Urban Rewilding

Cities have long been considered hostile environments for wildlife, yet a growing number of urban planners are now working to (1) this assumption. The concept of "urban rewilding" involves deliberately (2) natural processes back into densely populated areas — not by converting cities into parks, but by creating green corridors that (3) wildlife to move freely between habitats. In cities like Amsterdam and Berlin, wild meadows have been (4) along disused railways and waterways, providing vital nesting sites for birds and insects that had all but disappeared. (5) by such early successes, other European capitals are now introducing similar programmes at considerable (6). Critics, however, argue that urban rewilding is largely cosmetic unless it is (7) by a serious reduction in pesticide use. The data, nonetheless, seems to (8) their concerns: cities with comprehensive rewilding strategies have recorded a marked improvement in urban biodiversity within just a few years.