# Cities with a good balance of urban and nature



## steppenwolf (Oct 18, 2002)

We've probably all started to hear the term 'Nature Deficit Disorder' about. It's basically a blanket term for a range of mental and physical health problems than can occur when we are detached from nature. This is l;ess about gardens and parks, although they are important, and more about the actual natural world where human processes are less influential.

Humans need cities for work, to meet people, for excitement and to see the beautiful buildings and creations of our civilisation. We are also an integral part of the natural world and need to connect with it to make us feel calm, happy and to understand the world which we are part of.

Some cities seem to be planned with an understanding of this need for both. Some do it well, some don't.

Here is a place to post info and pictures of cities which provide for our urban needs but also integrate the natural habitats of the area they're located in.


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## steppenwolf (Oct 18, 2002)

I'll kick off with Vancouver. A city set between mountains and forest. Views of the mountains are visible along most streets which keeps locals aware of the stunning nature around them. Stanley Park is a beautiful island of native forest on a rocky island, which has been left free of buildings so locals can connect to the Canadian landscape just a short walk from their condo tower.


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## steppenwolf (Oct 18, 2002)

Another great example is from Edinburgh, Scotland. Holyrood Park is an extinct volcanic 'mountain' surrounded by city. The contrast between city centre and nature is striking and sudden. One minute you're walking along dense urban streets and the next your hiking across loose rocks, mud and avoiding sheep.


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## alexandru.mircea (May 18, 2011)

Some good examples in this older thread: http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=1677099


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## gonza.py (Sep 21, 2011)

Asunción, Paraguay

























































































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## the spliff fairy (Oct 21, 2002)

Hong Kong - hyper urbanism, then a mile or two away hyper nature. I heard about 7 people die a year in the mountains (exposure, dehydration, getting lost),
despite being able to see the city lights right there.


































more 'remote' areas of HK. Even with all this HK-Macau still has the highest population density in the world.


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

For The Philippines, I'll give it to *Baguio*!


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## gandhi.rushabh1992 (Dec 10, 2010)

Mangalore, a city of 1 million on the south western coast of India:


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## 009 (Nov 28, 2007)

Lushness by Jon Chiang, on Flickr



"Cloud Mountain" by David VP, on Flickr



A Walk in Primal Forest by yc4646, on Flickr



Gardens Coral Night by Henrik Sundholm, on Flickr


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## Copperknickers (May 15, 2011)

009 said:


> Lushness by Jon Chiang, on Flickr


Wow, is that actually real? That's amazing. Where is it?


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## heymikey1981 (May 25, 2016)

Copperknickers said:


> Wow, is that actually real? That's amazing. Where is it?


Singapore -- Gardens by the Bay


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## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

*Vienna* lacks greenery in some of the inner districts but it has 3 things making up for it:

> A lot of splendid central and peripheral parks 
> The Danube island, connected with no less than 3 different subway lines, an S-Bahn main corridor and a tram line to the rest of the city. As well as the nearby Old Danube area.
> Viennese Woods in the west of the city where it relatively abruptly ends and hilly forests begin. On its edges you also find wine villages, including wineyards. 


The Old Danube and the strip like Danube Island (between greyish "Danube" and blueish "New Danube" behind it). In the upper-left one can see the city's largest park, the Prater. In the background on the right side one can see the hilly Viennese Woods.









https://i.pinimg.com/originals/9f/94/ee/9f94ee6f12ec9b6aee2567518d9982e8.jpg


And here the Ringstraße: 










https://www.wien.info/media/images/...nt-palais-epstein-40711.jpg/image_teaser-lead

A Heuriger (wine tavern) in the wineyards, within city limits, easy to reach from the centre:








https://www.wien.info/media/images/weingarten-heuriger.jpg/image_gallery


PS: Of course, if you are in the middle of the city, the panoramic view can be also more like this: https://www.haus-des-meeres.at/fxdata/hausdesmeeres/prod/media/presse/aussichthdmromanbnsch.jpg


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## xzmattzx (Dec 24, 2004)

A lot of western US cities could go on this list.

