World Habitat Day 2024: London Metropolitan University leads the way in urban rewilding | London Daily News

To mark World Habitat Day 2024 on Monday the 7th October, London Metropolitan University is proud to showcase its innovative Rewild My Street project, a pioneering initiative designed to transform London’s urban spaces and enhance biodiversity through transformative street design.

Led by London Met Lab Challenge Champion Siân Moxon, Rewild My Street provides design-led guidance for London residents wishing to adapt their homes, gardens and streets to encourage a more inviting habitat for wildlife. The project seeks to reverse the trend of city streets going grey and enables practice-based action research, exploring urban rewilding to address biodiversity and greenspace decline, while promoting sustainable redevelopment of cities.

The Rewild My Street project offers a wealth of resources, including detailed guides and visualisations, to help residents transform their neighbourhoods into havens for local flora and fauna.

Siân, Associate Professor of Sustainable Architecture at the university explains:

“Rewild My Street is about empowering urban residents to make a real difference in their local environments. By providing accessible, design-led guidance, we’re showing people how small changes to their homes and gardens can collectively create a significant positive impact on urban biodiversity.”

“Our aim is to facilitate a network of wildlife-friendly streets across London, improving the quality of life for both residents and local wildlife.”

Siân is committed to raising awareness through campaign talks at events such as the London Day of Nature, allowing for further engagement within local communities and spreading awareness about the importance of urban rewilding.

Building on the success of Rewild My Street, the university launched its innovative Wild Ways study in 2020. Combining design research with behaviour-change methodologies to influence urban-rewilding behaviours in London’s private gardens, this interdisciplinary study, co-led by Siân and fellow Challenge Champion Dr Justin Webb, was granted over £58,000 by the Kusuma Trust in 2022, supporting London Met Lab’s ‘Environment Challenge’.

Sophie Cloutterbuck, Director of London Engagement and the London Met Lab at London Metropolitan University commented,

“The Wild Ways study allows us to address the issue of declining vegetation and biodiversity in urban gardens.”

“The research team are developing strategies that can create significant change to wildlife habitats, representing a significant step forward in our understanding of how to effectively promote urban rewilding.”

As we celebrate World Habitat Day, we reflect on the university’s efforts at the forefront of tackling pressing environmental challenges, by championing initiatives like Rewild My Street, London Metropolitan University reaffirms its commitment to creating a sustainable and biodiverse city.

For more information about the Rewild My Street project, the Wild Ways study, or the London Met Labs, please visit: https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/about/london-met-lab/environment/ , www.rewildmystreet.org ,   https://www.londonmet.ac.uk/research/centres-groups-and-units/the-centre-for-urban-and-built-ecologies/research-projects-and-funding/wildways/

About London Metropolitan University

London Metropolitan University has been providing education to people from all backgrounds since 1848, with the creation of the Metropolitan Evening Classes for Working Men. Five Schools teach cutting-edge, relevant courses across the arts, sciences, business, law and humanities. Accelerator – London Met’s specialist business incubator – helps graduates get their enterprises up and running. Over the past 170 years, our north London campus has developed into a modern, progressive centre with a strong reputation for widening access into education.