Urban Floodplains Can Teach People to Conserve Natural Spaces in Cities

Have you ever seen an urban floodplain? These are areas around a river within the city that can fill with water when it rains a lot. Since there are many streets and buildings, the water cannot seep into the ground and ends up flooding these areas. Urban floodplains often go unnoticed; worse, they are seen as areas that should be filled in or developed. However, these aquatic ecosystems are very important for the local environment because they help control river floods, maintain water quality, and are the homes of many plants and animals. In this article, we will explore the importance of urban floodplains and the challenges people face in protecting them. In addition, we propose an educational activity—a field trip through a local urban floodplain—to educate the community and involve them in floodplain conservation.