Urban landscape ecology in the Delta Metropolis, a modern ... · serious troubles for both...

Urban landscape ecology in the Delta Metropolis, a modern chaos?

W. Timmermans, R. P. H. Snep & V. Kuypers Wageningen University & Research Centre, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Abstract

Within a special issue of Archis, a Dutch journal on architecture, different authors discussed the relation between architecture and ecology (Archis, 1999). The editors stated that it is necessary to “investigate ecology as a vital dimension of tomorrow’s building task”, but that “as long as ecology remains the preserve of moralisers and environmentalists, its capacity to influence society will be slight and consumers culture will continue as before”. In this paper we will discuss the relation between nature and the city. In our research we apply principles from landscape ecology and spatial planning in urban ecological studies. This specific approach of urban ecology is called ‘urban landscape ecology’. The paper starts with an introduction to the national nature policy of the Netherlands. Than the concept of urban landscape ecology is introduced and the Dutch Delta Metropolis is described. We describe six case-studies, combining urban landscape ecology, spatial planning and architecture into new concepts on urban green for nature, human and economy. Finally some remarks will be made about these approaches from the point of view of modernism and complexity.

1 National nature policy in the Netherlands

The Netherlands have been completely man made (Koh, [7]). This fact has among others determined the culture of spatial planning: its tradition is very modernistic. Also the National Nature Policy has highly been influenced by modernism. It outlines exactly which area of the country has to be conserved as or transformed into a natural area. More than a 130 specific types of nature have been exactly defined and described.

© 2005 WIT Press WIT Transactions on Ecology and the Environment, Vol 81, www.witpress.com, ISSN 1743-3541 (on-line)

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This approach of planning, developing and managing ‘nature’, as part of their technocratic tradition, has grown to a somehow bizarre system of policy, regulations and funding. Every inch of the Netherlands has been carefully researched and designated for a certain land use. Within the land use ‘nature’ hundreds of types of different target vegetation can be distinguished, as described by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (Bal et al, [2]). Both farmers and land owners get funding to create or conserve those target vegetation and especially for the National Forest Service and other land use owners with nature conservation aims those funding form a vital part of their overall financing. The ‘production’ of specific nature thereby has become generally accepted way to earn money. It also created a fixed culture in which ‘nature’ is linked with ‘planned vegetation’, and spontaneous vegetation and colonisation of pioneer species like the Natterjack Toad (Bufo calamita) cause serious troubles for both ecologists and planning- and decision-makers. The national network of existing and new nature areas must have been established in 2018. Nature conservation and development, including the supporting research, is highly characterised by a technocratic, approach. Koh [7] argues that this nature policy is control based. Moreover the nature which has to be established does not consist of extreme and potentially dangerous processes like floods, but on certain combinations of habitat, animals and vegetation.


584 Ecosystems and Sustainable Development V

The modernistic nature policy plan has been established in a period of time when spatial policy was more or less seen as a linear process. The Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Fisheries combined spatial nature planning with major accompanying financial investments. It had had a leading responsibility for planning and investment in the rural areas. Together with the farmers and their organisations and with nature conservation organisations it could implement its policy. But complexity became larger and larger. The sharp difference between town and country is more and more disappearing (Timmermans et al, [17]). On the one hand globalization disrupted traditional farm related networks, on the



other hand rich city people colonised the countryside more and more. The Ministry appeared no longer to be the only or even the major player in the (rural) field. The Delta Metropolis is a highly dynamic area. This fact has big consequences for nature and nature policy. A growing lack of space asks more and more for multiple land use. Nature will have to be combined with other functions. Policy and research have to change from modernistic and linear into complexity based.

