Reflective Essay on Cities that Breathe: What Happens When Nature, Art, and Justice Meet

Rethinking Cities as Living Systems

Often, cities are mythologized as concrete jungles, but what if we took that metaphor seriously and designed them as interconnected ecosystems rather than all-consuming machines? In the module Urban Green Infrastructure, in part taught by David Maddox, the founder of The Nature of Cities (TNOC), we were invited to rethink how this process of design can be realized into existence. We were introduced to various aspects of the growth of cities, how they adapt, and why we need to tell stories about the nature within and without them, for the benefit of our planet and their inhabitants. Trained as a scientist yet grounded in artistic practice, Maddox’s career spans climate change research and ecological stewardship, as well as theatre, music, and ways of storytelling, a diverse background aiding him in the teachings of a transdisciplinary approach to the nature of our urban environments. 

Why Creativity Matters 

Try to think back to the times you ever saw a drawing, read a story, or watched a performance that made you belly laugh, cry, or perhaps scream out of despair? These are all instances of our lives that might’ve been a catalyst for change, or that influenced us to a point of action, and that thus prove the impact such events or elements can have on the lives we share. What became evident throughout the week, is Maddox’s insistence that creativity is not secondary to sustainability work, but central to how ideas are concurrently shared, contested, and transformed. David Maddox’s core message is simple yet radical: urban resilience cannot be solved by mere technology or planning alone, but requires collaboration through science, design and lived experience, and what better way to reach across those divides than through art, and/or above all, with a little bit of imagination.

Nature in Cities: Beyond Green vs. Grey

Through the work of TNOC, Maddox challenges the traditional separation between “nature” and “city”, where green and grey is given the possibility to be seen as one. Rather than seeing urbanization as the opposite of ecology, he frames cities as places where nature holds a constant presence, albeit often unevenly distributed, undervalued, or invisible. Throughout our week, what resonated with me the most was the message or idea that cities don’t just need better infrastructure to adapt, they need better narratives. And rather than offering fixed solutions, Maddox chose to teach us methods for thinking.

Art, Science, and the Power of a Story

A recurring theme in these lessons was that if we were to combine art and science, we can create outcomes greater than the sum of their singular parts. For example, science explains what is happening; flooding, heat stress, ecosystem failures, but art and storytelling helps people feel why it matters, acting as the infrastructure for such meaning. Throughout class discussion and exercises, such as redesigning neighborhoods using the simulation tool Visionmaker.us, or creating a comic to incite a will for change, creativity was not treated as mere decoration through design, but as a core method for collaboration, communication, and ultimately change.

This shifts the pressure of better practice and stewardship from a technical problem, to a cultural one, where changing the world is put in a different light. Rather than prescribing solutions, the different tools provided and explained throughout the course allow stakeholders to explore different trade-offs together, allowing for futures to be envisioned before being put to practice, reflecting Maddox’s emphasis on dialogue over optimization. 

Another critical message throughout the lectures was acknowledging that urban decisions are shaped by values just as much as numbers, and that urban nature is not a neutral component. Essential human needs, such as green spaces, clean air, and cool shade during scorching days are often unevenly distributed throughout the urban fabric, while pollution and assorted climate risks are, at the same time, of concentration in often marginalized communities. Therefore, nature-based solutions must be designed and applied with justice in mind, not only serving as a tool improving environmental performance, but also expanding on dignity, health and equal opportunity in cities. Because without justice, green infrastructure risks becoming just another form of exclusion.

Learning by Design

Now this is easier said than done, a lesson we learnt during our first assignment where we redesigned the neighborhood of Greenwich Village in New York. During this task we were faced with some onerous questions, such as for whom are we making changes and why, who decides, and most importantly, who is missing from the conversation? Although we had the benefit of unbridled imagination, all whilst speaking in hypothetical terms, finding a solid ground for change seemed at times impossible, and compromises had to be made that might prove infeasible in real life scenarios.

Nevertheless, we all managed to reach our goals, and most interestingly so in different ways, thus showcasing the weight of such important questions as well as inclusion in times of change. Transdisciplinary collaboration itself is difficult, it requires time, trust, and the willingness to embrace uncertainty. Maddox does not present these challenges as failures, but as reasons to slow down, listen more carefully, and design processes, not just projects. Because storytelling is not immune to failure; when imagination is not grounded in lived experience and considers power relations, it can oversimplify complexity and reproduce the very exclusions it seeks to challenge.

These challenges might seem at times too difficult and complex to comprehend, yet David shows us they can become something different if we twist and turn them through the mediation of art, where storytelling can instead frame such issues as opportunities, and guide people out of feelings of helplessness. For example, drawing a comic where a little bird flies through the sky looking for answers to the problems of its world and the individuals within it, gaining knowledge and solving mysteries along the way, might help people look around their own environment through the lens of comparison, and perhaps with a drop of childish curiosity. 

References: 

From David Maddox: 

Elmqvist, T. (2018, April 1). Urban Planet. Cambridge Core. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/urban-planet/urban-planet/8D0E0CF39E33F5620EEA07B74D835BBA

Highlights from Ten Years at The Nature of Cities – The Nature of Cities. (2023, January 2). https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/2023/01/02/highlights-from-ten-years-at-the-nature-of-cities/

Introducing “The Nature of Cities” – The nature of cities. (2012, June 12).

https://www.thenatureofcities.com/TNOC/2012/06/12/introducing-the-nature-of-cities/

Further Readings:

Anguelovski, I., & Connolly, J. J. T. (2021). The Green City and social injustice. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003183273

Kabisch, N., Frantzeskaki, N., & Hansen, R. (2022). Principles for urban nature-based solutions. AMBIO, 51(6), 1388–1401. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13280-021-01685-w

Kabisch, N., Stadler, J., & Korn, H. (2017). Nature-Based solutions to climate change adaptation in urban areas. In Theory and practice of urban sustainability transitions. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56091-5

Illustration: 

Portraits from the Precipice: a worldwide art movement to save the planet. (n.d.). Octopus Energy. https://octopus.energy/climate-art/

Pouyat, R. V., Pataki, D. E., Belt, K. T., Groffman, P. M., Hom, J., & Band, L. E. (2007). Effects of urban Land-Use change on biogeochemical cycles. In Global change – the IGBP series (pp. 45–58). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-32730-1_5

Roches, S. D., Brans, K. I., Lambert, M. R., Rivkin, L. R., Savage, A. M., Schell, C. J., Correa, C., De Meester, L., Diamond, S. E., Grimm, N. B., Harris, N. C., Govaert, L., Hendry, A. P., Johnson, M. T. J., Munshi‐South, J., Palkovacs, E. P., Szulkin, M., Urban, M. C., Verrelli, B. C., & Alberti, M. (2020). Socio‐eco‐evolutionary dynamics in cities. Evolutionary Applications, 14(1), 248–267. https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13065

 

By Ella Matsdotter
Student at UIC Barcelona
Urban Resilience for Sustainability Transitions Master’s Programme (2025-2026)