Many voices. Greener cities. Better cities.

TNOC’s Mission

We believe the route to cities and communities that are better for nature and all people is through transdisciplinary dialogue and collaboration. We combine art, science, and practice in innovative and publicly available engagements for knowledge-driven, imaginative, and just green city making.

ESSAYS | POINT OF VIEW

ROUNDTABLES

EVENTS

A child drawing on a large piece of canvas smattered with drawings and colorful squiggles
How Much Water is There? Voices and Traces of Water as Perceived by Children and Young People in Bogotá
Diana Wiesner,  Bogota

Lee esto en español. Over the course of a year, we embarked on an emotional and conceptual journey of exploration and reflection on water with two groups of young people and children living on the border between urban and rural areas in the hills of Bogotá. This experience led us toward a comprehensive understanding of their relationship with water, beyond...

A billboard in pink script reading "Imagine a city without billboards" with a person in activewear running by it
1.5°C Lifestyles and the City
Raz Godelnik,  Princeton
Peleg Kremer,  Princeton

The imperative to mitigate global warming to within 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels necessitates substantial systemic changes in the Global North. While much attention has been directed towards clean energy transition and infrastructure investments, addressing unsustainable consumption habits has not received the priority it deserves. The growing challenges in meeting the Paris Agreement objectives underscore the critical need for...

An aerial view of an oxbow river with many natural twists and turns
The goal is to mainstream Nature-based Solutions, by widening public acceptance and making it the standard and default practice of urban design. What will it take to get there?
James Bonner,  Glasgow |  Harriet Bulkeley,  Durham |  Tam Dean Burn,  Glasgow |  Stuart Connop,  London |  Bryce Corlett,  Norfolk |  Laura Costadone,  Norfolk |  Olukayode Daramola,  Surrey |  McKenna Davis,  Berlin |  Gillian Dick,  Glasgow |  Loan Diep,  New York City |  Niki Frantzeskaki,  Utrecht |  Zbigniew Grabowski,  Hartford |  Perrine Hamel,  Singapore |  Mariem EL Harrak,  Paris |  Cecilia Herzog,  Rio de Janeiro |  Nadja Kabisch,  Hannover |  Doris Knoblauch,  Berlin |  Frédéric Lemaître,  Paris |  Paola Lepori,  Brussels |  Patrick M. Lydon,  Daejeon |  David Maddox,  New York |  Israa Mahmoud,  Milan |  Timon McPhearson,  New York |  Seema Mundoli,  Bangalore |  Harini Nagendra,  Bangalore |  Caroline Nash,  London |  Neville Owen,  Melbourne |  Mitchell Pavao-Zuckerman,  College Park |  Eleanor Ratcliffe,  Surrey |  Kassia Rudd,  Freiburg |  Valentine Seymour,  Surrey |  David Simon,  London |  Takemi Sugiyama,  Melbourne |  Morro Touray,  Surrey |  Ibrahim Wallee,  Accra | 

THE NATURE OF CITIES FESTIVAL 2024

The Distance Between
Dreams and Reality
is Action

In 2024 we focus on translating knowledge to results. Join us.

EXHIBITS

PROJECTS

Reverberations

Reverberations An exhibition exploring the elements through art, science, and sound, Reverberations features more than 30 contributors from various disciplines in a multimedia experience. Produced by the USDA Forest Service and The Nature of Cities. This is an immersive sound-based exhibition. Headphones are recommended Enable Audio “Can you imagine listening to all that is sounding as if your body were...

Fiction

We asked people to imagine future cities, in the form of a flash or very short fiction. The series now includes two volumes: the latest is titled CITY IN A WILD GARDEN, a collection of 49 stories from 21 countries.

Poetry

With SPROUT, we are curating a space for trans- and multi-disciplinary collaborations between poets, researchers, and citizens with a focus on geographical diversity, polyvocality, and translation. We are a creative project of The Nature of Cities, specifically interested in the character of green cities from many ways of knowing.

The Just City Essays: 26 Visions for Urban Equity, Inclusion, and Opportunity

Today’s headlines—from Ferguson to Baltimore, Paris to Johannesburg—resound with the need for a frank conversation about the structures and processes that affect the quality of life and livelihoods of urban residents. Issues of equity, inclusion, race, participation, access and ownership remain unresolved in many communities around the world,  even as we begin to address the challenges of affordability, climate change adaptation and resilience.