2 Urban landscape ecology

Considering the description of the rural-based term ‘landscape’ the urban landscape stands alone (Luck and Wu, [9]). Cities both have the size and internal heterogeneity which distinguish them from other landscapes. Besides, the characteristics, configuration and mutual relations of the accompanying landscape elements differ much from the adjacent areas. The urban landscape has its own collection of underlying patterns and processes, which provides the conditions for a self-supporting ecosystem: the urban ecosystem (Niemelä, [11]). Inside this ecosystem terrestrial ecological, physical, and socio-economic components of metropolitan areas are linked (Yen and Nyuk Hien, [20]; Smardon, [13]; Van Druff et al., [19]; Clergeau, et al, [3]; Gobster, [5]; Roovers, et al., [12]).

Urban ecology, the study of urban plant and animal species and their environment, has developed as a new but fast-growing field of scientific research. Most urban ecology studies that have been conducted in the past



decades were however descriptions of very local situations, not experimental applications nor spatially explicit studies on the distribution of species through the urban landscape. As we define ‘urban landscape ecology’ as the study of urban plant and animal species in a spatial, highly dynamic, environment, it is obvious that those traditional, more descriptive ‘site-studies’ are not equipped to deal with the request from local governments for ecological information to be implemented in planning and urban development. This is because they are time-consuming in describing local situations in detail, thereby always been overtaken by (urban) developments. For example, the recent colonisation of flat roofs in the Netherlands by shore birds has not been studied in detail, whereas urban developers now ask for information how to include plant and animal ecology in their development projects. With the term ‘urban landscape ecology’ not only fundamental but also more applied research is indicated, thereby including opportunities to experiment with combinations of urban development and nature conservation.

3 Urban landscape ecology in the Dutch Delta Metropolis

With the exception of the three northern provinces, the Netherlands can be considered as a new type of city, the Delta Metropolis. This metropolis is situated in the delta of the European rivers Rhine, Meuse and Schelde and stretches out over the Dutch Randstad, the German industrial Ruhr district and Belgian Flanders. It is a ‘spacious metropolis with villages, urban centres, suburbs, industrial estates, harbours, airports, forests, woods, lakes, beaches,



reserves, pasture land, fields, roads, canals, railways and the monocultures of the high-tech areas of agricultural land’ (Geuze and Breugem [4]). Their spatial, economic, social and cultural interrelationship is strong. Practically all of the components that make up the spacious metropolis fulfil more than one function. This metropolis landscape was developed due to a high level of urbanisation during the last decades and this rapid urbanisation process is still on-going. It appears to result in a lack of space for both the Dutch inhabitants and the Dutch nature. Research and practice in the field of urban landscape ecology can some-times hardly be disconnected. In this battle for space and attention much creativity and flexible perspectives are required from researchers and policy makers on urban landscape ecology. We will give some examples, some of which are still in progress.

4 Hoogvliet, Rotterdam: peri-urban nature increases inner city nature perception

In many Dutch cities, the amount and quality of urban green space has decreased in the course of time as a result of ‘reduction’ (e.g. replace a city garden with parking places or houses) and intensive utilisation of the public green space by their citizens. The question is whether a clever configuration of urban green space together with some form of nature development on the edges of town (the peri-urban area) is a promising solution for keeping up the best possible quality of urban nature. In the Rotterdam borough Hoogvliet a pilot research project was carried out. A movement model, SmallSteps, was used to calculate several spatial scenarios whereby butterflies could colonise the built-up area from source populations in the surrounding green areas. The model has been built up using data on habitats and behaviour of the butterflies in the rural natural areas; it was adapted for urban use. The results of the modelling were discussed with different butterfly experts. The study produced clear results as to the positive contribution



that peri-urban nature can make to improving the quality of nature in the city itself. Also it was found that the model, after adaptation, can be useful in urban circumstances. However the results have not been used in the local policy of the borough. The new management was not interested in ecological aspects of their work anymore; also they cancelled a planned research project to investigate the specific wishes of the people on urban green.

