London's Natural History Museum to Open Urban Nature Park in Summer 2024

The Natural History Museum in London, housing around 70 million specimens across five thematic collections, is transforming its 20,000 square meters of gardens into an Evolution Park. The Urban Nature Project, funded with £21 million and started in spring 2023, will be completed by summer 2024. It includes a seven-meter-deep canyon entrance lined with ancient stones and fossils from across Britain, leading to the Garden of Evolution. The park will feature tree ferns (descendants of species from 359 million years ago), Japanese palms, and a life-size bronze replica of Dippy, the Diplodocus cast acquired in the early 1900s. The project aims to protect urban nature, serve as a research site for climate change effects, and offer citizen science activities. It follows recent urban renewals like the National Portrait Gallery renovation and the Tate Modern conversion of Bankside Power Station by Herzog & de Meuron.