As cities keep expanding, wildlife keeps exiting and now there is a growing push to turn the situation around – invariably by planting more plants.Urban ecologist and University of Melbourne professor, Nick Williams, says it is the plants that fill these midway points – the native shrubs, perennial herbs and grasses – that are “critically important” to insects and small birds.They added grasses that birds use to make nests, spiky shrubs in which they could hide and plants with pithy stems that could provide a home for solitary bees.Over the course of the last five years, these newly planted ‘streetscapes’ – in South Yarra, Docklands, Parkville and North Melbourne – have been regularly surveyed with researchers identifying and counting bees, butterflies and birds across the seasons.The results have been good and Williams says this ‘Streetscape Biodiversity Project’ has provided proof that installing more complex native understory vegetation increases biodiversity."