Phoenix may be the best for this list. There are a couple small mountains within the city limits, which you can hike up and get great views from. Camelback Mountain and Piestewa Peak are partly in the city. South Mountain is in the city. Then you have parks with smaller natural rock formations, like Papago Park, which was actually a National Monument for a time. Outside of Phoenix itself, you have other hills and small mountains to climb, like "A" Mountain in Tempe, and you have vast wilderness within 45 minutes of anywhere in the metro.


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## bumbledah. (Apr 25, 2017)

xzmattzx said:


> Phoenix may be the best for this list.


1000 square miles of tract housing of the lowest density imaginable in the Northern Hemisphere's most rapidly warming and drying region is the farthest thing from green. The city's endless suburbia is choking itself with emissions and has just recently lost its position as having the worst particulate matter rates in all of America's smog. In a state where climate change talk is verboten in legislation, there's little hop of public transit of any significant efficacy to offset the auto-centrism of a town built on the housing industry. Even if its ribbons of highways didn't invite the threat of carbon emissions blanketing the city in a haze, Phoenix's hosting of the dirtiest ZIP code in the U.S. makes sure that groundwater contamination contributes to cancer rates in the city's inner-ring. As for the literal greenery of parks, Phoenix falls flat as well. A mere 15% of the entire city area is zoned for parkland, a majority of which is holed up in richer outer districts. This results in a 55% majority of the population not having any matter of park within a 10-minute walking distance.


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## xzmattzx (Dec 24, 2004)

bumbledah. said:


> 1000 square miles of tract housing of the lowest density imaginable in the Northern Hemisphere's most rapidly warming and drying region is the farthest thing from green. The city's endless suburbia is choking itself with emissions and has just recently lost its position as having the worst particulate matter rates in all of America's smog. In a state where climate change talk is verboten in legislation, there's little hop of public transit of any significant efficacy to offset the auto-centrism of a town built on the housing industry. Even if its ribbons of highways didn't invite the threat of carbon emissions blanketing the city in a haze, Phoenix's hosting of the dirtiest ZIP code in the U.S. makes sure that groundwater contamination contributes to cancer rates in the city's inner-ring. As for the literal greenery of parks, Phoenix falls flat as well. A mere 15% of the entire city area is zoned for parkland, a majority of which is holed up in richer outer districts. This results in a 55% majority of the population not having any matter of park within a 10-minute walking distance.


??? The question at hand is the availability of the natural environment in cities around the world. Phoenix clearly has elements of the natural environment preserved within the city in several areas.

This isn't about actual greenery, but the natural environment. Phoenix would have to create an artificial woodland to have greenery! This also isn't about parks in general. Landscaped parks are taking natural elements and urbanizing them. One-block parks with a playground and basketball court might be more numerous in most cities (including Phoenix), and provide access to more citizens as close-range open space, but they are not a natural environment.


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## Haifon (May 7, 2017)

Jubail in eastern province of Saudi is a good example of comprising urban and greenery


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## steppenwolf (Oct 18, 2002)

bumbledah. said:


> 1000 square miles of tract housing of the lowest density imaginable in the Northern Hemisphere's most rapidly warming and drying region is the farthest thing from green. The city's endless suburbia is choking itself with emissions and has just recently lost its position as having the worst particulate matter rates in all of America's smog. In a state where climate change talk is verboten in legislation, there's little hop of public transit of any significant efficacy to offset the auto-centrism of a town built on the housing industry. Even if its ribbons of highways didn't invite the threat of carbon emissions blanketing the city in a haze, Phoenix's hosting of the dirtiest ZIP code in the U.S. makes sure that groundwater contamination contributes to cancer rates in the city's inner-ring. As for the literal greenery of parks, Phoenix falls flat as well. A mere 15% of the entire city area is zoned for parkland, a majority of which is holed up in richer outer districts. This results in a 55% majority of the population not having any matter of park within a 10-minute walking distance.


Interesting and I agree. 

Suburban and low density sprawl with trees in gardens and lawns is the opposite of the kind of cities I want to be appreciate in this thread. 

When tracts of wild habitat are allowed to run through dense urban neighbourhoods this allows the best of true nature and true urban to exist in the same place. It allows people to access to both of those things which we need.


