary, how our legislation should support ‘The road towards Absolute Sustainability’ through updates and adaptations to what has to become our new reality.

• https://buildinggreen.eu/together/

This could be one of the more-than-human stories gathered in “The Book of the Ten Thousand Things” created for documenta15 by La Intermundial Holobiente. “Inbetweenery” is the proposal by artist Claudia Fontes, philosopher Paula Fleisner, and writer Pablo M. Ruiz to translate “intermundial” into English.  This book will partly be read in the Between Us and Nature’ reading club in the wonderful Zabriskie Book Shop on August 10^th, 2022, 1830 hrs.

The book is a publication written and edited in a polyphonic way among fourteen artists and writers from Argentina: Erica Bohm, Virginia Buitrón, Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, Tulio de Sagastizábal, Lucas Di Pascuale, Carla Grunauer, Reynaldo Jiménez, Guadalupe Lucero, Anahí Rayén Mariluán, Leticia Obeid, Sergio Raimondi, Luis Sagasti, Ral Veroni, Susana Villalba, and the “intermundiales” themselves. The Book of the Ten Thousand Things, Quilmes, Buenos Aires, 2022,

Zabriskie chooses texts related to natural sciences, art, anthropology, postcolonialism and the (post)anthropocene from a female perspective. Attendees read passages together out loud, and share experiences and thoughts about the nature they live in. Looking beyond disciplines, the group creates a space to learn from and with bacteria, algae, fungi, soil and multinaturalist narratives.

What:​ Between Us and Nature – A Reading Club is in English language
Where​: Zabriskie, Reichenberger Str. 150, 10999 Berlin
When:​ Wednesday August 10 , 2022 18:30 CEST -20:30 (sharp!)
Who:​ small group of lovely, people reading collectively
Why:​ to read together, be inspired and meet people
Hosts:​ Eva-Fiore Kovacovsky, artist, and Sina Ribak, researcher for ecologies and the arts

Personal rsvp is necessary: please register by email.

In collaboration with La Intermundial Holobiente and Zabriskie Buchladen für Kultur und Natur.

Listen to this podcast! What does it mean to be a wildlife gardener? What are the trials and tribulations of wildlife gardening? Fergus Garrett, head gardener of Great Dixter, takes a walk around the garden, where he discusses the habitats he and his team have created to help wild species. He points out various habitats that work for different species, including the pond, the flowering meadows and the giant piles of waste that serve as nesting and hibernation habitats for all sorts of species. The podcast ends with the notion of the immense importance of gardens and porous buildings to increase biodiversity. Nice to hear him use the word “Porosity”. It is one of the three design tools to build for biodiversity, besides variation in size and scale, and diversity in use and maintenance activity (First guide to nature inclusive design).

https://open.spotify.com/episode/1Kq1hE1xt2N24O34z6egNS?si=tHSVErdSTYKU-TevTfcB1w

Friday 24th of September 2021 the Biotope City conference took place with more than 160 participants from Austria, Germany, The Netherlands, Sweden, Greece, Italy and other countries. Now the recordings are avaible online. Please see the little movies per speaker below, or watch the entire conference moderated by nextcity.nl’s Mathias Lehner here (4 hours).

Helga Fassbinder, founde of Biotope City Foundation: Biotope City – Philosophie, Konzept, Prinzipien (14 mins)

Bernhard Scharf, Green4cities, BOKO: Green Cover Effects (11 mins) Angelique Bellemakers, INBO architects: Participation of residents (8 mins) Marlies Zuidam, FAAM architects : Nature inclusion of fauna (14 mins)

Maria Auböck, Auböck+Carasz landscape architects: Building management and open space care (16 mins)
Brenda Swinkels, Van den Berk nurseries: Urban-climate-trees and insect diversity (19 mins)
Tim Elfring, Phood Kitchen Eindhoven: Urban farming (11 mins)

Florian Kraus, Greenpass, BOKU: Micro-climate simulation (11 mins)
Florian Reinwald, Institute of Landscape Planning ILAP, BOKU: Regulations – revisions and regulations in building law (10 mins)
Jeanne Astrup-Cauvaux, Raumlabor: Floating University Berlin (14 mins)

In the document-link you can find the program and the link to follow the english spoken series of 5 lectures about design and biodiversity, organised by Van Hall Larenstein. Designing with nature is an important part of the work of the landscape architect. The first lecture on the 2nd of September at 19h will be given by Maike van Stiphout. She’ll give a theoretical frame for nature inclusiveness, and learn you the tools to make your projects for all that lives. She’ll present the tips and tricks, distilled from a recent research of older nature rich neighbourhoods in the Netherlands, some interesting realised projects of her office DS and other good examples of building with biodiversity. The series is organised for the third year bachelor landscape design, but open to whoever likes to learn more about designing for all that lives with us.

