Experimental Interactions with Nature in the City

Abstract

There has been an increasing demand for a peaceful and natural environment in urban areas, which has led to the growing trend of various green building rating schemes advocating urban greenery and human-nature interaction. In order to identify the significant elements associated with nature and effective methods of promoting human-nature interactions in a high-density urban city, two experimental public engagement projects were carried out to explore urban nature from the perspective of urban dwellers in Hong Kong. Based on the findings of the photo-elicitation survey, trees and sky were discovered to be the two most significant elements in representing naturalness in an urban context. Another four-month public engagement project was conducted, consisting of a green education hub, urban farming, and birdwatching tours, which were held in an undesignated space under a flyover. Throughout the duration of the project, human-nature interactions were demonstrated in three layers: design for humans, design for humans with nature and design for nature.