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## steppenwolf (Oct 18, 2002)

xzmattzx said:


> ??? The question at hand is the availability of the natural environment in cities around the world. Phoenix clearly has elements of the natural environment preserved within the city in several areas.
> 
> This isn't about actual greenery, but the natural environment. Phoenix would have to create an artificial woodland to have greenery! This also isn't about parks in general. Landscaped parks are taking natural elements and urbanizing them. One-block parks with a playground and basketball court might be more numerous in most cities (including Phoenix), and provide access to more citizens as close-range open space, but they are not a natural environment.


The particular natural environment Phoenix could incorporate is hot desert with its associated ecosystem. What would be great and more sustainable is if people's gardens incorporated local plants rather than unsustainably forcing grass to grow. i don't know what Phoenixian gardens look like to be honest


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## steppenwolf (Oct 18, 2002)

Here's a nice one - Cape Town.

The city incorporates natural environments which are themselves not disconnected from the surrounding landscape.


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## steppenwolf (Oct 18, 2002)

Bucharest, Romania has a wonderful wild area. It's actually a man made lake that's been reclaimed by nature










https://www.theguardian.com/cities/...-protected-area-vacaresti-nature-park-romania


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## xzmattzx (Dec 24, 2004)

steppenwolf said:


> The particular natural environment Phoenix could incorporate is hot desert with its associated ecosystem. What would be great and more sustainable is if people's gardens incorporated local plants rather than unsustainably forcing grass to grow. i don't know what Phoenixian gardens look like to be honest


Phoenix isn't all grassy lawns in the desert. That is probably more of a problem in places like Las Vegas, which gets even less rain than Phoenix, and Los Angeles, which generally has worse environmental practices at the personal level.

Grass grows a little bit easier in Phoenix than you think, because the Sonoran Desert is a little rainier and a little greener than other deserts in the US, like the Mojave and Great Basin.

In Phoenix, housing tracts are somewhat small in many areas. It isn't that much different than northern New Jersey, or Miami, or Chicago, etc. There are apartment complexes too. So there is a limit on what you can have in your backyard because your backyard is too small even for a 10-year-old. Most people just grow a couple plants and that's it.

Farther out from the central core, in places like northern Scottsdale, you get hilly terrain, with curvy roads and oddly-shaped tracts. Out there, a lot of the environment is left in its natural state. It's rocky soil, and saguaro roots cover a large area, and saguaros and other cactus plants look nice in that environment. People enjoy living in the desert. So a considerable amount of the metro looks a lot like the natural environment.

You may criticize the density of Phoenix, and it is surely less dense than most other cities in the US, much less the world, but remember that a denser urban environment means that the natural environment in that very spot has been wiped out even more. Times Square or Midtown Manhattan, for instance, is completely devoid of a natural environment, all the way down to blocking rainwater from entering the ground. A suburban model preserves a little more of the natural environment


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## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

^^ Suburban areas can be slightly less sealed off than dense urban areas. However, worst case suburbia can be still worse than best case dense urban areas. 

The bottom line is however, that dense urban areas need much less space, so the overall sealing of space is actually substantially less in total than in suburban dominated metropolitan areas.


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## citylover94 (Sep 24, 2015)

Boston has pretty good access to nature with several preserved natural areas just a little ways outside of the city the Blue Hills Reservation, Middlesex Fells Reservation, Rumney Marsh Reservation, Cutler Park Reservation, Harbor Islands National Recreation Area, Lynn Woods, Breakheart Reservation, Beaver Brook North Reservation, Storer Conservation area, and Cedar Hill Reservation which combined form a ring of preserved areas all between 5 and 10 miles from downtown Boston. The city of Boston also has a very large park system with 17% of the city's area being parkland.


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## oliver999 (Aug 4, 2006)

meet NanJing city, JiangSu Province,south china . 8.5million. human and nature merged very well.www.pic.xiaojianjian.net


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

^^ That looks like a temple complex way out of the city. Is that so? If so it's not really representative of a city as whole is it? Where is it in relation to the city?


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## oliver999 (Aug 4, 2006)

Svartmetall said:


> ^^ That looks like a temple complex way out of the city. Is that so? If so it's not really representative of a city as whole is it? Where is it in relation to the city?


just at the edge of city center, we even see this is a part of city center from ancient times,subways,bus,expressways were covered by trees ,we cant see. the whole city covered with huge trees and greenery.


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## Svartmetall (Aug 5, 2007)

So the whole city of Nanjing is lowrise and hidden by trees?


