This video, hosted by David Attenborough, shows how cities can boost biodiversity by incorporating sustainable designs that accommodate more plants, trees, and green spaces.
Students will see how Milan's Bosco Verticale and Singapore's Gardens by the Bay use innovative architectural design to integrate plants and wildlife into urban spaces.
Teaching Tips
Positives
Beautiful cinematography, cute animals, and interesting architecture will keep students engaged.
The video description provides a number of links to magazine articles about the structures in the videos.
Additional Prerequisites
Teachers may want to show students where Singapore and Milan are located on a map before watching the video.
Differentiation
Younger students could make a list of all the animals they observe in the video that benefit from the urban green spaces shown in the video.
Engineering, art, or design classes could design their own structures to house plants and trees in urban spaces. Students should consider irrigation needs (if applicable), structural elements, sunlight needs, etc.
Other resources on this topic include this interactive resource on the benefits of urban tree planting, this video on the importance of trees for humans, and this animated video about the benefits of trees in cities.
Scientist Notes
This resource is a 4-minute video and accompanying website that explores ways in which cities can be developed and built to incorporate trees, plants, and green spaces. Increasing habitats for living organisms in cities allows humans and wildlife to coexist in an urban setting. A few examples of engineering solutions are presented. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
MS-ESS3-3 Apply scientific principles to design a method for monitoring and minimizing a human impact on the environment.
ETS1: Engineering Design
3-5-ETS1-1 Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials, time, or cost.
LS2: Ecosystems: Interactions, Energy, and Dynamics
MS-LS2-5 Evaluate competing design solutions for maintaining biodiversity and ecosystem services.
