Understanding our Urban Streams Through History, Geography, and Ecology
We often think of cities in opposition to nature, but cities have a rich natural history, including many freshwater ecosystems. The ecology of urban streams – what they look like and how they function – is shaped by human actions.
How people have designed cities and managed urban streams has changed through time as our ideas about nature and risk have shifted. Urban streams and rivers have been used as dumps for human waste and trash and have been buried, channelised, and armored to protect cities from flooding.
But urban streams also provide important sources of water, spiritual values, recreation, and an opportunity to connect with nature. In this Linnean Society lecture, Dr Rebecca Hale, Senior Scientist at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, will address the history of urban streams and rivers, and how people are imagining and developing new relationships with streams and rivers that reconnect urban residents with urban nature and each other.
Time: 12:30 BST
