Cities, technology, and ecology

My thoughts on how technology can be applied to solve many of the challenges faced by today's urban ecosystem planners.

How satellites and AI ignite hope in Canada's battle against wildfires
March 27, 2024

My seventh column for Landscape Trades explores how satellite technology can prevent devastating wildfires.

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NatureDose: a game-changer for well-being research
December 18, 2023

My sixth column for Landscape Trades examines how a nature prescription app can shape healthier landscape designs.

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The green factor
September 6, 2023

My fifth column for Landscape Trades explores how we can map our proximity to and contact with nature — and why it matters.

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Make soil great again
May 21, 2023

My fourth column for Landscape Trades introduces @bowiethebirch, a tweeting tree that raises awareness on urban forest soil.

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Natural climate solutions: linking urban forestry and climate action with Brett KenCairn of the City of Boulder
May 17, 2023

The S5E7 blog for the Internet of Nature Podcast offers an additional exploration of the episode's topics.

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Addressing the urban forestry labor shortage with Leslie Berckes of the Society of Municipal Arborists
May 10, 2023

The S5E6 blog for the Internet of Nature Podcast offers an additional exploration of the episode's topics.

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Private tree ordinance 101 with Alex Hancock of PlanIT Geo
April 26, 2023

The S5E4 blog for the Internet of Nature Podcast offers an additional exploration of the episode's topics.

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The treefluencers of tomorrow with Tobin Mitnick of @jewslovetrees
April 19, 2023

The S5E3 blog for the Internet of Nature Podcast offers an additional exploration of the episode's topics.

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The world's best urban forests with Dan Lambe of ADF
April 12, 2023

The S5E2 blog for the Internet of Nature Podcast offers an additional exploration of the episode's topics.

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The future of urban forestry with Ian Hanou of PlanIT Geo
April 5, 2023

The S5E1 blog for the Internet of Nature Podcast offers an additional exploration of the episode's topics.

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Meet the plant influencers — that are actually plants
March 15, 2023

My third column for Landscape Trades explores trees who can tweet.

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How can we stimulate the adoption of urban forestry?
January 13, 2023

A new report by Uforest to help policy- and decision-makers develop local Urban Forestry Action Plans.

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Smart new ways to protect wise old trees
December 11, 2022

My second column for Landscape Trades explores using LiDAR 3D mobile mapping to protect old trees in cities.

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Trees can talk: are we listening?
August 11, 2022

My first column for Landscape Trades — Canada's premier horticultural trade publication since 1979 — explores the role of soil sensors in growing our urban forests.

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How soil life sensors inform urban forestry study at Vineland
December 13, 2021

While on site visit, I got the opportunity to see my work with SoilMania in action at Canada’s Vineland Research and Innovation Centre.

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How diverse are our street trees?
April 13, 2021

We explored the diversity of species, genera and family in street tree inventories within — and across — eight cities internationally. We call it Diversitree.

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Talking Trees — Part 3: How can we listen to trees?
February 25, 2021

In my new series, Talking Trees, I’m translating findings from my PhD dissertation, called the "Internet of Nature", into seedling-sized blogs. In Part 3, we discuss how we might listen to what trees are trying to say.

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Talking Trees — Part 2: What are the trees trying to say?
February 18, 2021

In my new series, Talking Trees, I’m translating findings from my PhD dissertation, called the "Internet of Nature", into seedling-sized blogs. In Part 2, we theorise what the trees might be trying to say.

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Talking Trees — Part 1: Do city trees talk to each other?
February 11, 2021

In my new series, Talking Trees, I’m translating findings from my PhD dissertation, called the "Internet of Nature", into seedling-sized blogs. In Part 1, we examine if city trees talk to each other.

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National Geographic: the Internet of Nature
February 2, 2021

Ecological engineer Nadina Galle argues for a better balance between people and nature in cities. How? By applying modern technologies.

