WASTELAND WONDERLAND - In defence of Brownfield

Tag : Horticulture

Reflections on a lifetime of play, discovery, mudlarking and botonising at a Brownfield site and its continued influence on my work as an artist, psychotherapist and gardener. I believe that Brownfield sites in the UK are our unofficial countryside. In a bid to address the housing crisis and build more homes, it is being suggested that developers rush to build on our Brownfield land. However, sites such as this are often known to be home to a biodiverse range of rare and unusual species. In fact they are often far more biodiverse than Greenfield sites due to the chemical and pesticide use in intensive agriculture. I am not suggesting that we don't develop on these spaces, rather that we do it in a considered, sensitive manner that preserves as much of them as we can for the benefit of wildlife and people alike. It is essential that thorough Biodiversity audits are carried out and we must not allow developers to use damaging remediation techniques. The planting of native trees and introduction of nutrient rich topsoil are often suggested as part of Biodiversity Net Gain legislation but when we forge ahead, BNG becomes nothing more than a "greenwashing" exercise as methods such as this dramatically alter the sites and damage the valuable ecosystems that exist there. I have been returning to this half-wild place since I was 10 years old. Tucked away along a towpath off the canal in West London, I discovered this place with my friend Louie and my brother Terry while riding our bikes. It’s difficult to describe what this place means to me. It’s somewhere that I have always felt a sense of ownership of even though I know it’s not just mine. It’s a place where I’ve felt a sense of excitement and even peril but have always felt safe. For me, it represents adventure, freedom and discovery. It’s rare to have a place as a child where you are free to dig, build dens, run through the vegetation, climb trees and lose yourself in amongst the wildlife without constraint. The connections I have made with this landscape were formative and they remain with me in so much of what I do. In 2004, I co-curated an art exhibition called A Sharp Intake of Breath inspired by this place and the importance of exploring risk as a child. As an adult I’ve photographed it, painted in the landscape and made sculpture from the Victorian porcelain and glass I find there. Always an attempt to preserve, capture and bottle it’s essence. Futile attempts that I will no doubt continue. However, seeing my children run along the animal tracks, brush against the nettles, listen to the chiffchaffs and pick out the prickly burdock seeds from their socks reminds me of the valuable connection we make when we are present in the moment. We are nature too and places like this allow us to be. I have learned so much about ecosystems, ecology, symbiosis, naturalised plant communities, soil and the importance of disturbance from this place, but above all I learned about identity and what it means to have a sense of place. I was so lucky to have access to a place like this, I owe so much for the value it has added to my life, not least my career. Access is everything. #brownfield #wasteland #biodiversity #biodiversitynetgain #biodiversityloss #ecosystem #unofficialcountryside #errolreubenfernandes #horticulture #london #housingdevelopment #architecture #landscapearchitecture #mudlarkinglondon #bottlecollector #biodiversityaudit #wearenature #humankeystone #righttoroam #ecology #accesstogreenspaces #accessiseverything