Urban Greens and Gardens (Internship)

Job description LVBL Internships - Urban Greens and Gardens (In Partnership with PLUS and ATREE) LVBL Accelerator is focused on bringing together options for sustainable and liveable products and services across well being and quality of life (food, health, home improvement, learning, travel, mobility) and built spaces (management of built environment including energy, water, waste and biodiversity) Our goal is to improve the quality of life at the neighbourhood level, and accelerate the adoption of liveable / sustainable choices. We aim to do this by working with our network of partners and curating the platform that provides resourcing, marketing & communications, technology, spaces, innovative products/services and financing. PLUS is a collaborative practice that seeks to blur the boundaries between different design disciplines, to create sustainable, innovative, and socially conscious Landscape Design that is accessible to all. The firm was started in 2020 and since then has worked in collaboration with various knowledge partners on blue-green infrastructure development projects in South India. PLUS believes that the profession of landscape architecture is critical in bridging the gap between professional practice and academic research to solve the complex problems of climate resiliency, environmental stewardship and social equity in the design of our built and natural environments. The Research wing at PLUS supports innovative exploration within the above themes. ATREE is a globally recognised non-profit organisation focused on biodiversity and environmental conservation and sustainable, socially just development. ATREE engages in the generation and dissemination of rigorous, interdisciplinary knowledge that informs grassroots communities, and policy-makers. ATREE also works towards building capacity to produce the next generation of scholars to meet the challenges in practising conservation science. Over the past 25 years, ATREE has established itself as a premier institution working on critical challenges and opportunities in environmental conservation and sustainable development. PLUS and ATREE are presently researching on developing indigenous landscapes with indigenous plants in and around Bengaluru with the aim to improve the biodiversity of Urban Landscape such as Bengaluru. As part of the efforts PLUS and ATREE are putting together the first set of 25 plants for a “Garden on Wheels” project. LVBL is interested in putting together a services offering which promotes biodiversity in urban spaces (from balconies to larger plots including the public spaces) and also provides ecosystem and other services for human well being. The intern will explore the current offerings of nurseries and neighbourhood retailers, ventures providing garden services and customer preferences which include aesthetics, maintenance and utility. The idea would be to see how this can be integrated in a wider ‘Quality of Life’ offering with developers, companies and residential communities. We may also engage with public spaces. Some of the areas we would want the intern to engage are: • Baselining of nursery plants and customer preferences/ needs - Understand the plants that are currently being sold in nurseries, challenges in propagating and factors informing customer choices (aesthetics, biodiversity, utility/food, accessibility/ convenience, cultural practices, price etc.). How does one strike a balance ? • Design- Choice of plants (ready combinations and customised), design of planters, potting mixes, maintenance (water proofing, watering and fertilisers, impacts to Rain water harvesting systems), sources of inputs (soil, water, compost, manure) • Communications and Positioning: Simple and clear messaging that connects to all age groups, conveys benefits , incentives and educational/ learning experiences (bird, butterfly count activities, photography, developing online sources). • Stakeholders - From citizens (balcony gardens) , landscape architects (larger developments) and developers to nurseries, horticulturists/arboriculturists. • Local businesses and Livelihoods - Potential for working with local sellers and nurseries - and factors inhibiting the same. • Learnings from urban farming service companies - What can we learn from companies already in this business • What is the larger problem we are trying to solve – urban biodiversity, ecological corridors, livelihoods and/or climate adaptation ? Internship Opportunity: The intern will ideally be a graduate in Design/Architecture/Natural Sciences with a keen interest in solving problems at a practical scale. The intern will work with PLUS, ATREE and the LVBL ecosystem in supporting the research work and arriving at contours of a services organisation. Location: South Bengaluru Duration: 10 weeks.