An Urban Nature Center
- HartDesigns09
- Jul 27, 2015
- 3 min read
Why should we put a nature center here, in this old apartment building next to a busy intersection?

Nationwide, crime rates are dropping. That doesn’t change the fact that there are many areas here in the U.S. of high concentrated disadvantage, where crime rates and unemployment are comparatively high and health and happiness levels are low. For many, residents will never leave these areas and will continue to lack opportunity for advancement. These communities may see themselves as separate, have no pride in their community, and buildings begin to crumble, and being in dense urban areas are often of historic and cultural significance. As designers, we know an individual’s environment can have a significant impact on feelings of self worth. Low self worth leads to high-risk behavior. I believe designers have an important role in opening up a conversation between developers who wish to save the crumbling historic buildings, and the community. This can lead to a returned sense of pride in the community because of the local resident's direct involvement, which could lessen the risk of gentrification. When asking a community what they want to see an abandoned building become, most will want to see something that would serve the community, such as a library, museum, arcade, theatre, or arts building, rather than offices, or bistro restaurants.
When there are problems in society, history can tell us a lot about finding a solution. Right before the dawn of civilization, humans lived in a series of small hunter-gatherer groups, many of which fought with each other over food and resources. The key ingredient that changed this situation was the development of agriculture. Agriculture is what brought larger groups of people together, provided dependable and consistent fuel on which to build societies, the human brain grew, there was more leisure time to develop the arts and modern language, to develop the concept of social justice and empathy. I think this cocept can relate to our modern problems. Introducing agricultural knowledge into distressed areas can help, the act of growing one’s own food, working with others towards a common goal, and connecting with nature define some of what we consider basic human needs. Gardening is a complex and hands-on experience that can build on cognitive development and problem solving skills in children, which in turn can translate to continued academic success in later years.
Here are a few facts that I find help form this perspective on the importance of decreasing community abandonment through community driven restoration, as well as the importance of cultivating gardening skills and a love of nature in children, especially those in urban areas:
•There are 18.6 million abandoned units in US as of 2012, which equates to about 6 homes per homeless person.
•Out of the 7 billion people on this planet, there were 1 billion starving people as of 2009, that number has most likely climbed with increased shortage of farmland.
•As of 2008, for the first time in history, more people lived in urban areas than rural areas.
•According to the Centers for Disease Control, one in three American kids and teens is overweight or obese. Children facing hunger are at 22% greater risk of becoming obese.
•According to WWF, Earth has lost half of its wildlife in the past 40 years, mostly due to pollution or destruction of their habitats due to new construction, large farming, and our current lifestyles.
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