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BBC Radio 3 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced Third Programme.

BBC Radio 3

Radio 3

The Essay Podcast

The Essay

Discussion & Talk

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Essays from leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond.

Leading writers on arts, history, philosophy, science, religion and beyond, themed across a week - insight, opinion and intellectual surprise.

The Essay: A City Is not a Park

A City Is not a Park

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What would happen if we covered the industrial fabric of our cities with plantlife?

Des Fitzgerald asks what would change, psychologically, socially, emotionally, if we covered the concrete and brickwork of our cities with vines, plants and vertical gardens?

Des Fitzgerald tracks the relationship between the modern city and its green environs. Drawing together psychological research with urban history and literature it asks: what would change, psychologically, socially, emotionally, if we covered the concrete and brickwork of our towns and cities with vines, plants and vertical gardens?  A city is not a park but should it be? 

Des Fitzgerald is a sociologist at Cardiff University who is researching health, illness and city living.   The Essay was recorded at the Free Thinking Festival with an audience at Sage Gateshead. 

New Generation Thinkers is a scheme run by BBC Radio 3 and the Arts and Humanities Research Council to select 10 academics each year who can turn their research into radio.

Producer: Torquil MacLeod.

Live music and the arts: broadcasts more live music than any other radio network. Classical music is its core. Genres include world and new music, jazz, speech and drama.

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A City Is not a Park

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