(G2)
30.12.2025
Dear second.garden,
As the year comes to a close, I find myself looking back on all that it has held — the conversations, the exchanges, and the ways my understanding of landscape and care has shifted. It has been a year shaped by listening, by slowing down, and by rethinking our relationship with nature.
One idea that has stayed with me throughout this time is the concept of Fourth Nature, introduced by the German ecologist Ingo Kowarik. It offers a way of reimagining the relationship between the city and the natural world — not as something to be controlled or perfected, but as something that can unfold on its own terms. It suggests another kind of practice, rooted in patience, attention, and care.
Kowarik describes four forms of nature:
First nature — untouched landscapes without human intervention.
Second nature — human-made landscapes for production, such as agricultural land.
Third nature — green spaces designed for recreation, like parks and gardens.
Fourth nature — areas once shaped by human activity that are gradually being reclaimed by natural processes, often with little or no human intervention.
This idea of Fourth Nature feels especially relevant now. It opens up a way of thinking about landscapes of care that does not rely on constant control or maintenance, but instead allows space for self-organization, unpredictability, and coexistence. It asks what might happen if we step back slightly — if we allow nature to take the lead.
There is significant, yet often overlooked, potential in integrating nature’s own processes into our cities and built environments. Around the world, inspiring examples already show how this can happen. The real challenge lies in our expectations of what urban nature should look like — and in learning to accept that nature moves at its own pace. Ecosystems unfold slowly, often over decades, while planning frameworks tend to operate within short, economically driven timeframes. To move forward, we may need to rethink not only our aesthetics, but also our patience, and to recognize the value of nature even when it cannot be measured in economic terms.
Best regards,
Nikita Gyawali
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