Recreating African biophilic urbanism: the roles of millennials, native trees, and innovation labs in Nigeria

ABSTRACT

Going by the current trends of urbanisation in Africa, it becomes necessary to seek for innovative ideas to improve ecology, human health, and well-being. This study explores the potentials of innovation labs as vehicles for collective ideation, team learning, and incubation of sustainable solutions. MR CITY Lab is a design-thinking initiative that experimented on restoring over 15 severely depleted native tree species into the neighbourhoods of Kano City, Nigeria. As a participatory and fun-like lab, the millennials, academics, and communities co-designed and hacked the protocols for the reintroduction of the native trees that some of the neighbourhoods of this crowded city are named after. Based on the breakthroughs recorded in the project, it is imperative that urban planners, policymakers, and other stakeholders embrace living labs as entry points for designing urban ecosystem restoration and back to nature campaigns in cities and towns. The operations of MR CITY Lab reveal that hope is not lost in recreating urban greenery and biophilic functions they provide. Importantly, innovative labs can guide urban areas to achieve some of the targets and indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),  the New Urban Agenda, and international climate targets such as the Paris Agreement.

KEYWORDS:

• Nature-based solution
• design thinking
• neighbourhoods
• urbanisation
• biodiversity

This article is related to:

Research for city practice

Acknowledgements

This study has benefited from the vast wealth of experiences of reviewers whose critical observations strengthened it and made it more meaningful to readers. The authors would like to most profoundly express their gratitude to the anonymous reviewers.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Aliyu Salisu Barau

Aliyu Salisu Barau is an Associate Professor and Head of Department at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. He is geographer and urban planner with diverse interest in climate change and cities, city and biodiversity, informal urbanization and innovative thinking. He is a chartered member of the Royal Town Planning Institute, UK. His is a commission member of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas and is a also a West Africa Hub Director of the Urban Climate Change Research Network.

Kamil Muhammad Kafi

Kamil Muhammad Kafi is a lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. He is an urban planner with bias on urban remote sensing and GIS. His areas of research interest include urban landscape design and disaster research in cities.

Abubakar Bawa Sodangi

Abubakar Bawa Sodangi is a lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. He is an urban planner and currently a PhD student at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria. He is interested in urban and rural biodiversity analysis using remote sensing and GIS. His areas of research interest include studio design, transport research and accessibility to built environment.

Suleiman Gambo Usman

Suleiman Gambo Usman is a lecturer at the Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Bayero University Kano, Nigeria. He is an urban planner and currently a PhD student at Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, Nigeria. He is interested in pastoral landscapes and conflicts over natural resources and urban business outlets.