Punching above their weight: the ecological and social benefits of pop‐up parks

Mata, Luis; Garrard, Georgia E.; Fidler, Fiona; Ives, Christopher D.; Wilson, Joab N.; Thomas, Freya; Bekessy, Sarah A.

doi:10.1002/fee.2060

Cited by 16 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 30 publications

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“…Such efforts are already underway in many parts of the world. For example, the blue-banded bee (Amegilla cingulata) in Melbourne, Australia, is being actively supported using planted habitats, but the designers and managers are already considering how to construct and maintain metanetworks of bee subpopulations (Mata et al, 2019). Although their approach does not yet include additional trophic dynamics (e.g., introducing neon cuckoo bees or bird species that prey on blue-banded bees), this build-it-and-they-will-come approach recognizes that food webs are often anchored by a few key species.…”

Section: Ecological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Others have found that urban systems have considerable species diversity and support locally rare or endangered native species. For example, changes in productivity and habitat structures in cities may favor specific species of birds (Marzluff and Ewing, 2008), spiders (Shochat et al, 2008), bees (Mata et al, 2019), or amphibians (Hamer and McDonnell, 2008). This urban biodiversity increasingly is valued and deliberately cultivated in more intentionally designed urban green spaces (Aronson et al, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Urban food webs interact with human socioeconomic and cultural systems, including designed landscapes, governance structures, and social networks. The uniquely defined ecological communities and food webs found in urban ecosystems have been described using a variety of terms, from "urban assemblages" (Aronson et al, 2017) and "urban metacommunities" (Andrade et al, 2020) to "ecological networks across environmental gradients" (Tylianakis and Morris, 2017), "ecological networks" (or "meta-networks") (Mata et al, 2019), "interaction networks" (Start et al, 2020), living shorelines, and green infrastructure (Hostetler et al, 2011), as well as the more concise "urban food webs" (Faeth et al, 2005;Warren et al, 2006;Aronson et al, 2017) 2 . Each of these terms includes concepts from community, ecosystem, landscape, and urban ecology.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Designing (for) Urban Food Webs

Felson

Ellison

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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Interest is growing in designing resilient and ecologically rich urban environments that provide social and ecological benefits. Regenerative and biocentric designs fostering urban ecological habitats including food webs that provide ecosystem services for people and wildlife increasingly are being sought. However, the intentional design of urban landscapes for food webs remains in an early stage with few precedents and many challenges. In this paper, we explore the potential to design (for) urban food webs through collaborations between designers and ecologists. We start by examining the ecology and management of Jamaica Bay in New York City as a case study of an anthropogenic landscape where ecosystems are degraded and the integrity of extant food webs are intertwined with human agency. A subsequent design competition focusing on ecological design and management of this large-scale landscape for animal habitat and ecosystem services for people illustrates how designers approach this anthropogenic landscape. This case study reveals that both designing urban landscapes for food webs and directly designing and manipulating urban food webs are complicated and challenging to achieve and maintain, but they have the potential to increase ecological health of, and enhance ecosystem services in, urban environments. We identify opportunities to capitalize on species interactions across trophic structures and to introduce managed niches in biologically engineered urban systems. The design competition reveals an opportunity to approach urban landscapes and ecological systems creatively through a proactive design process that includes a carefully crafted collaborative approach to constructing ecologically functioning landscapes that can integrate societal demands. As designers increasingly seek to build, adapt, and manage urban environments effectively, it will be critical to resolve the contradictions and challenges associated with human needs, ecosystem dynamics, and interacting assemblages of species. Ecologists and designers are still discovering and experimenting with designing (for) urban food webs and fostering species interactions within them. We recommend generating prototypes of urban food webs through a learning-by-doing approach in urban development projects. Design and implementation of urban food webs also can lead to research opportunities involving monitoring and experiments that identify and solve challenges of food-web construction while supporting and encouraging ongoing management.

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Section: Ecological Considerationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Designing (for) Urban Food Webs

Felson

Ellison

2021

Front. Ecol. Evol.

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“…In fact, as argued by Singh et al (2018), establishment of urban nature reserves to create space for biodiversity to flourish and to promote wellbeing of city dwellers, needs to be made mandatory while planning a city. Although we acknowledge the central role of large, permanent green spaces, here we draw attention to the emerging opportunity presented by small-scale, short-lived green spaces such as pop-up parks (PUPs) to synergistically enrich urban nature for the benefit of biodiversity and people (Mata et al, 2019). PUPs may help people rekindle their connections with nature, socialize, spend time outdoors, and experience positive short-term body and mind states.…”

Section: Contribution To Biodiversitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Green infrastructure of cities: an overview

