Planners see a big opportunity for our city after taking inspiration from the ‘forêts urbaines’ in France’s capital
Wildflowers blooming in the Green Heart, Nottingham(Image: LDRS)
Nottingham is aiming to become a “forest city” by expanding the Green Heart park concept into more areas, such as Old Market Square and Sneinton Market.
The idea has been inspired by Paris, which has been striving to create urban forests across what is one of the most densely populated cities in the EU, in a bid to reduce the impact of worsening heatwaves.
These “forêts urbaines” have been emerging from the concrete across the French capital, including outside Paris City Hall, while residents are even allowed to obtain permits to create and look after gardens on pavements outside their homes.
There are now hopes to do a similar thing in Nottingham, creating a “constellation of mini-green hearts” across the city with more urban meadows brimming with pollinator-friendly wildflowers, plant life on roofs and walls of new buildings, and trees along busy roads.
It is hoped these pockets of greenery will cool down the city during worsening heatwaves, as has been the case in Paris, where temperatures have consistently reached 40C and above in the summer months of recent years.
This is known as the urban heat island effect, with concrete storing heat energy from the sun, warming cities by up to 10C more than natural environments.
“I’ve just been to Paris and they have a similar vision that has been brought to life over the course of about a decade,” says Sam Lux, the city’s executive member for climate.
“You just cannot move for green space. It is everywhere you turn. It just feels so good. It is aesthetically pleasing, really beautiful, boosts your mood and is good for your mental health.
“But it is also so good for people’s physical health as well. It reduces flooding, reduces the impact of heatwaves, improves the air quality, and boosts nature and biodiversity.
“We know a certain amount of climate change is unfortunately locked in, so we know we are going to see increases in flooding, heatwaves, we are already seeing those effects now, so what green space does is helps to reduce the worst impacts of climate change.”
Wildflowers and native trees could be more widely planted across the city in a ‘constellation of mini green hearts'(Image: LDRS)
Nottingham’s award-winning Green Heart, which features a marshland-inspired pond, sandstone seating, and native trees and flowers, opened in September 2024 to widespread acclaim.
The vision for the new city park did not come without resistance, however, with some arguing the plan was not commercially or economically sensible.
Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust had been behind a strong push towards the idea, after the redevelopment of the old Broadmarsh shopping centre suddenly ceased upon its owner intu’s demise at the height of the coronavirus >Covid pandemic.
Such an opportunity proved immensely popular, and it was soon brought to life, with the city’s politicians already striving towards greener credentials, having declared a climate emergency in 2019.
The council says it hopes to have transformed Nottingham into a forest city by 2030, with a “children’s forest” further providing nature opportunities, increasing access to natural play, and more biodiverse environments for the city’s next generation.
Cllr Lux said she hopes to see mini green hearts created in areas such as Old Market Square, while a new vision document reveals other locations as being Sneinton Market and Trinity Square.
The wider Nottingham City Vision, which the forest plans form a part of, outlines a total of 10 bold plans to complete before 2050.
The council’s leader, Neghat Khan, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We’ve got a fantastic history, our past, we’ve got two fantastic universities, our sport, but we need to attract that investment here in Nottingham.
“If you’re an investor, you could go anywhere in the world, why would you come to Nottingham? The forest that we are talking about, we are talking about we’ve got over 900 caves. So how do you think outside the box? What would it look like to have a restaurant in one of these caves?
“There are 10 big ideas that we will look at that will make Nottingham so unique. We’ve got Robin Hood, we claim Robin Hood, but what do we really do? Not much. I’m going to put that at the forefront of what we do.
“We know we need more Grade A office space to attract the big organisations. I think this is really exciting. Lets have a vision that is big and bold.”
A new citizens’ climate assembly is now also being hosted in the city, with public events across the city aimed at getting everyone involved in shaping change that will protect future generations to come.