Nature in the City: urban biodiversity and biophilia in 21st century metropolises

Athens, one of the oldest continuously inhabited metropolises, provides a unique angle for reflecting on the relationship between urban development, cultural heritage, biodiversity, and the human connection to nature. The modern city has been shaped by millennia of history, preserving a mosaic of natural and semi-natural habitats. Athenian habitats include traditional urban parks, planted traffic islands, cemeteries and archaeological sites.

The latter can be understood as UNESCO cultural landscapes, representing the combined works of nature and humankind, where ecological and cultural values have co-evolved over centuries. All these sites constitute important refugia for urban biodiversity hosting rich assemblages of native plants, pollinators, birds, reptiles, and other taxa that persist within these particular habitats.

Urban biodiversity could be regarded as both an ecological asset and a cultural resource according to the principles of biophilia—the innate human affinity for the natural world. Integrating biodiversity conservation into the management of urban habitats, as the aforementioned, can enhance ecosystem services, improve climate resilience, and strengthen the relations between people and nature.

Athens demonstrates that safeguarding biodiversity and cultural heritage are mutually reinforcing objectives, providing support to biophilia and human well-being in twenty-first-century Mediterranean metropolises.