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The courtyard of the ľ�ϸ���Ӱ�� Library City Centre is one of the hottest places on the heat map of Utrecht. Dr. Flora Roberts and the Biophilia project want to change that by experimenting with raised beds with small trees in the courtyard. During Night at the Library there will be guided tours.

Aiming at a greener campus

“We are aiming at a wilder, greener and kinder campus, but for now our activities are largely focused on the courtyard. I started the Biophilia group after I had been awarded funds from the Utrechts Stimuleringsfonds Onderwijs. The call was to think about how to support students in building resilience necessary to address and process difficult topics like the climate crisis. 

We started small with some raised beds with small trees and we have the students planting a variety of plants around the bases. Let me emphasize that we are not trying to solve climate change. We are not cultivating the illusion that this is the solution, but students should feel that they are doing something constructive. Biophilia is also a democratic process, the project involves constant decision making through consensus with your peers. It is about creating a community.”

Biophilia, the book

“The inspiration for Biophilia comes from with the same title, in which he says that there is an innate human tendency to want to connect with nature and other living forms. He urges us to rediscover the positive effect that paying attention to nature has on people.”

Experimenting

“Things can fail of course, but that is part of the process. For instance, we tossed some carrot tops into one of the beds last year, thinking it could serve as a mulching and composting process, but one of them took root and generated a new carrot. Or we grew some peanut plants that are not native to the Netherlands, we did not expect them to do well, but it is interesting to see what they did.”

Biodiversity

“We do not use chemicals. In fact, we like to invite as many bugs as possible. Last year we had aphids, we watched and waited until the ladybugs arrived to eat them all. We also log which bugs visit the plants and we are taking photographs trying to identify them.”