The City wants to bring nature back
This is how city officials see this area by Sæbraut looking as a "nature area". Photo/City of Reykjavík
At the last meeting of the Environment and Planning Council in Reykjavík, proposals were presented aimed at turning green areas in several locations in the city into “natural areas.”
Significant savings
In 2016, a proposal was presented to the Environment and Planning Council for a total of 31 hectares of grass areas requiring mowing, which could be converted into natural areas, . As a result, the 14 hectare area around the city had ceased to be mowed. The project was expected to result in significant savings for the city.
This is how this same area at Sæbraut looks now. Photo/City of Reykjavík
The proposals for the year were built on the basis of environmental and resource policy, biodiversity policy and the city's tree-planting policy.
There are precedents for similar policies abroad, according to Þórólfur Jónsson, director of the Department of nature and gardens in the City of Reykjavík, in a January 2016 report in Morgunblaðið.
“In other parts of the Nordic countries, people were discussing this some twenty years ago – people want to incorporate nature into the cities again,” Þórólfur said.
There are now plans to continue along the same path.
