CityMakers is working with ArchDaily to publish a series of articles, conversations, and interviews with the various actors in urban co-production behind the CityMakers Barcelona Lab 2022, an event taking place from November 14 to 18. For this edition, Víctor Torres, an architect with a Master's in Territorial Planning and Environmental Management from the University of Barcelona, presents his article "Renaturalizing the City from the Smallest Scale: The Neighborhood."
We have previously discussed the concept of "renaturalizing" as a tool to equip cities with resilience-building attributes. In a previous article, Renaturalizing the City: Transcending the Concept of Sustainability, we noted that continuous changes to the land—primarily driven by construction and habitat development—have led to an "alteration in the ecological relationships of the beings that inhabit it." This has increased urban vulnerability and undermined the city's capacity to respond to the effects of the climate emergency, highlighting the urgent need to take action at the local scale to mitigate these impacts. Indeed, focusing solely on sustainability is no longer enough; efforts are required to help restore ecosystems. This will only be possible if we turn to memory, rethink ecological relationships, and take actions that allow urban environments to regenerate.
Taking action at a small scale may seem like the easiest path. However, while the concept of "renaturalization" is not new, its integration into urban discourse is recent. As a result, local governments often face difficulties in implementing solutions at smaller scales without them being mistaken for merely ornamental interventions. This has become one of the main obstacles to effectively mitigating the impacts of the climate emergency in our cities.
