Playbook for Urban Biodiversity

6. People won't like it

Myth

You can never please everyone all the time. People still ask the question: ‘why native plants?’, let alone, ‘why indigenous plants?’ Many still claim native trees ‘don’t produce shade’, ‘drop limbs’ and are ‘messy’, while Indigenous tree species are disregarded all together. But how many people truly object to indigenous and biodiverse landscaping, and on what grounds do they object? Is it fear, disgust, civic pride, colonialism or plain old ignorance? What techniques can be used to broaden the appeal of natural-looking spaces and put people at ease so they can enjoy these places? What are the trade-offs and are they worth it?

Counter arguments

‘Nativeness’ can be conceptualised from two perspectives – cultural and ecological. Ecology classifies a species as native when it is of indigenous origin. This perspective often influences biodiversity conservation actions and a species’ worthiness of being protected. People’s attitudes and behaviours towards nature are influenced by their experiences with nature. To ‘get people to like it’, attitudes and experiences must change.

Nature must be convenient and accessible

For people to experience nature, nature must be convenient. Experiences with nature are largely controlled by the presence of green space within one’s surroundings, and their convenience to access such spaces. Having access to nature builds a sense of place and can even influence people’s decisions to plant natives over exotics.

However, greater behavioural change is achieved when practices are convenient to act upon58. Native species are often absent from residential gardens due to perceptions that they are time consuming to maintain. Difficulty in obtaining native species from nurseries also hinders native species from being more widely implemented across residential, park and commercial gardens. Further, people’s preferences for nature may also derive from the activities that different types of urban green space affords. For example, the English Landscape-style public parks were perceived by respondents as the most preferred, given that they are multi-purpose and convey a sense of safety.

Research also shows that some people do like native plants. Studies that look at different groups within society often find groups with strong, positive preferences for native plants. While there may be a vocal minority articulating a different position, this is mostly not the case.