New Methodologies for Interdisciplinary Research and Action in an Urban Ecosystem in Chicago

Wali, Alaka; Darlow, Gillian; Fialkowski, Carol; Tudor, Madeleine; Campo, Hilary del; Stone, Douglas M.

doi:10.5751/es-00568-070302

Cited by 11 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…Social assets are the local capacities and ecological expertise that can empower communities to sustain a https://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol22/iss4/art6/ good quality of life and steward the management of their natural resources and cultural practices. Asset mapping is adapted from urban planners (McKnight and Kretzmann 1993) and has been used in the Field Museum's work in an urban setting within Chicago's Calumet region (Wali et al 2003). It combines different existing diagnostic instruments, such as ethno-cartography using both sketch maps and satellite images, and participatory rapid appraisal (Chambers 1994, Chapin and Threlkeld 2001, del Campo and Wali 2007 to provide a comprehensive place-based assessment that integrates the identification of ecological knowledge, forms of social organization, and local institutional capacities (Wali 2016).…”

Section: Research Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new approach to conservation: using community empowerment for sustainable well-being

Wali¹,

Alvira²,

Tallman³

et al. 2017

E&S

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ABSTRACT. The global environmental conservation community recognizes that the participation of local communities is essential for the success of conservation initiatives; however, much work remains to be done on how to integrate conservation and human wellbeing. We propose that an assets-based approach to environmental conservation and human well-being, which is grounded in a biocultural framework, can support sustainable and adaptive management of natural resources by communities in regions adjacent to protected areas. We present evidence from conservation and quality of life initiatives led by the Field Museum of Natural History over the past 17 years in the Peruvian Amazon. Data were derived from asset mapping in 37 communities where rapid inventories were conducted and from 38 communities that participated in longer term quality of life planning. Our main findings are that Amazonian communities have many characteristics, or assets, that recent scholarship has linked to environmental sustainability and good natural resource stewardship, and that quality of life plans that are based on these assets tend to produce priorities that are more consistent with environmental conservation. Importantly, we found that validating social and ecological assets through our approach can contribute to the creation of protected areas and to their long-term management. As strategies to engage local communities in conservation expand, research on how particular methodologies, such as an assets-based approach, is needed to determine how these initiatives can best empower local communities, how they can be improved, and how they can most effectively be linked to broader conservation and development processes.

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Section: Research Techniquesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A new approach to conservation: using community empowerment for sustainable well-being

Wali¹,

Alvira²,

Tallman³

et al. 2017

E&S

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“…Non-native species and non-native pests are often a misery for everyone. In Calumet, nature bears witness both to the heady days of strong worker unions and well-paid work and to the corporate abandonment of neighborhoods (Wali et al 2003).…”

Section: Habitats and Toxinsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Paradox of Parks

Williams

2006

Identities

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As public space, parks are crucial to community and identity. They provide important natural habitats and healthful environments, but they can also become toxic sites. Planners have tried to organize how they are used through how they are designed; then other people have used them in different, contested ways. Parks are sites of deeply rooted folk traditions, shifting ideologies, and corporate power. They attract loyal champions and volunteers, and engage fervent placebased activism. Parks express and exacerbate shifting inequalities in cities. In parks, people with power may slight and denigrate the poor, the problematic, and the aimless, and sometimes blame them for the parks' problems. But diverse people also come together there in startling, serendipitous ways. Parks tell stories about power, and about democracy.

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“…Once the assessment, or "asset mapping" (Mapeo de Usos y Fortalezas, or MUF, in Spanish), is complete, it provides a rich data set from which indicators can be developed to measure well-being. Th e MUF is adapted from urban planning (Kretzmann and McKnight 1993;Wali et al 2003). It is a combination of diagnostic instruments such as resource sketch mapping and participatory rapid appraisal using focus groups, household surveys, photo elicitation, and community meetings.…”

Section: Th E Cultural Basis Of Well-being In Peruvian Amazon Communimentioning

confidence: 99%

Culturally Grounded Indicators of Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems

Sterling¹,

Ticktin²,

Morgan³

et al. 2017

Environment and Society

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n AbstrAct: Measuring progress toward sustainability goals is a multifaceted task. International, regional, and national organizations and agencies seek to promote resilience and capacity for adaptation at local levels. However, their measurement systems may be poorly aligned with local contexts, cultures, and needs. Understanding how to build effective, culturally grounded measurement systems is a fundamental step toward supporting adaptive management and resilience in the face of environmental, social, and economic change. To identify patterns and inform future efforts, we review seven case studies and one framework regarding the development of culturally grounded indicator sets. Additionally, we explore ways to bridge locally relevant indicators and those of use at national and international levels. The process of identifying and setting criteria for appropriate indicators of resilience in social-ecological systems needs further documentation, discussion, and refinement, particularly regarding capturing feedbacks between biological and social-cultural elements of systems.n Keywords: biocultural indicators, indicator sets, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, resilience, sustainability, well-being Indigenous and other place-based, local communities increasingly face an assortment of externally codified development and sustainability goals, regional commitments, and national policies and actions that are designed, in part, to foster adaptation and resilience at the local level. Resilience refers to the capacity of a system to absorb shocks and disturbances and to catalyze renewal, adaptation, transformation, and innovation (Béné et al. 2013). Identifying and setting criteria for the underlying factors that confer resilience to a community are the first steps toward effectively aligning external sustainability-seeking processes, often associated with resourcing mechanisms, with locally relevant and locally embraced approaches to sustaining environmental health and community well-being in the face of environmental, social, and economic change (Fazey et al. 2011;Folke et al. 2003).

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New Methodologies for Interdisciplinary Research and Action in an Urban Ecosystem in Chicago

Cited by 11 publications

References 25 publications

A new approach to conservation: using community empowerment for sustainable well-being

A new approach to conservation: using community empowerment for sustainable well-being

The Paradox of Parks

Culturally Grounded Indicators of Resilience in Social-Ecological Systems

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