“Urban nature isn’t just a backdrop; it’s a daily lifeline for biodiversity, human health, and climate resilience.” – Host, Jackie De Burca

Welcome to the third episode in our special series featuring Nadina Galle, ecological engineer, 2024 National Geographic Explorer, and author of The Nature of Our Cities: Harnessing the Power of the Natural World to Survive a Changing Planet.

Host Jackie De Burca dives into the tools, technologies, and innovations reshaping urban nature management, inspired by Nadina’s book.

In this episode, Nadina tackles:

• Plant Blindness: What it is, why it’s a societal trend, and how it impacts our connection to nature.
• Insect Biodiversity Monitoring: Discover the groundbreaking Diopsis camera, designed to measure flying insect populations and assess biodiversity interventions.
• Urban Evolution: Mind-blowing examples of species adapting to city life, from lighter-colored snails to higher-pitched crows and city-savvy squirrels.
• Citizen Science at Scale: Learn about global movements like the City Nature Challenge and innovative apps like EarthSnap and Merlin, which empower everyday people to connect with and document urban biodiversity.

In this engaging second installment with Nadina Galle, on Constructive Voices, host Jackie De Burca delves into the fascinating world of urban nature and environmental technology with Nadina, an ecological engineer and National Geographic explorer, widely recognised for her contributions to BBC Earth and National Geographic, and most recently, for her acclaimed book The Nature of Our Cities. This episode uncovers powerful insights into reimagining our urban spaces to foster harmony between human development and the natural world.

Together, Jackie and Nadina explore the concept of balance, inspired by Traditional Chinese Medicine’s five elements, and its applications to urban ecology. They discuss the critical role of trees in cities, diving into the revolutionary technology of tree inventories, LIDAR mapping, and how tools like Tree Tracker are shaping modern urban forestry.

“We have gone too far towards the asphalt, the concrete, the built environment and we’ve strayed too far away from the natural environment.” – Dr. Nadina Galle

From the groundbreaking “Room for the River” initiative in the Netherlands to the visionary water management efforts of Chicago’s green infrastructure projects, this episode brings a global perspective on sustainable urban solutions.

Nadina and Jackie also tackle critical climate challenges, including wildfire prevention and innovations like BurnBot and Watch Duty, alongside nature-inspired strategies to prevent urban flooding.

Main feature photo credit: Roger Cremers for National Geographic

In this thought-provoking episode of Constructive Voices, host Jackie De Burca sits down with the remarkable Dr. Nadina Galle, a Dutch-Canadian ecological engineer, technologist, and the author of the new book The Nature of Our Cities: Harnessing the Power of the Natural World to Survive a Changing Planet. Dr. Galle brings her expertise to discuss the essential and evolving relationship between humanity, technology, and the environment.

“I argue that nature is the fifth pillar of health, alongside sleep, diet, exercise, and stress reduction.” – Dr. Nadina Galle

Jackie introduces the stormy setting of Spain, which perfectly segues into Dr. Galle’s groundbreaking work. Dr. Galle passionately shares her insights on the disconnect between people and nature in urban environments, describing how modern living has t...