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São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

saopaulosecreto.com

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Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#11

Post by smallerize »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #9

Time of India is such a shit news source that it should be banned from HN. The ToI article is dated: 2026-08-01 In the article it says: > According to Forbes India, in 2003, Helio da Silva... I Google searched for "Forbes India, in 2003, Helio da Silva" and found the original here: https://www.forbesindia.com/article/lifes/crazy-tree-planter... Date? 2024-09-30 I guess ToI is having summer interns use LLMs to summari…

Your Forbes India link says "Without any formal authorization, Da Silva started in 2003"

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#12

Post by nl »

femto wrote: post #8

A similar story to Wendy's Secret Garden in Sydney, Australia? https://www.wendyssecretgarden.org.au/ After her husband's death in 1992, Wendy Whiteley took to cleaning up an unused railway easement behind her house. It turned into a substantial garden. The railways refused to guarantee its future (it was on their land), but in 2015 it became an official park. Well worth a visit on a sunny afternoon if you are in Syd…

I think this is a great story.

For those who aren't aware, that strip of land is probably some of the most valuable residential land on earth.

HK: $200,000+/ sq m (for premium properties on The Peak)

Monoco: $56,000/sq m

Milson's Point (next to Wendy's Secret Garden): $33,000/sq m

Pacific Heights, SF: $22,000/sq m

(According to my/ChattyG's calcs)

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#13

Post by arjie »

femto wrote: post #8

A similar story to Wendy's Secret Garden in Sydney, Australia? https://www.wendyssecretgarden.org.au/ After her husband's death in 1992, Wendy Whiteley took to cleaning up an unused railway easement behind her house. It turned into a substantial garden. The railways refused to guarantee its future (it was on their land), but in 2015 it became an official park. Well worth a visit on a sunny afternoon if you are in Syd…

There's a children's book that I've been reading to my daughter called The Curious Garden about a boy gardening on abandoned tracks. It's a reference to the High Line, of course, but it's interesting there's more than one like this. I suppose the end of the age of passenger rail in these countries offered opportunities like this.

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#14

Post by femto »

nl wrote: post #12
femto wrote: post #8

A similar story to Wendy's Secret Garden in Sydney, Australia? https://www.wendyssecretgarden.org.au/ After her husband's death in 1992, Wendy Whiteley took to cleaning up an unused railway easement behind her house. It turned into a substantial garden. The railways refused to guarantee its future (it was on their land), but in 2015 it became an official park. Well worth a visit on a sunny afternoon if you are in Syd…

I think this is a great story. For those who aren't aware, that strip of land is probably some of the most valuable residential land on earth. HK: $200,000+/ sq m (for premium properties on The Peak) Monoco: $56,000/sq m Milson's Point (next to Wendy's Secret Garden): $33,000/sq m Pacific Heights, SF: $22,000/sq m (According to my/ChattyG's calcs)

The battle for Wendy's garden will pale into insignificance compared to the battle for a "Sydney Harbour High Line".

https://www.sydneyharbourhighline.org.au/

In 2023 the NSW government committed to turn the adjacent harbourfront railway line into a public linear park. The next government shredded the agreement and has announced it wants housing everywhere. IMO it's prime land that is too valuable to be privately owned and should be publicly accessible. Anyone who disagrees should go for a harbourfront walk on a sunny afternoon. (Billionaires who's takeaway from the experience would be to buy the land for their own use don't count.)

The same battle played out in Cremorne in the 1890's. Today the park is one of Sydney's jewels.

https://www.bonditomanly.com/bondi-to-manly-walk-blog/2020/1...

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#17

Post by oatmeal1 »

I find the idea of planting trees ironic. It would seem to me the better aim would be identifying the issue as to why native plants are not already reproducing successfully, and then fix it. Plants are quite good at reproducing themselves, even if not in the immediate area.

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#18

Post by matherial »

oatmeal1 wrote: post #17

I find the idea of planting trees ironic. It would seem to me the better aim would be identifying the issue as to why native plants are not already reproducing successfully, and then fix it. Plants are quite good at reproducing themselves, even if not in the immediate area.

What? No. Plants colonize new areas in complex succession sequences that require hundreds of years to play out. It might start with grasses, then shrubs, then dense stands of trees that die off and are replaced by stands of other trees... maybe there's a fire that needs to happen in between... and let me remind you that a "city park" is not exactly a natural formation anyway.

If you want a park in 30-50 years, you need to plant trees and design it with specific public-use objectives in mind.

Re: São Paulo resident transforms degraded area into urban forest

#20

Post by Sha1rholder »

oatmeal1 wrote: post #17

I find the idea of planting trees ironic. It would seem to me the better aim would be identifying the issue as to why native plants are not already reproducing successfully, and then fix it. Plants are quite good at reproducing themselves, even if not in the immediate area.

What do you think botanists and ecologists were doing before large-scale tree planting began?
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