landscape, and green open space.
and share it with the industry, providing developers with better information to base their decision-making on.
mandatory and enhance their nature-based requirements.
consultants to use to incorporate more living landscape in the design of their projects.
projects and demonstrate commercial returns from nature-based investment.
Nature Based Cities to represent and advance its mission and purpose.
Nature Based Cities accreditation.
Design Guidelines & Scorecard.
The Nature Based Cities guidelines build upon leading academic research and strategic industry recommendations to provide a series of practical design principles that property developers, owners and their design teams can implement at project commencement and integrate into the built form outcome.
The scorecard comprises a set of achievable landscape based design goals, which can be adopted as a design brief to guide architects and landscape architects. The scorecard sets the two following levels of achievement: 'distinguished' or 'exemplary'.
Once the schematic design is complete and submitted for approval, the scorecard is formalised based on actual outcomes. Submitting it with supporting documents secures the Nature Based Cities rating.
Nature Based Cities Design Guidelines and Scorecard Launching in October 2024.
Founder & Executive Chairman, Hamton Property Group
Paul is the first Australian to have climbed the Seven Summits (the highest peak on every continent on Earth, including Everest) and complete the Polar Hat-Trick (North Pole, Greenland Crossing and South Pole), including setting a new route from the coast of Antarctica to the South Pole. Other expeditions have included 1,000km through unexplored Peruvian Amazon jungle with Matses tribe support and a 400km crossing of the Sinai with Bedouin tribe support.
Paul received an Order of Australia Medal in the 2019 Queen’s Birthday Honours for service to exploration and to business.
"With humanity predominantly living in cities, how then do we connect communities back to the significance of our natural world? Nature Based Cities believes that by putting nature back at the very heart of communities, we create the opportunity to re-connect with nature at an emotional and spiritual level. In this regard, we have much to learn from ancient and Indigenous wisdom, where, for most of our history humanity and the natural world were seen as intertwined and nature was revered.
How do we make that shift from a mindset where nature is perceived as a resource to a new way of thinking and feeling where nature is instead a daily marvel with which we have a profound connection? How do we recover our bond with the natural world? Nature Based Cities uses science, intellectual research and rational advocacy to drive better nature-based decision making in the hope that the built form outcomes will result in an emotional and spiritual response in our cities that helps shifts humanity’s world view back to one that realises a more sustainable future for all life forms on this planet."
Nature Based Cities Advisory Council
Janis is a landscape architect with over 25 years’ experience. She has contributed to numerous award-winning projects of various scales and types but is best known for her work in creating urban infill neighbourhoods. She believes that landscape architects play an important role in shaping the future of our cities and enhancing wellbeing, providing a sense of community, and mitigating climate change and biodiversity loss. At Tract she is a leader in climate and biodiversity positive design, advocating for nature based outcomes in all projects.
“The built environment sector plays a key role in driving urbanisation and is a significant contributor to climate change and biodiversity decline. With the need to provide more housing in our major cities and urban centres, we must strive to do this in a way that not only minimises our negative impacts but provides positive outcomes for both human communities and urban ecology. How can we build new urban communities that fulfill our needs as humans, whilst providing benefits to nature through enhanced biodiversity? As a designer I have a responsibility to actively address these challenges in my work and provide industry leadership through advocacy and the delivery of exemplar projects. Nature Based Cities aligns perfectly with my professional commitment to achieve nature based project outcomes and encourage developers and other designers to do the same.”
Nature Based Cities Advisory Council
Bec is the founder of To Good Use and an expert in placemaking with a passion for optimising assets and property portfolios. With a wealth of experience as a director and entrepreneur, Bec was the Founder of Australia’s second ever B Corporation, proof of her ongoing committed to pursuing purpose and profit through all her work. She is best known for helping clients address key challenges through the delivery of people- first, place-centric, impact- driven, and activation-based strategies and solutions. Passionate about supporting startups, small businesses, and non-profits, Bec offers strategic advice, insights and investment, helping to drive their success.
“People call me a “place maker”, a role I am proud to own on many projects supporting many clients, including Paul and the team at Hamton.
But my answer to the question “what is your legacy” surprises people. Whilst I invests a considerable amount of my time and energy helping clients create great places that people love, that are activated and successful, I have invested a considerable amount of my revenue supporting causes and projects for nature. Over 12% of my revenue in fact, which equated to over $150,000 over the years since To Good Use was established.
Why? Because without nature, I realised we will have no great places. We will have no spaces to “activate”. That might sound grim, but the truth can be a bit like that at the moment. That’s why I’m here, and proud to be supporting Paul and the rest of the team at Nature Based Cities.”
Nature Based Cities Advisory Council
As a keen sailor who has experienced the extremes of weather from the equator to Cape Horn, Jan has always felt a deep connection to nature and the need to live sustainably within its constraints. Concerned about emerging environmental degradation, he founded ESD consultancy, Ark Resources 25 years ago at a time when the risks of climate change were not widely understood, and regulations were non-existent…how things have changed!
"Throughout my 25 years’ of working collaboratively with all stakeholders in the property sector, I’ve always favoured a pragmatic approach to sustainable design which encourages design initiatives which meet prevailing environmental expectations but also improve amenity. Whilst we are making steady progress in relation to energy and carbon emissions from buildings and the range of tools available for benchmarking projects is impressive, there has been much less emphasis on encouraging biodiversity and tackling the urban heat island effect. These are now becoming prominent issues in our cities on both precinct and local scales and need to be tackled urgently.
The Nature Based Cities initiative responds to a gap in the suite of tools currently used be the property development sector which in my opinion, don’t provide sufficient incentive, or recognition of the integration of landscaping and greenery. The Nature Based Cities Scorecard is a very practical tool which is designed to encourage truly green buildings and spaces and give recognition to projects that provide better amenity for residents and contribute to urban biodiversity."
Research Report
Sustainability & Liveability
Image by © Robyn Oliver
Please get in touch via email at contact@naturebasedcities.org.au