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The Internet of Nature starts in the soil
January 25, 2021

Digitizing nature. It sounds strange, but according to Nadina Galle, it offers a lot of benefits for both people and the green itself. “We think about nature in a traditional sense, but a city is a completely different ecosystem. People, animals and plants live together there intensively. That is not an original living environment and nature often loses out. I believe that a better balance can be found with new technologies.” How? Through data, a price tag and the soil.

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Using geospatial technology to help urban trees thrive
December 1, 2020

Green City Watch is working at the intersection of geospatial data and artificial intelligence in a bid to streamline and optimise the way cities care for their green spaces. RESET spoke to co-founder Nadina Galle about their work and to find out how the technologies they're using could change our relationship to nature in the long term.

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How technology can unlock urban environmental stewardship — if we pay the price
November 10, 2020

The coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching effects on all aspects of society, many of which won’t be felt for years to come. For those living in cities during the height of lockdowns around the world, urban nature began to take on roles it hadn’t before (much like many other facets of urban life).

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Partnering with Green City Watch to co-explore the application of an open-source tree-detecting algorithm
September 15, 2020

Editor’s Note: This piece was co-written by Nadina Galle (Green City Watch) and Jaclyn Youngblood (New Urban Mechanics), describing a grant-funded prototype from December 2019. After COVID-19 delays, both organizations are now co-publishing this piece, associated open datasets, and the open-source code library.

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Urban deforestation and what we can do about it
March 23, 2020

Whilst many think that deforestation happens only in the Amazonian jungle or deep into the heart of Borneo, our cities are facing tree loss at a massive and unprecedented rate.

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Five key challenges urban foresters face
February 13, 2020

The summer of 2019 can be summarized in one word: heatwaves. Historical records were broken globally, with countries like the Netherlands, Belgium, and the U.K. all experiencing their highest national temperature yet.

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Why municipalities struggle to keep their urban forests alive
January 24, 2020

Last month, I talked to Fergal Byrne at the Inspiring Social Entrepreneurs Podcast to discuss how technology is changing the way cities interact with urban nature. What follows is excerpts of that conversation detailing my obsession with taking nature online and how this obsession turned into a new start-up which equips municipalities in their fight for urban wilderness.

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Internet and nature go hand-in-hand
August 8, 2019

Green City Watch is an Amsterdam-based geoAI firm combining ‘smart cities’ and ecology to shape today’s urban environment in a surprising new way. They call it ‘renaturing urban development’. We interviewed Nadina Galle, co-founder of Green City Watch, about their goal to use modern technology for nature.

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What cities can learn from human bodies
July 16, 2019

Recently, I spoke on the Oslo Urban Arena stage to discuss the potential of urban metabolism and the evidence-based interventions we’re working on to accelerate circular cities. Here I describe why the concept is at the heart of Metabolic’s work and how it ultimately inspired our company’s name.

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TEDx talk: Cities and the #InternetofNature
March 20, 2019

In her talk, Nadina introduces us to the “Internet of Nature”, a novel paradigm for sustainable cities which weaves biology with the modern world of technology, in a surprising new way.

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Utilizing geospatial AI to improve Indonesia’s urban green space
July 16, 2018

Parks and other urban green spaces used to have two simple functions: to please the eye and to provide a place to relax. However, changing lifestyles, population growth, overcrowding and climate change call for a radically new approach to urban green space management. Today, parks and lakes are an important extension of urban life.

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Monitoring the quality of urban green space, from space
May 7, 2018

The ability to experience nature is paramount to human well-being. Cities are on a mission to green their urban landscapes, especially with over half of the world’s population living in cities.

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Nature-based solutions: the new (green) kid on the block
November 30, 2017

If we let it, nature can be a powerful ally in tackling climate change. When applied to cities, an emerging concept called “nature-based solutions” (NbS) can boost resilience and help adapt to and mitigate the effects of a changing climate.

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Islands as living labs for circular economics
July 19, 2017

Islands have fascinated scientists for centuries as key hotspots of change. Now, economists are taking a keen interest in their role in accelerating the circular economy. This summer, Metabolic will collect data, visualise, map, and analyse all resource flows on the Dutch Wadden Island of Vlieland.

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