Spaces for Nature

An exhibition exploring how urban brownfield sites can become vital spaces of cultural and ecological diversity and resilience for both humans and non-humans.

Cities are inhabited not just by humans, but by a vast range of plants, animals, micro-organisms. Conventional urbanist approaches have long sought to marginalise or even eradicate these non-human inhabitants. However, the challenges posed by climate change – from urban heating to flash-flooding – requires working with, rather than against, these urban ecologies. Landscape architects are central to this task, helping to facilitate the necessary transformations by working collaboratively and in tune with human and non-human beings to co-create resilient, inclusive environments.

This exhibition, presented across three threads, showcases a landscape architectural design project undertaken for the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. As part of the National Lottery Climate Fund supported programme Birds, Bees, Bikes and Trees, the brief was to reimagine Baltic Square as a biodiverse, inclusive habitat. Drawing from the material richness and ecological resilience of urban brownfield landscapes, the project explores how degraded sites can become vital, participatory spaces of co-habitation – for pollinators, birds, plants, and people alike.

Credits

Project team
Stef Leach, Usue Ruiz Arana and Lotte Dijkstra (Newcastle University)
Scott Matthews (Hyem Landscape Architecture)
Professor Catherine Dee
Henna Asikainen

Exhibition content and design
Hyem Landscape Architecture
Spaces for Nature is part of Birds, Bees, Bikes, & Trees, a three-year partnership between BALTIC, North East Young Dads & Lads (NEYDL) and Newcastle University, funded by The National Lottery Community Fund.

Image credit: Usue Ruiz Arana, Spectral Saltmarsh, 2025