Singh

Singh²,

Singh³

2020

PINSA

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With growing urbanization cities are increasingly suffering due to the abundance of built-in spaces, concrete, mortar and tarmac, urban heat islands, increasing frequency of extreme heat events and climate change. The sustainable development goal 11, emphasizes on developing green infrastructure which could minimize the environmental footprint of the cities. In this paper, we discuss the role of green infrastructure in carbon sequestration, mitigating atmospheric pollution, moderating temperature and mitigating climate change, and management of storm water. We also discuss biodiversity of green infrastructure and the latter as habitat of organisms, and provide an overview of economic value of trees in the urban areas. Keywords: Green infrastructure, carbon sequestration, urban heat island, pollution abatement, urban biodiversity. According to Chenoweth et al. (2018), the green infrastructure of a city comprises various "natural and semi-natural green spaces, including parks and gardens, amenity green space, allotments and city farms, cemeteries and churchyards, green corridors such as rivers or railway embankments, conservation and nature reserves, and archaeological sites". The concept of green infrastructure covers the quality and quantity as well as the multifunctional roles of urban and peri-urban green spaces, and emphasizes the importance of interconnections between habitats (Turner, 1996; Rudlin and Falk, 1999; Sandströ m, 2002; Van der Ryn and Cowan, 1996). According to Tzoulas et al. (2007), a well-planned green infrastructure can provide both a framework for economic growth and nature conservation. The objectives of developing green infrastructure include improving human health and wellbeing, urban aesthetics, biodiversity conservation, water management, sustainable land management, climate change mitigation and adaptation, job creation, and urban regeneration (Chenoweth et al., 2018). Urban green spaces are also important for developing proenvironment attitudes among people as found out by an interesting survey in Pune (Budruk et al., 2009). In this paper, we discuss the role of green infrastructure in mitigating atmospheric pollution, carbon sequestration, moderation of temperature and mitigation of climate change, and management of storm water. We also discuss biodiversity of green infrastructure and the latter as habitat of organisms, and provide an overview of economic value of trees in the urban areas. Pollution mitigation and Carbon sequestration Urbanization degrades the environment by replacing natural landscapes, with manmade materials (Nowak, 2006). Heat, and emissions of various kinds associated with urbanization, affect not only the local and regional landscape but also the health of local people (Nowak, 2006). Urban vegetation can positively affect the local and regional air quality by removing air pollutants and altering the urban atmosphere. Urban trees remove air pollution primarily through uptake via leaf stomata and other parts of the plant surface (Mullaney et al., 2015). An increase...

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“…A parallel, yet limited, body of applied research has focused on providing evidence of the positive benefits of BNB actions. For example, a recent study assessing the insect and spider community of a pop‐up park that brought a native grassland back into central Melbourne for 6 weeks found that the temporary vegetation sustained almost twice as many native insect species as the site's pre‐existing vegetation (Mata et al, 2019). Despite these theoretical and empirical advances, much work is needed to tackle the complexities involved in translating BNB research into practice (McDonnell & Hahs, 2013; Ossola & Niemelä, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bringing nature back into cities

et al. 2020

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1. Protecting nature is a fundamental aspect of local and Indigenous cultures that has more recently become an urban sustainability goal. The benefits provided by nature to people and other species have sparked an upsurge in research exploring how best to manage existing nature in urban environments. Here we expand this focus by drawing attention to an emerging pathway of research and practice that is engaged with the idea of bringing nature back into cities (BNB).2. We argue that BNB could be a vital force of the 21st century urban-sustainability agenda. However, the enthusiasm of practitioners and policymakers for incorporating BNB objectives into local and global strategies remains uneven. As interdisciplinary scholars involved with the theory and practice of caring for urban nature, we believe that the time is ripe to present a fresh perspective on seven key areas that can unlock the potential of actions to bring nature back into cities.3. Specifically, we: (a) argue that the sovereignty of local and Indigenous knowledgesystems be acknowledged and respected; (b) contend that the choice of bringing nature back actions should be driven by inclusive decision-making; (c) discuss advances in ecology that need to be addressed to facilitate the return of nature into cities; (d) outline how the diffusion of innovation theory may assist communication of BNB actions to stakeholders; (e) discuss how built-environment professionals can demonstrate the value of urban infrastructure for BNB; (f) call for longitudinal research to understand, quantify and qualify the benefits of BNB actions and (g) consider solutions needed to address concerns about potential risks and disservices associated with actions to bring nature back into urban environments.4. Taken together, these perspectives, and the transdisciplinary framework that emerges from them, embody theoretical innovation regarding how to bring nature back into cities and a holistic view of how to make this happen in practice. Bringing nature back into cities has the potential to become an environmentally just and culturally inclusive dimension of the 21st urban sustainability agenda upon which future generations of city-dwellers rely. | 351People and Nature MATA eT Al.

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Punching above their weight: the ecological and social benefits of pop‐up parks

Cited by 16 publications

References 30 publications

Designing (for) Urban Food Webs

Designing (for) Urban Food Webs

Green infrastructure of cities: an overview

Bringing nature back into cities

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