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## Slartibartfas (Aug 15, 2006)

No. Those pictures focus on the large central parks/recreational areas. Nanjing has a few pretty large ones though. I had a look at google maps again and there you can see it pretty nicely. If I remember correctly some of the universities have very green campus areas right next to those vast green reserves. 

There are dense areas in the centre but while above pictures may be misleading a bit the city does seem to be surprisingly green, even in the built up central areas. I guess there are worse cities to be in China than Nanjing if you like your greenery. 

I have the impression however that not much is left of old Nanjing. That is not the topic of that thread however and hardly unique to this city in China.


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## poshbakerloo (Jan 16, 2007)

*Sheffield (England)*

A city set in the hills and you are never far from the countryside...


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## oliver999 (Aug 4, 2006)

Slartibartfas said:


> No. Those pictures focus on the large central parks/recreational areas. Nanjing has a few pretty large ones though. I had a look at google maps again and there you can see it pretty nicely. If I remember correctly some of the universities have very green campus areas right next to those vast green reserves.
> 
> There are dense areas in the centre but while above pictures may be misleading a bit the city does seem to be surprisingly green, even in the built up central areas. I guess there are worse cities to be in China than Nanjing if you like your greenery.
> 
> I have the impression however that not much is left of old Nanjing. That is not the topic of that thread however and hardly unique to this city in China.


I walked in Nan Jing city, and deeply amazed by his greenery, i never seen such other super green city in china, probably except Hang Zhou city.


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## castermaild55 (Sep 8, 2005)

Meiji Jingu Forest: a 100-year Botanic experiment in Tokyo







machida city, tokyo


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## isaidso (Mar 21, 2007)

Toronto has quite an extensive tree canopy. Here's a photo of it by Google Street View.









Courtesy of CBC

Most of the city looks like this from the air. The downtown core isn't as green but even there you'll find tree lined side streets. (~20 year old photo)









Courtesy of CBC

Throughout the city exists a large network of ravines and valleys. This is the Don Valley.

Hot by FollowFiend, on Flickr


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## Galro (Aug 9, 2010)

I realize that it becomes a little bit cringy when everyone just post "their" city, but I do genuinely believe that Oslo (capital of Norway) belongs in this thread and I also believe that it is not very likely that anyone besides me would post it, so here it goes ...


*Islands*
To start with, Oslo is located at the end of the Oslofjord inlet, which is technically not a fjord despite its name suggesting otherwise. The Oslofjord is characterized by its numerous islands which is said to number many thousands along its length.









The large islands closest to the city are served by regular ferry services from Oslo downtown throughout the summer half of the year. They are popular recreation areas for Oslos population and the city also arrange summer camps at them for school children. Some of the islands have beaches, some are built up with cottages, some are nature reserves and a couple of the innermost islands have even become suburbs. Here is Ulvøya, one of suburb islands.










*Forests*
The city itself is surrounding by hills that are the location of vast forest areas that are many times as big as the Oslos built up urban area. Everything seen here is inside the municipality of Oslo.







'

These vast areas are protected by law and any construction work inside what is defined as the Oslo forests are strictly prohibited. The legal boundaries of the forests are marked in black on this map. The Oslo urban area is marked in gray.









Oslo have experienced rapid growth in recent decades. It have been decided that all of this growth should be handled inside the already built up zone of urban area through densification and urbanization.This is in part due to aforementioned protection of the surrounding forest, but also due to a political desire to change the modal share of the city and encourage the increased use of public transportation, walking and bicycling. This have resulted in that the dense, inner-city developments in increasingly degree are starting to pot up along the boundaries of our nature reserves, offering both a nature based lifestyle and a rather pleasing contrast (in my opinion) between urbanity and nature. An example of this is the Frysja development which recently started construction - the green areas located in the upper part of the frame are all part of the Oslo forest.










*Rivers*
Oslo municipality is also home to eight large rivers that flow into the Oslofjord, Some of these have been covered as the city have grown, but there is an attempt to reverse this whenever an area in their vicinity gets developed. This is a map over the rivers of Oslo. Red represent that this piece of the river have been covered.









