Urban Wildlife Corridors: Planning and Creation

Urban wildlife corridors connecting parks, gardens, and green spaces allow animals to move through cities safely, supporting biodiversity and individual animal welfare in increasingly built environments.

Key Facts

Urban areas cover approximately 3% of global land surface but are home to 55% of the human population
Street trees, green roofs, and rain gardens can form functional wildlife corridors in dense cities
Hedgehogs, badgers, foxes, and many invertebrates use garden corridors to move between feeding and resting areas
Wildlife crossings under busy roads in urban areas dramatically reduce road mortality
Urban biodiversity can be higher than surrounding agricultural land in some species groups

Welfare Considerations

Urban wildlife corridors serve the welfare of individual wild animals by enabling safe movement between the habitat patches they need for feeding, sheltering, and reproduction. A hedgehog that cannot access gardens beyond its immediate block is constrained in its ability to find sufficient food; a badger unable to reach its sett safely across a busy road faces mortality risk on every journey. Well-designed urban green infrastructure reduces these risks and provides the spatial resources wild animals need to maintain good body condition and wellbeing in increasingly urbanised landscapes.

What You Can Do

Create or advocate for gaps in garden fences at the 13 cm hedgehog standard
Support green roof requirements in new building planning regulations
Volunteer with urban greening projects that plant trees and create wildlife corridors
Advocate for wildlife underpasses and crossing infrastructure on busy urban roads
Join a local urban biodiversity monitoring group to track corridor effectiveness