I recently had the chance to sit down with Hugh Kruzel , host of the QOL Podcast in Canada. We talked about cities. But not in the usual way. Not about masterplans, not about slogans, not about “green” as decoration. We talked about what actually makes cities work — or fail. From heat, asphalt and car-dominated streets to one simple idea I often repeat: a tree is not a pin. Urban nature is not something you add at the end. It’s something that should structure the city from th

Cities have always been described through what we see. Buildings. Skylines. Architecture. But cities are not shaped by what we see. They are shaped by what makes them possible. Infrastructure has always been the invisible force behind urban life. It determines how cities grow, how they expand, how they connect, and how they function. Each historical era has been defined by a dominant system —one that quietly reorganized space, movement, and society itself. Today, we are once

Cities are often described through their buildings, their infrastructure, their growth. But what defines them more deeply is something less visible: the way space is shared, or not shared, between the people who inhabit them. There is a delicate balance in every urban environment between what is private and what is collective, between what belongs to individuals and what belongs to everyone. This balance is not fixed. It shifts over time, influenced by economic pressures, cul

The recent post about forest groups  in cities generated an unexpectedly intense discussion. Many readers immediately recognized the ecological intuition behind the idea: trees rarely grow alone in natural environments. They grow in groups where soil, shade, water and biological interactions create a shared living system. Others, however, reacted with skepticism. Some questioned whether clustered vegetation could reduce visibility and affect safety in public spaces. Others ra

why urban nature cannot be designed as a green layer ​​ The post A Tree Is Not a Pin resonated with many readers because it touched a recurring problem in contemporary urban design. ​ In drawings, masterplans and planning documents, trees often appear as small green symbols placed across the plan. They seem to represent nature. Yet in many cases they are simply graphic placeholders—signs that indicate environmental intention rather than ecological reality.​ ​ The question be