Developing green building envelopes and façades are methods of encouraging biodiversity net gain in cities

A resilient environment is one where biodiversity thrives. The commitment to what it is now called ‘biodiversity net gain’ means encouraging nature to flourish whenever we develop the human environment. In the city, this means greening streets, enhancing and connecting green spaces and naturalising urban rivers to improve resilience to climate hazards.

We are beginning to see biodiversity net gain becoming a planning requirement in certain countries and jurisdictions, a very positive sign and an indication that this is a priority that developers and landowners need to anticipate and understand. In the UK, the government has mandated that a 10% biodiversity net gain must be produced by any new development project. This immediately requires that developers understand the biodiversity implications of their proposal and can meet the regulation within their design. Similar targets are in place across Europe and North America.

Arup helps clients to map, baseline and monitor biodiversity in early stage land use planning. There is always a way to balance nature positive outcomes with commercial and policy goals, regulation simply makes it into a legal requirement.

Learn more about our approach to nature-based solutions.

Developing urban agriculture is another way to promote biodiversity in towns and cities