4.1 Almere: Multi functional wildlife overpasses

As described in more detail by Timmermans and Snep [18]), Alterra studied the ecological preconditions that a multi functional wildlife passage must meet. This is a structure over a motor way which incorporates buildings (office space) as well as nature (wildlife corridor). This construction would have to comprise a building of one or more floors with a roof designed in such a way that it can function as an ecological corridor zone. The challenge here is to make a design that is so sophisticated that all functions (infrastructure, building and ecology) can function to the highest level of perfection. For ecology purposes, it is important here to create an attractive environment for all sorts of fauna groups, keeping disruptive elements such as light, sound and human presence to a minimum. This concept, the ‘office duct’, has been worked out as part of a spatial development plan for the municipality of Almere. The ambition of Almere was to have some kind of land mark at the edge of the town that symbolised the importance and quality of the green surroundings and the parks of the new town. The plan has been made together with a building company. However it will never been built: the political agenda of Almere changed after local elections, the deputy who was responsible for the idea left and the project leader moved to another job elsewhere. The concept of the office duct however got a lot of attention. It was felt ‘sexy nature’. Probably it will be realised somewhere else.



5 Port of Rotterdam: combining industry and ecology

The Port of Rotterdam, the world largest harbour measuring more than 35 km in length, has many values and opportunities for nature alongside industry. Alterra used the LARCH spatial expert system to study which nature values derelict land and pipeline verges could have in various design and management scenarios (Snep et al [14]). This spatial analysis showed that derelict land has good potential for thicket birds in particular if their management is left unchanged. It was also found that pipeline verges play a potentially important role as an ecological corridor for butterflies through the harbour area. The nature value of industrial estates can improve significantly if the design and management of the existing green space is geared better to nature. The results of the research appeared to be eye openers to many planners. At the moment Alterra is involved in several studies to realise nature as part of the planning of business areas.

6 Amsterdam, De Loodsen: Architecture supports abundance of plants and animals

Construction of housing and office buildings can create opportunities for nature development. Alterra was partner in an architecture contest and worked out the idea that houses can provide a habitat for numerous organisms. The original plan included shingled roofs as a breeding habitat for common terns; niches and grooves as nesting places for Peregrines (Falco peregrinus), walls where wall plants can shoot their roots, roofs like Babylonian gardens, etc. The contest was won and the house will be built. Design and building process is still going on. Part of the nature will be realised, although economy is not as strong as it was. In the meantime more ideas about ecology inclusive building are coming up. The idea of a typical urban nature, mostly not being insects, is of great interest for part of the cultural elite in the cities.

7 Wassenaar: New estate development

The edge of the dunes near the coastal zone of the Duct city of Wassenaar is one of the most exclusive places to live in the Netherlands. It is also one of the most vulnerable areas from an ecological point of view. The question is whether and if so how new houses can be developed in the area. So far top down planning traditions inhibited new developments. However the national, planning policy in the Netherlands is changing dramatically. Top down planning policy is changed into an approach where bottom up initiatives on the basis of pronounced ambitions are stimulated. Alterra proposed a new planning methodology of sustainable development. It starts with the ecosystem: initiatives in ecologically vulnerable areas should be adapted to it. New housing must eco-inclusive and strengthen the vulnerable forest and hydrological system, more or less ‘emerging from the ecosystem’. In a next step the plans should be adapted to the existing cultural heritage in the



region: large houses in the middle of large privately owned parks. Then new houses should strengthen the existing water and traffic infrastructure networks. Rain water must infiltrate, existing roads will not be extended. Finally as all the others in the neighbourhood the new houses should be built under actual high quality architecture.

The methodology is trying to define sustainable conditions for bottom up building initiatives with sustainable ambitions. Shortly after the research was established, the national policy really changed from a top down to a bottom up planning policy. The search for new methods just started.

