June 30th to July 7th 2013
The theme of this year's SEFS 8 Symposium was "Freshwater Sciences for Nature and Society". Do we really mean this? In the south we often forget to make space for nature in our cities. We neglect designing natural space to help society... And especially to help influence society and help build a land-ethic that may help nature and humankind.
One thing about Munester is that it is a good example of a city that does this. It has designed-in hundreds of opportunities to experience nature in the city.
Vasso and I had some time during the long light-filled days to collect some snap-shots of Muenster - exhibiting the near-perfect design of nature spaces in the city. We were engrossed with the opportunities for nature experiences everywhere. Aasee - the town's lake is one of Europe's most beautiful city parks (awarded in 2009) and the rest of the city is filled with greenspaces (former city walls), ponds and moats, an amazing public Botanic Garden; and a small river (the Aa) that runs right through the old part of town.
Last thing: This city is filled with students and thousands of bicycles - what else can be this close to euro-Utopia?
(Click images to enlarge).
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