Connecting People with Places Biodiversity Design and Build
Creators: name: Berlanga, Mariana
name: Bowden, Christine
name: Campbell, Tylar
name: Wang, Eva
name: Zou, Joe
Publisher: name: The University of British Columbia
Year: 2019

description: The University Neighbourhoods Association (UNA) in partnership with Land and Food System 450 class worked to create a biodiversity installation which will engage the community with biodiversity and food. Our biodiversity installation is placed in Hawthorn Community garden which is centrally located in the University of British Columbia (UBC) along Main Mall Greenway, and within a stone's throw distance from Old Barn Community Centre. This provides our group a great opportunity to engage the broader UBC community that frequently passes the garden with our installation. Engaging the broader community will bring awareness to the community gardeners and provide an opportunity for engagement with one another. In this report it will discuss the community of the Hawthorn garden and the importance of its biodiversity within this context. We will also explore the benefits that an increase in biodiversity will bring to the garden and the community. Four different methods of data collection were used for this research which include a focus group, an online survey, interviews and secondary sources. The focus group and survey followed similar designs asking for weighted criteria and feedback from the initial concept designs. The interviews and secondary sources were used to inform best practices and attributes of a successful installation in terms of community involvement with mason bees. The results from this research project are divided between results from the community members, and the best practice from experts and secondary research. The finding from the community members showed that they wanted the installation to prioritize the enhancement of biodiversity and the education of children. From the concept designs, the community members showed an equal preference for two designs highlighting that the wanted visually appealing installation and the opportunity for information. From the interview of experts and secondary sources, the study found that a successful installation should be east facing, have proper access to food, water and clay, and for the bees and, have an active amount of community engagement and interaction. From the findings, the study discusses the implications of the installation design and how the feedback impacted the final design. This report is concluded with both long- and short-term recommendations for the community. For the short-term recommendation, there needs to be an active maintenance plan and monitoring in place in order to see the success of the bees in the installation. For the long-term recommendations, there should be a plan to support more native species of pollinators and continue to add biodiversity installations that promote these pollinators and continue collaboration with local conservation groups. Disclaimer: “UBC SEEDS provides students with the opportunity to share the findings of their studies, as well as their opinions, conclusions and recommendations with the UBC community. The reader should bear in mind that this is a student project/report and is not an official document of UBC. Furthermore readers should bear in mind that these reports may not reflect the current status of activities at UBC. We urge you to contact the research persons mentioned in a report or the SEEDS Coordinator about the current status of the subject matter of a project/report.”