Department of Landscape

Nigel Dunnett

Senior Lecturer
Telephone: 0114 222 0611
Room 4.7

email : n.dunnett@sheffield.ac.uk

Personal Website - Research

Academic and Professional Experience

1981 - 1984: B.Sc Botany, University of Bristol
1985 - 1986: M.Sc Landscape Ecology, Design and Maintenance. Wye College, University of London
1989 - 1990: Garden Club of America Interchange Fellowship in Horticulture. North Carolina State University.
1991 - 1996: PhD: long-term dynamics of herbaceous vegetation in roadside verges at Bibury, Gloucestershire. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield.

1986-1989: Freelance botanical surveyor, specializing in woodlands. Garden design and construction, with work in UK and Italy.
1994 – 2002: Lecturer, Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield
2003 – present: Senior Lecturer, Department of Landscape, University of Sheffield

Plants, vegetation and biodiversity lie at the heart of notions of sustainable urban development. The promotion of urban environments that are rich in vegetation and nature is central to my teaching and research. This work combines and integrates my background and experience in both horticulture and ecology. While ecological ideas in landscape architecture have usually been applied at the larger scale, my focus is generally at the smaller scale: in gardens, urban parks, and on and around buildings and in high-density built development. All aspects revolve around exciting and novel uses of plants, planting design and application of ecological ideas to achieve low-input, diverse and colourful urban landscape. Applications of the work generally involve aspects of urban ecology or urban horticulture. My teaching comprises planting design, landscape ecology, ecological design and management, and research methods for research students. My main administrative tasks include Director of the Graduate Research School, and coordinator of the B.Sc Landscape Design with Ecology degree. Recent research contracts relating to the management of urban green spaces and gardens for biodiversity have been undertaken with CABE Space and Scottish Natural Heritage. I am actively involved in consultancy and advisory work, particularly in relation to planting and design of green roofs, and in designing and creating `pictorial meadows´, and I write regularly as a horticultural journalist for a range of landscape and garden publications, including Gardens Illustrated and The Garden.

Research Areas

1. Green Roofs
My focus in this research is to investigate the potential of vegetation and planting on roof and building surfaces. Research ranges from work with native plant communities and species, through to vegetations composed entirely of non-native plants – and all combinations in between. We are currently undertaking a wide-ranging screening programme of grasses and perennials for green roof use to test tolerance of substrate depth and moisture regime. Particular focus is on species from dry meadow communities in the UK, North America and continental Europe, and in plants from calcareous grasslands across the temperate world. Other work is investigating the long-term dynamics of green roof systems, and exploring the influence of vegetation type on green roof performance

In 2003 I published with Noel Kingsbury the first English language book devoted solely to extensive green roofs (Planting Green Roofs and Living Walls, Timber Press). In 2003 the Department of Landscape hosted the first National Green Roof Conference in the UK, followed by a highly successful second conference in 2006. In 2006 European Union funding was obtained to establish the Green Roof Research and Demonstration Centre at the University of Sheffield, which brings together researchers from landscape, architecture, civil engineering, and animal and plant sciences to create an integrated focus for green roof investigations in the UK.

Research opportunities exist for work on all aspects related to green roof ecology, planting and implementation. Currently the departmental green roof team consists of three PhD students, five Masters projects, and a dedicated technician, and a wide range of test, research and demonstration roofs are available. Strong links are established with regional local government and development agencies, and active research collaborations exist with green roof teams in China and North America.

2. Naturalistic Urban Planting

For the past 10 years I have worked in collaboration with Professor James Hitchmough to develop techniques for the application of ecological techniques in mainstream urban landscape contexts. This work has received much national and international attention. The key concepts behind our approach are outlined in the book we jointly edited: The Dynamic Landscape: the ecology, design and management of naturalistic urban planting (Taylor & Francis, London 2003). I have focused in particular on three areas within this programme:

Pictorial Meadows. This work deals with the use of directly-sown annuals to produce dramatic, exciting and very colourful long-lasting displays in a very wide range of contexts, from small gardens through to extensive areas in urban parks, alongside highways and in housing areas. Research work involves trialing and screening of suitable species, development of seed mixtures for different visual effects, testing establishment and management methods, and crucially, assessing public responses. The resulting seed mixtures are now used across the country and are available commercially.
Mixed Shrub and Herbaceous Plantings. I have pioneered the use of coppicing as a maintenance technique in shrub plantings to enable long-season mixtures of woody plants and herbaceous perennials to co-exist. Current interests involve applying similar naturalistic principles that are now popular for perennial and ornamental grass plantings to mixed plantings of shrubs and perennials, and to the establishment of woodland ground flora amongst ornamental shrubs
Rain Gardens. This new area of investigation explores the potential of managing rainwater runoff in a range of urban situations to promote rich and diverse plantings. Unlike many SUDS applications, the focus of this research is on what can be done in limited space alongside buildings, and is closely linked to the green roof work.

Two other linked and ongoing areas of activity are:
International review of naturalistic and ecologically-informed landscape design with particular reference to urban nature parks, and to ecological garden design and `eco-gardens´.
Structural and spatial analysis of `nature places´ to inform planting design

3. The Role of Private Gardens in Promoting Sustainable Urban Development

This work has been ongoing since 1995 and is centered on the role and value of urban gardens, using the city of Sheffield as an example. The main focus is on the extent of environmentally-beneficial practices by garden owners, and of the human and social values that gardens impart to urban dwellers. A large and wide-ranging survey was carried out in the city in the mid-1990s, and this is currently being repeated with a PhD study funded by the Economic and Social Science Research Council.


4. Long-term Monitoring of Herbaceous Vegetation

I am the main recorder of the Bibury Long-term data set – the longest annually recorded ecological experiment in the world. Originally set up in 1958 along road verges in Gloucestershire to monitor the effects of herbicide management of roadside vegetation, the unsprayed `control´ plots have been recorded every July since then for the growth and abundance of all plant species within them. This record contains an unrivalled amount of information on vegetation dynamics, and the records have been exploited for the insights they give to plant response to climate change, and long-term influences on diversity and dominance in vegetation.

Landscape Ecology

Habitat creation and restoration ecology. Ecological design theory. Urban ecology. Pattern and Process in natural vegetation. Long-term monitoring of herbaceous plant communities. I am the current holder of the Bibury Long-term data-set. This is the longest continuously recorded ecological experiment in the UK, with detailed annual records of the performance of over 100 species in roadside vegetation at Bibury, Gloucestershire over a 42 year from 1958 to present. This dataset contains very valuable information on the long-term dynamics of herbaceous plant communities, and on the response of native plants to changing climate. Other ongoing work relates to establishing diverse vegetation on ecologically-degraded sites such as contaminated or post-industrial land, or intensive agricultural fields.

List of Publications

Current Teaching

Administrative Responsibilities