Every week, we bring you the latest news in placemaking, landscape architecture, the nature-mental health link, and much more. Check back each week for new roundups and items.
Summoning Nature for Healing
The Crown Sky Garden, on the 11th floor of the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, is a 5,000-square-foot area for play and contemplation and the second healing garden completed last year by Mikyoung Kim. “When we look for a place to call home and we nurture a garden we call our own, we are looking for a place that’s restorative, that’s regenerative and that has a kind of humanity.â€
Friday Reflection: What Is Your Sacred Space?
Sacred spaces are the safe, nourishing places in our lives that inspire us to journey inward, get in touch with our essence, and experience the divine. The idea of what constitutes a sacred space is limitless. What’s your sacred space?
Palafox: Creating Green Urbanism
Green urbanism, the idea of creating a community that is beneficial to both its human population and the environment, is a school of thought that’s rising in popularity in tandem with the idea that the future lies in sustainable development. According to Dr. Timothy Beatley, in his book “Green Urbanism: Learning from the European Cities,†green urbanism is an attempt to shape more sustainable places, communities and lifestyles and consume 75 percent of the world’s resources.
The City is Not the Enemy of Nature
For the better part of the last 150 years, ecologists labored to conduct their research in areas untrammeled by humanity. It was believed that only in those pristine areas could the interactions between organisms and environments be viewed without the corrupting influence of human activity. Things, however, have changed and they have changed forever. Modern ecologists realize that there isn’t a place on earth untouched by human activity. Moreover, a growing number of ecologists are now conducting their research right in the belly of human activity: cities.