7.1 Biennial of architecture: mobile nature reserve

In the year 2003 an International Biennial of Architecture, with the theme Mobility, was organised in Rotterdam. Alterra joined an initiative by MattonOffice from Wenndorf, Germany to establish a ‘moving nature reserve’. First of all the mobile nature reserve was meant to be an object of art. the interior of a public transport has been transformed into a forest. During the exhibition it was transporting people between the different locations of the Biennial. Second the mobile nature reserve forced people to think about nature and about the parks and green areas in and around their town. Third the reserve was used for excursions and debates between ecologists and architects, between world historians and philosophers. Finally the reserve was used to reframe the thoughts of management and many researchers of the different departments of Alterra. Actually, only after the Queen of the Netherlands visited the moving nature reserve, or junglebus, and after all the national newspapers wrote articles about it, the project was taken seriously. Main conclusion of the project is that while citizens were very enthusiastic about the



mobile reserve and started to enjoy, researchers and also many policy makers could not “imagine that this is nature”.

8 Nature policy in a highly dynamic Delta Metropolis

What can we learn from the given examples on nature development and nature policy in the context of the Delta Metropolis? In the Delta Metropolis with its highly dynamic battle for space, the concept of nature appears to become in some way more ‘fluid’. Dangerous, flammable kerosene pipeline verges can to be outstanding ecological corridors. It seems possible to establish a wildlife overpass on the roof of an office and to build houses in very vulnerable ecological areas with positive effects on nature. Many ‘ordinary people’ are not interested in the difference between a ‘mobile nature reserve’ and a traditional nature reserve. On the other hand it can happen that a policy directed on realisation of new nature in or around the city can suddenly completely change. What is going on? First of all we have to answer the question ‘what is nature’ in a different way than approximately 15 years ago, when the Ministry was the one and only responsible policy maker for nature. At that time the discussion about ‘what is nature’ could be answered relatively easy. The Ministry should be convinced. When the Ministry was convinced about the modernistic approach, most of the research money was spend to support the policy with knowledge. However the Ministry has lost its monopoly. It has to realise projects together with many municipalities and building companies, with deputies, architects, housing developers and for rich and poor people who want to recreate, party or just relax.



They all have their own ideas about what nature is. Policy and research will have to deal with that. The second question will be ‘what do all the new stakeholders want’. Research is necessary to understand why a nature developing policy at the local level suddenly stops. How interesting is technocratic nature for the people in the city and for the policy makers? Architects and artists have to be seduced by new, sexy concepts of nature, which can be combined with splendid architecture (Koh [7]). (foto’s gebouw) How difficult this will be came up during the debate between ecologist Jelle Reumer and architect Ton Salman in the junglebus (Matton et. al., [10]). Reumer stated: “The Knotgrass and the Indian Lovegrass that sprouts unregarded between the basalt blocks of the Westzeedijk in the vicinity Rem Koolhaas’ Kunsthal is what I consider nature. You need architecture to make the city and nature reacts on it”. Salman Replied: “A question that occupies me is how I can plan for nature. I depend on receiving ecological information, such as detailed habitat requirements in order to make design decisions. How big does a nesting site have to be. Could it be made of glass? What is the minimum permissible distance between a nesting box and the rails for the window washing installation on the roof? Can I put the box between the rails? Will a blue colour attract or repel a certain kind of bird?” It is a fascinating world, but a traditional modernistic approach of nature development and nature policy will not bring good results in highly dynamic area with continuously changing public opinion. There is a need for a more



pragmatic approach, based on a combination of facts, expertise and intuition. The role of the ecological researcher changes dramatically. From the starting point of at least the knowledge on the habitat and behaviour of animals and vegetation he or she has to develop many different and always changing ideas about nature as part of many multiple land use plans. It should be a fascinating world.

References

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[12] Roovers, P., M. Hermy & H.Gulnick (2002). "Visitor profile, perceptions and expectations in forests from a gradient of increasing urbanisation in central Belgium." Landscape and Urban Planning 59: 129-145.

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[15] Snep, R.P.H., P.F.M. Opdam, J.M. Baveco, M. WallisDeVries, W. Timmermans, R.G.M. Kwak and V. Kuypers (in prep). How peri-urban design can improve nature quality within cities: a modeling approach. Biological Conservation.

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