Nature Unheard: can cities make peace with nature?

Are cities destined to be grey, noisy and disconnected from the natural world? Or can nature help them to breathe, cool down and thrive?

In this final episode of the first season of Nature Unheard, our hosts Rachael Barza and Emma Bentley turn their attention to the places most of us call home: cities.  

From persistent pigeons at London tube stations to restored rivers in Moldova and mangrove forests in the Philippines, they ask how urban life and nature can finally get along. 

The episode features Ingrid Coetzee, who leads work on nature-based solutions and urban resilience at ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability. Drawing on examples from Cape Town and Hungary to Sweden to India, Ingrid explains how cities are restoring wetlands, redesigning neighbourhoods and even celebrating migratory geese to strengthen biodiversity and protect communities from floods, heat and pollution. 

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, YouTube. 

As this first season comes to a close, the message is clear: nature is not a backdrop to city life, it is part of the system. And when we plan with it instead of against it, cities become cooler, safer and far more liveable. 

The rehabilitation of the River Bîc in Chișinău was supported by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), one of the EBRD’s key donors, and is part of the EBRD Green Cities programme. 

This episode was produced by Olga Aristeidou and Cecilia Calatrava.