Cities represent just two percent of the Earth’s surface, but are responsible for 70% of carbon emissions. With the United Nations predicting two-thirds of humans will reside in cities by 2050, experts say “rewilding” will enhance the air that we breathe, boost our mental health and biodiversity, and limit the impacts of climate change. But why is rewilding so essential, and how can we contribute to that effort?
The benefits
Mo Helmi, a landscape artist and the founder of Tricoastal Scapes design studio, is a British designer based between London and Los Angeles. He told Travel Tomorrow, “Rewilding is essential because it restores balance, not just ecologically, but emotionally and culturally as well.”
Research shows that rewilding cities helps mitigate global warming and extreme weather. Green zones are cool, providing valuable pockets of relief from glaring heat during the increasingly dangerous heatwaves the planet is experiencing. More than that, planting and porous surfaces help to capture rainwater, preventing flooding. Trees also sequester carbon, preventing further warming. Greenery offers habitats to vital pollinators that keep our crops growing, as well as providing humans with areas for relaxation and play in the fresh air.
From studies showing rewilded zones support our memories, eyesight, and immune systems, to those that say spending time among greenery, or merely looking at it, can lower blood pressure, loneliness, and stress, numerous scientific papers illustrate the benefits of rewilding practices. So, in an increasingly managed urban environment, what can individuals do to increase rewilded spaces?
Helmi notes that “Even in highly managed cities, individuals have far more agency than they realise,” and points out that “rewilding doesn’t have to start at scale to be meaningful.” He argues, “the first shift is mental. Rewilding isn’t about abandoning control.” Rather, “it’s about reframing what ‘care’ looks like. Allowing a little mess, a little seasonality, a little unpredictability back into our spaces is often the most radical act.”
Accommodating wildlife at home
People without a garden can fill window boxes with plants and put bird feeders on ledges, or even offer a rooftop beehive. Creating structures and spaces that attract and offer homes to wildlife is a great way to sustain the over 480 butterfly species, over 2,000 bee species, and thousands of other insects in Europe alone.
Insect hotels can be made from bamboo or wood, as can bird boxes, while dens for frogs, toads, and newts can be as simple to create as digging a hole the size of a wellie boot in a shady, secluded spot, near a pond or not. A damp ditch for diversity is even simpler—at 30cm deep, it will not only provide natural drainage but give hedgehogs and reptiles their own secluded lane, and offer song thrushes somewhere to hunt.
Leaving hedges in place rather than replacing them with fencing also helps feed and house hedgehogs, especially if fallen leaves are left in place. Hedges also prevent erosion and provide natural windbreaks. Not mowing parts of lawns and instead turning them into wildflower and long grass meadows is a dream for butterflies and other pollinators (as well as being highly Instagrammable).
Rewilding on a larger scale
Rewilding enthusiasts can take things a step further by volunteering and campaigning. Ask park managers to leave wild areas within public gardens, and reduce the use of pesticides. Dublin, Ireland, is one of the leaders in this field, with 80% of the “Dirty Old Town’s” green spaces now classed as pollinator-friendly. Brussels, Belgium, once a darling of the motor lobby, now has a green walking and cycling perimeter, passing through parks where fallen trees are left in place as pollinator and mushroom lodgings.
In some places around the world, businesses and even guerrilla gardeners adopt former railways (New York), roundabouts, roadsides, and abandoned lots like supermarkets or war bunkers, turning them into pretty, pollinator-friendly, and smile-inducing green lungs or allotments.
And in areas where so-called “keystone species” like voles or beavers have been brought back, rivers and lakes have come back to life, as ecosystems recover and sustain themselves again. As Helmi puts it: “Truly rewilded cities by 2030 look like this: environments that are beautiful, scientifically informed, low-impact, and future-proof. Spaces that don’t just look good today, but quietly do good every day after.”
Biophilic design
Of course, the philosophy can go further. If commissioning a building or commenting on planning permission, consider how biophilic elements can improve the space. Biophilic design incorporates sunlight, water, and natural and organic materials to reconnect us with nature. Populous Singapore is now considered a “biophilic city” thanks to green walls and roofs driven by official incentive schemes.
Helmi describes Singapore as “the perfect example of resilient landscapes and biophilic spaces. It signals leadership, responsibility, and depth of thinking. They say: I understand the future, and I’m already living in it.”
Rewilding and biophilic features are not just “nice to have” then but, as experts point out, “assets that pay back socially, environmentally, and economically over time.” The approach reduces the urban “heat island” effect (where heat is trapped by concrete). Diminishing heat through cool greenery reduces the cost of air conditioning and artificial systems, and brings fossil fuel consumption down. Rewilding addresses pollution too, allowing humans to live longer, healthier lives—and stay economically active.
What’s more, rewilding initiatives boost the travel and tourism sector, making urban destinations more attractive places to visit for more of the calendar year, as seen in places like Chicago, where the once-infested river has been transformed into an oasis. Helmi highlights that “well-designed, resilient landscapes consistently increase dwell time, tenant satisfaction, and desirability, which directly affects rental premiums, occupancy rates, and long-term asset performance. When people choose to stay longer, return more often, or pay more to be there, that’s not ideology; that’s revenue.”