Biodiversity experts Anne Blokker and Geert Timmermans of the Amsterdam Municipality compiled a brochure with 20 ideas how to integrate biodiversity in urban planning and development. The insightful publication was originally published in Dutch, but is now also available online in English.

From nesting bricks for birds, over green roofs and eco-friendly banks up to an interconnected ecological structure these richly illustrated 26 pages make it easy to explain the benefits, and paths of action to clients, spatial designers and colleagues.

The publication is freely available on issue.

On September 24, 2021 Biotope City Foundation Amsterdam/Vienna and the Viennese BOKU University for Natural Resources and Life Sciences organize an online symposium on the nature inclusive future of our cities.

The topics addressed will include the freshly realized Biotope City in Vienna, the Floating University Berlin and 10 sessions on top climate resilient strategies (such as sponge cities, participation, green cover effects, climate trees and urban farming), concluded by lessons learned for the future.

Speakers include Helga Fassbinder, Jeanne Astrup-Chauvaux next to Bernhard Scharf (Green4cities), Angelique Bellemakers (INBO architects) Marlies Zuidam (FAAM architects), Maria Auböck (Atelier Auböck+Karasz), Brenda Swinkels, van den Berg Nurseries, Tim Elfring (Phood Kitchen), Steven Delva (Delva Landscape Architecture Urbanism), Pia Minixhofer & Sebastian Hafner (BOKU), Florian Kraus (Greenpass) and Florian Reinwald, (Institute of Landscape Planning ILAP).

Moderator: Mathias Lehner, research director nextcity.nl and strategic advisor urban development Zaanstad Municipality

Date: 24th September 2021
Time: 9:00 – 13:00 hrs, online
More info and program in English and German here.

If you want to join, please register with an email to contact@biotope-city.net.

The symposium via Zoom can be accessed here. Meeting-ID 914 3531 0298,code 918728.

When it comes to value creation ‘climate’ trees (klimaatboom in Dutch) are playing on an olympic level. Financially houses are worth 8-15% more with adjacent green and trees according to brokers. Socially, people are happier in a green environment with trees. Old trees do even better: they evaporate more moisture and absorb more water (up to 500 times) than a young tree. So, how is it possible that trees often die young, whereas an old tree is much more valuable?

In cities, lack of expertise on how to lay out and dig for underground cables and pipes is a frequent reason for ermanent damage. Digging within 6 meters of a tree of 1 meter diameter or within 2 meters of a tree up to 30 cm diameter impacts the tree’s roots.Today, trees are sometimes placed on top of a cable and pipe or the cable is laid underneath. When the cable is replaced (once every 25 years) tree roots are severely damaged, and with fungal ingrowth, the tree dies a few years later. Ideally cables and pipes are at least 2 meters from trees if we want to get trees big and old. So, we can do better, can’t we?

In the past small trees were also planted on two sides in the sidewalk of narrow streets. With reduced fitness and less space for roots, growing old is a major achievement for a tree then! Today, often more space is reserved for trees, both above and underground, in order to have trees that age sustainably. A tree squeezed in between the pavement does not have a long life. 9 m3 of rootable space above the groundwater level is required for a small tree up to 6 meters in height. Want a large tree of more than 24 meters in height? You’ll need at least 65 m3 of rootable space. It’s no wonder that tree roots push up pavement when there is no space and moisture, while they are searching for nutrients.

So, keep the distance and give city trees the space they deserve, and let us humans enjoy the values created and the full range of ecosystem services to adapt to climate change.

This post is based on a memo by Frans Lubbers, maintenance specialist water and green @Zaanstad Municipality accompanied by an article by Bart Mullink in Boomzorg 3/2021.