Seven designs that bring nature into towns and cities

1. Small islands on urban canals and rivers

Urban canals and city rivers can be barren, inhospitable places edged by concrete. To make these places a little cosier for water-dwelling wildlife, people are building designer islands. 

These small flotillas are designed to float on the water and hold soil and plants. Birds such as swans, ducks, coots and moorhens can nest on their surface. Rodents, such as the water vole, can stop off for a snack and leave evidence of their activities. 

One of these designer islands can be seen in Newcastle. On the River Tyne, eco-engineers have built a nine-metre-square floating structure and planted it with salt-loving plants. The plants' roots dangle in the water below, creating a mini reef. Eels and small fishes, such as minnows, gudgeons and three-spined sticklebacks, find food and shelter in the tangle of submerged roots. Meanwhile, birds and insects find a mobile home on the surface of the island. The island rises and falls with the tide of the river and provides people walking by with a curious landmark.  

2.Living sea walls 

On the coast, the border between a town or city and the sea tends to be a beach or a smooth concrete wall. Waves can lap and lash against these walls, but not a lot of wildlife can live there. By adding texture to sea walls using a series of tiles, designers are creating shelter for marine life. Differently textured tiles are home to different species, including invertebrates, seaweed and fish. 

In Swansea, Wales, researchers are testing how well barnacles, seaweed and other creatures attach to different patterns on a living sea wall. 

Similarly, in Plymouth, a 12-metre living seawall provides homes for marine wildlife on the seafront in the middle of the city. 

3. Living walls of mosses, lichen and algae

Just like a sea wall can house a whole host of creatures if there’s enough crevices and creases, walls in the city can be home to mosses, lichen and algae. Instead of having to constantly clean concrete walls, why don’t we invite the moss in to share our cities and towns with us? 

By building textured walls that are designed to have a lot of surface area, soak up water and stay damp, we can encourage mosses, lichen and algae to grow. Mosses, lichen and algae are perfect resilient city dwellers. They can survive dry spells, cope with extreme environments, absorb air pollution and produce oxygen for us to breathe. 

The walls might also have the added benefit of reducing noise from loud roads or railways. 

4. Street-side rain gardens 

What happens to all the water when it pours with rain on your street? If you live in a city or town, it usually rushes into the street drains. In some places, it then flows into local waterways. In other places, it flows into local sewers. Wherever it's heading, sometimes the drains can't flow fast enough and the street floods. 

Catching and storing water in rain gardens is a clever way to manage water flow. Rain gardens usually look like small patches of lower ground filled with gravel and plants. 

These small gardens also catch and store pollution from the street. When built into roads, a rain garden can help slow down traffic and provide a splash of green for people to enjoy. 

5. Pocket parks and tiny forests

Small but mighty, pocket parks and tiny forests can pack a punch when it comes to biodiversity. These green islands of trees in cities and towns can be home to a vast range of wildlife. They can also provide animals moving through the city with a place to rest and find food. 

Pocket parks are also places where people can relax, exercise, socialise and play. Plus, these small parks produce oxygen for us to breathe. 

Tiny forests, where plants and trees grow in a spot of land the size of a tennis court, can have up to 500 animal and plant species living in them within their first three years. Urban trees grow faster and die sooner than trees that grow in the countryside, so we need to have a replacement plan for when they die.

6. Sand planters for solitary bees to nest

There are many ways to encourage native bees to live in our cities and towns. One of these is to make a simple planter filled with sand where bees can nest.  

Many native solitary bees nest in tubular holes in sand, clay or wood. The sand inside the planter provides the perfect place for some of these bees to burrow and lay their eggs. 

By providing sand and dead wood in a garden, you could help a whole range of solitary bee species to nest, including the red mason bee, the blue mason bee, the patchwork leafcutter bee, the wool carder bee and the small scissor bee.

Find out more about the lives of solitary bees and how to help them in cities and towns. Why not try making a mini bee hotel for your garden by filling a plant pot with hollow bamboo sticks.

7. Swift nests in bricks 

Swifts are loyal birds that return to the same place every year to breed. Once they’ve found their spot, they’ll nest there each year for life. They can nest in a range of small crevices in buildings, including gaps in walls and behind gutters.

However, the number of swift nesting spots available has been shrinking as buildings are renovated and nest spaces are filled in.

To make more space for swifts in our cities and towns, a swift brick can be used in the place of a regular brick. These bricks are designed to have the perfect entrance and hollow for swifts to build a nest. 

It might take the swifts some time to find these special bricks and build a nest, but once they do, you’ll be kept company every summer when they migrate to the UK to feast on the bounty of insects.