There’s a cool breeze, and the sun is shining. You’re exploring a new place, and choose to walk instead of getting in a taxi. You decide to do this because there are so many beautiful places within walking distance. After a while, you need a break, so you look for somewhere to sit.
My family and I often experienced this scenario during our trip to London, England this summer. During our trip full of sightseeing and visiting historic sites, we often took long walks. During one of our walks, I noticed two brightly colored benches. Once I got closer, I discovered that perky potted plants were growing within the neon pink and yellow benches. These benches had holes that allowed the plants living within to have access to water and light. This intrigued me, as this was a creative idea that I had not seen before. As we continued to explore, I noticed large planters and gardens throughout the city. We spent a lot of time in Borough Market, an outdoor food market, and it was common to see compact “gardens” growing in the middle of
Colorful benches that could be found in multiple areas around London
seating areas. These were many small but impactful ways that the community in London was bringing nature and sustainable structures into their streets and businesses. That made me curious to learn more about this.
Through my research, I learned that most (if not all) of these additions to London communities were from Bankside Urban Forest. While the term forest is used, Bankside Urban Forest isn’t really a forest. Bankside Urban Forest (founded in 2007) is a collection of projects that are working towards making areas of London more sustainable and aware of global climate change. They describe themselves as “a long-term partnership and strategy which is transforming the network of streets and spaces across Bankside to deliver more and better public space for people and wildlife and
Plant holder that reads: “Saving Energy – This tree will be planted in Bankside Urban Forest”
to support more active travel” (Better Bankside). There are currently 19 projects that Bankside Urban Forest has in progress. The colorful benches are part of their “Low Emissions Neighbourhood: Better Air Benches” project. The ultimate goal for these benches is to help bring awareness to the importance of air quality. Other projects collaborate with hotels (including the one we stayed in), local organizations, and public spaces. Bankside Urban Forest has been successful so far in their goal of bringing more “green”, in the form of trees and plants, to neighborhoods. However, their mission isn’t over yet, and they continue to keep furthering their goals. If you’re interested in learning more about Bankside Urban Forest and their mission, click here.
As we continue to learn about Global Citizenship, something that we often come back to is the Sustainable Development Goals. These are the 17 goals that the United Nations are trying to accomplish by 2030 to better the world. The 11th and 13th goals are “Sustainable Cities and Communities” and “Climate Action”, respectively. The main goal of Sustainable Cities and Communities is to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable” (United Nations). A specific target from Goal 11 is Target 11.7: “By 2030, provide universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible, green and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older persons and persons with disabilities” (UN). The projects that Bankside Urban Forest created are helping to reach this goal and specific target. Some projects include: adding colorful boardwalks to streets to create more public space and helping the Architecture Foundation’s Education Programme (which educates youth and senior citizens through workshops). The main goal of Climate Action is to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts” (UN). Bankside Urban Forest is definitely helping to combat climate change. Evidence of this is that on their website, they proudly state that they have “…planted over 250 trees, increased green cover in the neighbourhood by more than 1000m2 and improved over 10,000m2 public space across the area” (Better Bankside). The green that they’ve added can be found all around neighborhoods, whether it’s in the streets or at the front of a hotel. More specific details on the Sustainable Development Goals can be found here.
All of the Bankside Urban Forest projects that I saw during my time in London inspired me to think about what
A planter that reads “Pioneering a low carbon neighbourhood – 2025”
we could do back at home. I’d never really seen anything like the colorful garden benches in our own community. These ideas definitely stuck with me. I continued to think about them and research them after my visit to London ended. I wondered: what made these little projects stand out to me? It started with the very first project I saw – the colorful benches. It was the fact that the benches (and all the other projects) combined beauty, sustainability, and functionality. They were not only practical, but also vibrant and nice to look at. These projects are ones that we could definitely implement into our local community. They are also an inspiration for others to come up with alternative creative solutions for problems at home. Bankside Urban Forest and communities in London have taken steps towards creating a greener and more sustainable future. It’s our turn to try and do the same in our communities.
Discussion Questions:
- Why is it important to implement new and creative solutions for problems?
- How can we combine beauty, functionality, and sustainability into our solutions for problems in our community?
Works Cited:
“Bankside Urban Forest.” Better Bankside, betterbankside.co.uk/what-we-do/environment/bankside-urban-forest/. Accessed 12 Oct. 2022.
“Bankside Urban Forest.” Green Flag Award, www.greenflagaward.org//park-summary/?park=3125. Accessed 12 Oct. 2022.
“The 17 Goals.” United Nations, sdgs.un.org/goals#goals. Accessed 12 Oct. 2022.
3 Comments
Bodhi V · October 24, 2022 at 12:00 am
I think creative and sometimes fun ideas for an issue as serious as global warming can help persuade others to help. When everything is so serious I know a lot of people that wouldn’t put time and effort in to help and spread awareness because of maybe the boringness, but making things fun and look cool is a way to always bring joy and find good is something as horrible and threatening as global warming. I think a good way to involve this creativity with sustainable and functioning solutions is taking possibly things we know already work like a tower farm, but maybe adding some colors to it, making it look nice and intriguing. I also think the messages on each of the garden benches can also help interest viewers, when people say to themselves, “oh that’s cool” it may become a new interest to them.
Ella L · October 26, 2022 at 3:30 pm
People are getting used to others just stating facts about global issues like climate change. Using new and creative ways draws people’s attention to these problems in a way that is more involving than just saying all of the issues. Things like this out in public are eye-appealing and get more people to read the information and actually take it in rather than just think someone else will deal with it. This also gets people’s attention since they stop to think about why it’s there and how it got there. Having new and colorful ways to bring attention to global issues is a great way to spread awareness about global problems and possible solutions.
Anna S · January 7, 2023 at 9:54 pm
Reminding people of serious topics like global warming and climate change is really important. Bringing more green and signs of nature to urban areas is a great way to ensure that people who are constantly in the city do not forget about our planet. I saw something similar to the Bankside Urban Forest project in Munich, Germany last summer. On the biggest street of the city, which is a really big and long street that leads from suburbs outside of Munich into the city center and where Munich’s most known university is located, you find a little garden with benches to sit and rest, at the back side of the university buildings. In the little garden right next to the sidewalk they grow salad, different vegetables, herbs, lavender and all kinds of plants and flowers. I found it really interesting (and still do) because it helps people to understand that you can grow plants and vegetables nearly anywhere, even in the city. It may also inspire people to start planting their own vegetables at home. I also remember talking about that topic with my geography teacher in school. She told us about urban gardening and about how it can help prevent world hunger if we use urban areas to grow food. I think projects like Bankside Urban Forest and urban gardening will be very important in the future and will help us to grow more much needed food.
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