What if every roof in London that could support nature became a living habitat? What if, instead of recreating the gardens and meadows we have always known, we designed our cities around the life that can actually thrive in them? For Dusty Gedge, pioneering green roof advocate and urban biodiversity expert, this is more than an appealing idea. It is a practical vision for the future of our cities, challenging the way we think about green roofs, urban nature and the role of biophilic design.

As climate change brings increasingly extreme temperatures, heatwaves and intense rainfall, we need to rethink what we plant, where we plant it and what we expect nature to do. In our conversation for the Journal of Biophilic Design, Dusty made one thing clear: the objective is not just to make our cities “green”, it is to put life back into them. And just like the Journal here, he encourages us to go back to the original meaning of Biophilia to help us understand the bigger picture.