The most powerful of Oslos river is Akerselva. It runs 8.2 kms through the city and divides the inner city in two. The power of the river gave rise to a number of industries during the Norwegian portion of the industrial revolution and the cultural landscape surrounding the river is still dominated by old industrial buildings.The river remains largely uncultivated and features waterfalls and a green canopy along its shores.










*Parks*
There are 512 public parks (or what the city defines as "green areas") that are maintained by the city. In addition to these there are a unspecified number of parks that are maintained by local city districts. Here is a picture of part of Oslos inner city showing some of its many public green areas.










*Trees*
Many of Oslos inner city street are laden with trees. There are an estimated 15 000 trees on public ground in Oslos inner city (this number also includes trees in parks).









In addition to that there are a untold number of a trees on private property, like here.










*Modern developments*
As touched upon, Oslo is a rapidly growing city. This naturally results in a number of a city developments. Oslo is also an old industrial city with a number of properties that have been left vacant as old industries have moved abroad. This is especially visible along the waterfront which was previously dominated by wharf and harbour activities. Although it have proved to be extremely controversial, the city have tried to re-develop these sites in an effort to better connect the city with the natural setting of the Oslofjord it is located in and "give the fjord back to the people" (as the slogan was). The first building brick in these effort was the Tjuvholmen development which was completed around five years ago.


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## gyn-sp (Oct 6, 2011)

Maringá, Brazil


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

Toronto has a nice mix of urban and nature. 





ainvan said:


> Audley


Toronto has over 1500 city parks covering 8000 hectares, which is an astonishing 13% of
of the city's land area.


In the 1940's Malcolm McDonald looked out at the city from Casa Loma and said: "A million people living in a forest", and the view is still very green to this day:









https://www.reddit.com/r/toronto/comments/1lw18y/toronto_skyline_from_casa_loma_tower/


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## laxor (Feb 17, 2006)

Sydney. A beautiful natural setting, surrounded by national parks. Say no more.


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## floor23 (Apr 13, 2015)

Lets not forget about Honolulu 

[url=https://flic.kr/p/21675mA]Ala Moana Beach by Mal Booth, on Flickr[/URL]

Picture from the Wa'ahila Ridge Trail by Dobbs77, on Flickr

Tantalus Drive by Al Case, on Flickr

[url=https://flic.kr/p/XAg9Lo]Temple - Hawaii by kondypl, on Flickr[/URL]

IMG_8196 by Pat Evans, on Flickr

Oahu - Hanauma Bay by jennifer, on Flickr

Ko Olina Lagoon #4 Panorama by Michael Kane, on Flickr


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## eduardomdavid (Jul 1, 2017)

*Rio- The king of Urban Nature Balance*

We can't have this thread without Rio de Janeiro, what is most likely the most beautiful example of a city that merges with the nature that surrounds it.:colgate:









-View of the Botafogo Neighborhood (Bellow), Sugarloaf (middle), Christ the Redeemer (Foreground) and the City of Niterói (Background).









-Same View but further behind, now showing the Corcovado too
.








-Opposite View, this time taking from the Sugarloaf cable car and displaying the Christ the Redeemer Statue on the background (near the TV antenas on the middle).









-Ground View from the bike path at Botafogo featuring the Sugarloaf on the background.









-View of the Sugarloaf from a more distant neighborhood.









-The affluent neighborhood of Leblon.









-Leblon again, but from the other side and in the 1970's









-Two Brothers Hill on the background, picture taken from a residential area.









-Rio State Imigrantes Highway being built trought Serra do Mar (The Sea Ridge)

And now for a bit where nature "takes back control"









-The abandoned Rio Gavea Hotel being consumed by the jungle









-A ground view of that same building

Thank you :rofl:


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## GeneratorNL (Jun 16, 2007)

^^



eduardomdavid said:


> The abandoned Rio Gavea Hotel being consumed by the jungle


That abandoned hotel looks fascinating. What's the story behind it? I tried to Google it, but I could not find any info in English.


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## gandhi.rushabh1992 (Dec 10, 2010)

It is much more easy to have trees in a sprawling and planned city as compared to a compact and organic city. There is just so much more space to plant trees. IMO the real challenge for urban designers and landscape architects is to integrate green spaces in dense urban core areas. It is much more exciting and stimulating compared to mundane tree lined avenues in sprawling cities.


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