Upton Meadows, Northampton: Twenty years later

For millennia, humans have planned their settlements in harmony with nature, respecting local contours, watercourses and climactic conditions. In the last century human settlements have effectively ‘designed out’ nature putting water into pipes and restricting trees to isolated squares and parks. This has not only removed urban populations from the natural world but created a lack of resilience in terms of overheating and flooding. As recently as 15 years ago there was very little research into the benefits of nature on human health and wellbeing but recently there has been an overwhelming amount of research confirming what we intuitively feel, which is that access to water, plants, trees and animals is good for our physical and mental health.

This year’s report Planning with Nature was launched in Newquay at the annual Building a Legacy conference with the keynote lecture and essay by Tony Juniper, Chair of Natural England and co-author of His Majesty King Charles’s book Harmony. Tony said, “Where we all live is one of the most important things to determine people’s wellbeing. This is not only about the individual dwellings which people inhabit, but also the health of the residential environments that so fundamentally shape how we feel. It is vital to draw attention to the positive synergies between nature and built developments.”