Welcome to part 4, the final episode in the landscape mini-series. In this episode I sit down with Cannon Ivers CMLI of LDA to discuss their inspiring project The Strand, Aldwych. The Strand was for centuries a busy traffic thoroughfare in central London that has been transformed into a totally pedestrianised and multi-functional public space. Cannon tells me the story of how this came to be, what it means for the people who use this space and how it connects to a larger initiative to transform busy roads in central London into public spaces.


More about the Strand: https://www.lda-design.co.uk/kindling/news/westminster-unveils-reimagined-strand-aldwych/

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

 Welcome to part 3 in this mini-series on landscape and urban nature. In this episode I spoke with James Virgo CMLI of LUC. He tells me about LUC’s work on Shoreditch Park. This is a nice case study of taking an existing park and working with the local community to improve it for biodiversity while tackling anti-social behaviour and creating a more welcoming and multi-function space for local people.

More about Shoreditch Park: https://www.landuse.co.uk/news/luc-completes-the-shoreditch-park-improvement-works/

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

 Welcome to part 2 of this mini-series on landscape and urban nature. This episode features an interview with Michael Cowdy FLI of McGregor Coxall. We discuss two of their Landscape Award-nominated projects, a research project on BioUrbanism and the second a design code for green infrastructure for a new community Cherry Hinton North, Cambridge. 

More about Biourbanism: https://mcgregorcoxall.com/biourbanism

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Welcome to this 4-part series on the role of landscape and urban nature in creating resilient, sustainable and healthy places. Over the next 4 weeks I’ll be releasing short weekly episodes featuring interviews with landscape practitioners that highlight great case studies in landscape design and discuss the wider role of these interventions in green urbanism.

The interviews were recorded at the Landscape Institute Awards 2023. Thanks to the Landscape Institute for inviting me along and organising these conversations.

This first episode features a conversation with Landscape Institute President-elect Carolin Göhler FLI. The focus of this chat was on responding to the climate and biodiversity crises through landscape interventions and some of the work the Landscape Institute is doing to push this forward.

After the interview I share some more information specifically about nature-based climate adaptation in cities.

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Antonietta Canta is a Principal Environmental and Sustainability Engineer at Arup. In this episode we discuss their recent research report: ‘Addressing overheating risk in existing UK homes’. As dry as that title sounds, the conversation was actually very illuminating and useful. It's also useful for listeners outside the UK!

We discuss:

• How many homes in UK are at risk of overheating now and in future climate scenarios.
• Why new apartments overheat more than houses and older buildings.
• The best strategies for reducing overheating in new and existing buildings and advice for architects, planners and policy makers.

Read the report: https://www.arup.com/perspectives/publications/research/section/addressing-overheating-risk-in-existing-uk-homes

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Jan Kattein is Director of Jan Kattein Architects, a studio that focuses on collaborative, sustainable and community-focused projects. Back in September of 2023 I joined Jan at their project in south London called the Paper Garden, which is a educational building and garden space for the charity Global Generation. Some of they key points we discuss:

• Radically circular building with 60% reused materials
• Built by 3000 volunteers - teaching skills and inspiring sustainability
• Flexible design approach to suit available materials rather than specific design
• Sourcing timber from Epping Forest, London
• Is this the future of architecture?

Giulia Mori joined me as co-host

Learn more about the Paper Garden: https://jankattein.com/projects/paper-garden/

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Kent Jackson is Design Partner at Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) and leads the designs of a wide range of scales and typologies across the globe. Passionate about improving the future of planetary health, Kent is also a leader of SOM’s Climate Action Group, advancing the firm’s commitment for all active work to be net zero whole-life carbon by 2040.

James Woodall is Sustainability Lead at SOM and was a co-editor of the LETI Climate Emergency Design Guide – a groundbreaking publication shaped by over 100 leading design professionals. The guide continues to be referred to as best practice in delivering net zero carbon buildings.

Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) is a global architecture, engineering and urban design practice, responsible for some of the world's most famous landmark buildings.

In this episode we discuss SOM's target for all their projects to be Whole Life Net Zero Carbon by 2040 and their ambitions to promote regenerative design.

Learn more about SOM here: https://www.som.com/

See the companion blog post on Substack.

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Steve Sanham established Common Projects in 2021: a development company led by a purpose to put people and planet at the heart of its decision-making. Steve has an extensive and proven track record in the built environment, specialising in urban regeneration and in using development’s power to deliver better outcomes. Common Projects finances and delivers complex and game-changing development projects in London and the South East with a strong focus on sustainability and social outcomes.

Common is currently delivering two large, complex London sites: the redevelopment of a 1960s ‘utopian’ complex into a community-facing housing scheme for Croydon, retaining and enhancing the original buildings alongside an upcycled community pavilion and garden; and the creative masterplannning of a large former gasworks in the centre of Wandsworth to deliver 650 mixed tenure homes, along with a new creative hub for the music community of south west London.

In this episode we discuss:

• An environmental and social approach to housing development
• The connection between the climate crisis and housing crisis
• Zodiac Court redevelopment in Croyden
• Wandsworth Gasworks masterplan 

This is part 1 of my conversation with Steve. In part 2 he gives me a tour of the Zodiac Court construction site and we get more into the details of this project. Part 2 will only be available on this Substack blog, so make sure to subscribe to get access to that and the newsletter.

Click here to see the companion blog post on Substack.

Learn more about Steve and Common Projects: https://common-projects.co.uk/

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Sean McCormack is a consultant Vet, the Chairperson of Ealing Wildlife Group, and an incredibly knowledgeable nature conservationist and educator based in west London.  This episode is part 2 of our conversation where we get into more detail on: 

• The practicalities of reintroducing beavers to an urban park
• Management of urban nature
• Rewilding vs nature restoration
• The importance of partnerships and collaboration

I also got the chance to speak with Elliot Newton and Ben Stockwell of Citizen Zoo, who are also involved in the beaver reintroduction at Paradise Fields. Listen out for their voices towards the end of this episode.

See photos of the locations being rewilded at the companion blog post: Substack blog

Learn more about Ealing Wildlife Group: https://ealingwildlifegroup.com/

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.

Sean McCormack is a consultant Vet, the Chairperson of Ealing Wildlife Group, and an incredibly knowledgeable nature conservationist and educator based in west London. In this episode we discuss his work to rewild urban London by reintroducing harvest mice, beavers and (eventually maybe) water voles while supporting native predators like falcons and owls in the city. It’s a really positive and inspiring story of how a community and a local government are working together for the good of nature. We also discuss how reintroducing beavers will mitigate flooding in the local area and advice for others interested in urban rewilding and nature conservation.

Sean was very generous with his time and we ended up talking for 2 hours, so this episode is part 1 of that conversation. Part 2 is coming soon!

See photos of the locations being rewilded at the companion blog post: Substack blog

Learn more about Ealing Wildlife Group: https://ealingwildlifegroup.com/

- - -

Subscribe to the Green Urbanist Newsletter

Work Together

Get in touch

Urban Wilding Hub

GatherMap - Interactive, crowd-source mapping tool

The Green Urbanist podcast is created by Ross O'Ceallaigh.