Lesson video

Hello, my name is Mrs. Tipping and I'm really looking forward to learning with you today about urban life through drawing and design.

We're going to do lots of thinking, talking, and exploring together in this lesson.

So, shall we get started? Let's go.

By the end of today's lesson, you'll be able to design a space that supports urban wildlife and explains your ideas by using annotated drawings.

Before we start, I would like to introduce you to some keywords.

We'll be using these keywords during the lesson, so it might be a good idea to write these words down.

The key words we'll be using today are habitat, biodiversity, sustainability, green space.

I'm going to say those again and I would like you to repeat them after me.

Habitat.

Biodiversity.

Sustainability.

Green space.

Good job.

Now let's think in more detail about what these keywords mean by taking a look at their definitions.

A habitat is a natural environment where a plant or animal lives and grows.

Biodiversity is the variety of life in a particular habitat or ecosystem.

Sustainability is designing or living in a way that protects natural resources for future generations.

Green space refers to areas of grass, trees, or plants within urban environments like parks or gardens.

Pause the video here to make a note of these keywords.

And when you're ready to continue, press play.

These are the learning cycles that we'll be working through together in today's lesson: understanding urban wildlife needs and designing and communicating ideas.

In this first learning cycle, we are going to explore the needs of urban wildlife.

Why might animals need our help in towns or cities? And what features might help wildlife survive in an urban space? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? We can see this fox here in an urban environment.

How might this fox need some help? What features might help this fox survive in an urban space? Well, habitats are natural homes for animals or plants.

As human civilizations, towns and cities grow, they often remove natural habitats.

By bringing together art, design and science, real world problems can be identified and solved with creativity and innovative thinking.

Design isn't just for people.

We share our environment with other species like plants and animals.

The variety of life that can be found in a particular habitat or ecosystem is known as biodiversity.

While some wild animals struggle in cities, others adapt well if we design spaces with them in mind.

Urban environments can become essential and effective habitats with thoughtful planning.

Designing with biodiversity in mind benefits everyone in the area.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What is a habitat? Is it a place animals visit, a place where animals are kept as pets, a natural home for animals or plants? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said a habitat is a natural home for animals or plants, you are absolutely right.

Well done! In this photograph of an urban environment, how is nature being helped? Pause the video here and have a discussion with your partner and press play when you're ready to continue.

What did you think? Well, Alex says, "Having lots of plants, trees, and flowers on the balconies help pollinators like bees to thrive.

It also provides other animals shade and shelter." We almost can't see that building for all of the different plants and trees on those balconies.

Consider the impact of traffic, buildings, pollution, noise, and lack of natural habitats in urban spaces.

Discuss with a partner the ways in which wildlife might benefit from our help in urban environments.

Pause the video here and have that discussion and press play when you're ready to continue.

What do you think? Looking at this busy road here, although it's quite quiet at night, that's when some of our animals might come out and use these spaces.

How can we make sure that they're able to use them safely? Well, Sophia says, "If there are lots of roads and traffic that block the paths of wildlife, then tunnels or bridges could be built that allow species to cross them safely." And Jacob says, "Designing cities and urban environments with lots of green spaces like vertical moss walls on buildings or growing plants on top of bus stops could give species places to find shelter." If there is a lack of food, shelter, and natural habitats, then it becomes difficult for wildlife to survive in urban environments.

Where might animals find shelter, water, food, or safety in your town or school area? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? Could you remember or think of any areas where those animals could find shelter, water, food, or safety? Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Why might cities be difficult for wildlife to live in? There are too many trees and flowers.

There is often a lack of food and shelter.

Animals don't like being around people.

Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about the answer to this question and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said it might be difficult for wildlife to live in cities because there's often a lack of food and shelter, you are absolutely right.

Well done! Now, this brings us to our first learning task.

I'd like you to complete the provided table to identify the needs of wildlife in your local area and how design could be used to help meet these.

So we have the wildlife species, the habitat, the needs, and the possible urban designs.

So pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

How did you get on? Shall we take a look at an example? So, maybe you said that your wildlife species in your area are insects, bugs, bees and pollinators and their habitat are small, dark spaces.

Their needs are shelter, water, food, safety, plants and flowers to pollinate.

