塀と古い機械が生い茂る草に覆われている。次は工場かな？
Fence and abandoned machine have been swallowed by plants. Will the old factory building be next?
Unwanteds share railway informal greenspace: “pest” cacti and graffiti in Brisbane.
In Japan, many people have to be creative to find space for gardening. The picture on the right shows a mini-garden in the informal gap greenspace behind a high-rise parking lot; while tiny, it’s obviously well-loved. In Australia on the other hand, vast strips of suburban land are maintained (with high energy and labor cost) as minimal lawn with no little human use beside the questionable aesthetic value.
I wonder what magic the crafty minimal-space gardeners in Japan could do if they could work with Australian street verges.
This vacant lot informal greenspace, wedged between two apartment blocks, features it’s own “site office”! Nobody home though.
Industrial areas, railway surroundings and their slopes and fences are mostly free from the pressure of the suburban aesthetic ideals that dictate mown lawn and orderly hedges.
A large informal greenspace with thriving vegetation is creating a natural buffer between a residential and an industrial area. Does the fence serve any purpose?
Vacant lots are among the most accessible informal greenspaces: this one looks just right for a ball game or a picknick!
A lemon (lime?) tree on an abandoned lot, not far from the center of Brisbane. Who would say no to free fruits in their neighbourhood?
The material we use to build our cities heavily influences the chances of spontaneous vegetation. If we create favourable conditions, the plants do the rest.
The difference between a mowing-only street verge and a planted and mulched verge: especially in the hard-to-mow areas of the street verge, all kinds of plants grasses thrive, while the planted verge looks nice but there is not much going on (at least in this example).
Hidden natural treasures: this tree would be an attraction in any public park, but is instead growing on a vacant lot owned by the city council in on the edge between an industrial and a residential area. Large trees are rare on vacant lots - this is by far the largest I have found so far.
Informal greenspace sometimes contains remnants of former landuse - but maybe this is an open air toilet experiment…?
Anthropogenic urban “natural” landscape has many interesting places. This overgrown canal/creek also seems like a great place to play.
“Vacant lots” are only vacant from the city planner’s perspective. The locals who use it as a sports field and the birds certainly enjoy it as it is!
Artifical river or canal banks are often a great habitat for all kinds of opportunistic plants. Such spontaneous vegetation can also provide erosion control.
