Catalysts for change: Museum gardens in a planetary emergency

Abstract

Societal Impact Statement

Natural history museums are often seen as places with indoor galleries full of dry‐dusty specimens, usually of animals. But if they have gardens associated with them, museums can use living plants to create narratives that link outside spaces to inside galleries, bringing to life the challenges facing biodiversity. We describe the redevelopment of the grounds of the Natural History Museum in London to create a garden with plants at its centre to address these challenges. People are key to the future of our planet and reaching them in novel ways will be central to creating advocates for the planet.

Summary: The South Kensington site of the Natural History Museum in London is framed by two hectares of grounds that have had a variety of uses since the opening of the buildings in 1881. Original plans for their development were never carried out, and most of the site was planted in amenity grassland, although a small Wildlife Garden was established in the 1990s. Redevelopment of the grounds through the Urban Nature Project has allowed using the space to create new narratives of evolution and individual action, with plants central to the design. With more than 6 million visitors a year, the Museum has a unique opportunity to use its gardens to place nature at the forefront of the visitor experience. Here, we describe the background to this redevelopment and the resultant spaces created, and highlight the opportunities for museums to develop outdoor spaces into new areas for both visitor experience and scientific research.