And the possible urban designs could be bee or bug hotels, rooftop and balcony gardens, wildflower meadows or vertical moss walls.

So well done If you were able to complete that table with the needs of the wildlife in your area and to think about those designs that you could have to meet these needs.

This brings us to the second part of our lesson.

We are now going to look at designing and communicating different ideas.

How might a bug hotel, a bird-friendly bus stop or a moss wall be good for wildlife? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you're ready to continue.

Why might these things be good for wildlife? Well, they might be useful spaces for shelter or for food for different wildlife.

Green spaces are areas of grass, trees, or plants within urban environments like parks or gardens.

As well as helping to provide habitats for animals, plants, and people, green spaces also provide an area with less noise pollution from busy city streets.

Design helps to shape the spaces, structures and environments we live in, including green spaces which contribute to habitats and biodiversity.

This makes it important for designers to consider the impact of their designs for future generations and other species.

Artists often consider nature in their designs.

Maria Bartuszová is a Slovakian artist who creates sculptures that evoke the natural world through organic and expressive forms. Es Devlin's "Come Home Again" sculptural installation, combines recycled materials with drawings of endangered species.

Neri Oxman designs and engineers 'material ecologies' informed by nature such as honeycomb and silkworm thread.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

What does a green space do in a city: reduces noise pollution; makes it easier to drive through; supports plants, animals, and people? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think about the answer to this question and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said a green space reduces noise pollution and its supports, plants, animals, and people, that's absolutely right.

Well done! Incorporating the needs of wildlife in an urban design area requires creativity and imagination.

Izzy and Jacob are discussing ways they could make their design more sustainable.

Izzy says, "Using recycled materials where possible will save time, energy, and cost less." Jacob says, "Some plants and mosses are resilient and don't need much maintenance to grow." Sustainability refers to designing or living in a way that protects natural resources and habitats for future generations.

You might consider sustainability by reducing, reusing, or recycling waste, using environmentally low impact materials and resources and incorporating green spaces to reduce pollution and increase biodiversity.

Designers can identify and help to solve environmental challenges through drawing.

As a form of visual thinking, drawing can be used as a tool to plan, explore and communicate your design ideas.

Alongside drawing, sketches and expressing your ideas visually, annotations can also be used to help explain the purpose and function of your designs.

Annotations add detail to your designs by indicating who it is for, why it is important, what it is made from, where it will go, and how it could be made.

So you write these annotations around your design.

Let's take a moment to pause and check our understanding.

Why is biodiversity important in urban design: it helps different species survive and thrive; it makes cities more colourful; it allows animals to leave cities? Pause the video here and give yourself a moment to think and press play when you are ready to continue.

What did you think? If you said that biodiversity is important in urban designs because it helps different species survive and thrive, you are absolutely right.

Well done! This brings us to our final learning task.

I'd like you to design and draw a space for urban wildlife.

It could be a habitat or a structure which is built sustainably to help increase biodiversity in the area.

Annotate the drawing to explain your design choices.

So pause the video here and give yourself enough time to have a go at designing and drawing your space for urban wildlife and press play when you are ready to continue.

How did you find that task? Were you able to draw something and design it for urban wildlife and were you able to add your annotations? Well, let's take a look at an example here.

Maybe you might have drawn something like this.

Now remember, a design drawing doesn't need to be perfect.

It can just be an outline sketch that shows your ideas.

Maybe you had a bee, bug and insect hotel.

So you had different sized holes in containers for different species.

Maybe you had a roof to protect it from rain or harsh weather and maybe have storage areas for food, seeds and pellets.

Maybe it was made from wood, bamboo, or recycled materials.

Well, well done for having a go at designing something that was going to support urban wildlife.

Well done for annotating to explain your design choices.

Before we finish this lesson, let's summarise what we've learned about designing a space for urban wildlife.

Urban environments can be designed to support wildlife by providing habitats which are built sustainably.

Artists and designers play an important role in solving environmental challenges through visual thinking.

Drawing is a useful tool to plan, explore, and communicate design ideas which can be aided by annotations.

Wildlife friendly features in cities benefit both nature and people, increasing biodiversity through green spaces.

Thank you for joining me in this lesson today.

I hope to see you in the next one.

See you next time.