Lecture “Urban Nature: Challenge or Opportunity?”
Ingo Kowarik studied landscape planning at TU Berlin and led the Department of Ecosystem Science/Plant Ecology for over 20 years. As Berlin’s honorary State Commissioner for Nature Conservation and Land Management, he was also involved in numerous green projects.
Cities have long been wrested from the wilderness, and traditional urban design often contrasts sharply with nature. Yet even highly urbanised areas can become places of wild nature, as seen in an unintended experiment in the shadow of the Berlin Wall. After 1945, many areas lay fallow, and in West Berlin, redevelopment progressed much more slowly than elsewhere. The study of urban revegetation — and its potential for quality of life and biodiversity conservation — made Berlin a cradle of modern urban ecology. The “Berlin School of Urban Ecology” uniquely integrates ecology, planning, and design. This approach, together with community-based activities, has enabled vast areas of urban wilderness to be woven into the city’s green system, despite growing land competition. The fusion of wilderness, design, and management has created distinctive green spaces that connect people with nature while supporting climate adaptation.
