Resilience in Ecology and Urban Design: Linking Theory and Practice for Sustainable Cities

The contributors to this volume propose strategies of urgent and vital importance that aim to make today's urban environments more resilient. Resilience, the ability of complex systems to adapt to changing conditions, is a key frontier in ecological research and is especially relevant in creative urban design, as urban areas exemplify complex systems. With something approaching half of the world's population now residing in coastal urban zones, many of which are vulnerable both to floods originating inland and rising sea levels, making urban areas more robust in the face of environmental threats must be a policy ambition of the highest priority. The complexity of urban areas results from their spatial heterogeneity, their intertwined material and energy fluxes, and the integration of social and natural processes. All of these features can be altered by intentional planning and design. The complex, integrated suite of urban structures and processes together affect the adaptive resilience of urban systems, but also presupposes that planners can intervene in positive ways. As examples accumulate of linkage between sustainability and building/landscape design, such as the Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park and Toronto's Lower Don River area, this book unites the ideas, data, and insights of ecologists and related scientists with those of urban designers. It aims to integrate a formerly atomized dialog to help both disciplines promote urban resilience.

andldquo;This is a book about Baltimoreandrsquo;s past, present, and future, but its resonance reverberates to all the far-flung places we all call home.andrdquo; andmdash;From the Foreword by Laura A. Ogden, Dartmouth College

andldquo;This book stands out from others on urban ecology by its strong emphasis on a central concept and detailed descriptions of and reflections on method. It will be extremely useful in advancing urban ecology as an interdisciplinary pursuit.andrdquo;andmdash;Joan Iverson Nassauer, University of Michigan

andldquo;The authors have written a major work on urban ecology that reflects years of interdisciplinary collaboration.andrdquo;andmdash;Frederick Steiner, The University of Texas at Austin

andldquo;All urbanistsandmdash;whether practitioners, theorists, or scientistsandmdash;will find this volume a must read. Using the concept of patch dynamics, Grove and co-authors bring a fresh, interdisciplinary perspective to an urgent issue: how can we better link urban science with urban decision-making to create and manage cities that are more sustainable?andrdquo;andmdash;Karen C. Seto, Yale University

andldquo;Hybrid vigor rules these pages.andnbsp;The Baltimore Sociology-Ecology Team eloquently elucidates a cityandrsquo;s overlapping, connected, dynamic patch patterns, both to understand and shape urban mosaics.andnbsp;Indeed this book uncovers foundations for a promising future.andrdquo;andmdash;Richard T. T. Forman, author of Urban Ecology: Science of Cities

andldquo;This lucidly written book convincingly demonstrates the strength of long-term and multidisciplinary study on urban ecosystems. The innovative Baltimore School is introduced as an integrated approach to understanding the complexities urban social-ecological systems.andrdquo;andmdash;Jari Niemelandauml;, Editor-in-Chief of Urban Ecologyandmdash;patterns, processes, and applications

This book unites the ideas, data and insights of ecologists and other scientists with those of urban designers, creating a dialog that helps to promote urban resilience. Offers strategies aimed at making today's urban environments more resilient.

A leading-edge guide to thinking about and planning for 21st-century cities in all their social, political, and ecological complexity

The first andldquo;urban centuryandrdquo; in history has arrived: a majority of the worldandrsquo;s population now resides in cities and their surrounding suburbs. Urban expansion marches on, and the planning and design of future cities requires attention to such diverse issues as human migration, public health, economic restructuring, water supply, climate and sea-level change, and much more. This important book draws on two decades of pioneering social and ecological studies in Baltimore to propose a new way to think about cities and their social, political, and ecological complexity. Readers will gain fresh perspectives on how to study, build, and manage cities in innovative and sustainable ways.

J. Morgan Grove is team leader and research scientist at the Baltimore Field Station, USDA Forest Service. Mary L. Cadenasso is professor and ecologist, Department of Plant Sciences, University of California, Davis. Steward T. A. Pickett is Distinguished Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Millbrook, N.Y. Gary E. Machlis is Professor of Environmental Sustainability at Clemson University, and Science Advisor to the Director, National Park Service. William R. Burch, Jr. is Hixon Professor Emeritus of natural resource management and senior research scientist, Yale University School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

Dedication Foreword. Richard T.T. Forman Acknowledgements Introduction: Developing a Metalogue: Ecology, Society and Design S.T.A. Pickett, M.L. Cadenasso, and Brian P. McGrath Section I: Ecology, Design, and Social Contexts: Disciplinary Voices and History Chapter 1: Ecology of the City as a Bridge to Urban Design S.T.A. Pickett, M.L. Cadenasso, and Brian P. McGrath Chapter 2: Three Tides: The Development and State of the Art of Urban Ecological Science M.L. Cadenasso and S.T.A. Pickett Chapter 3: Social Dynamics and Sustainable Urban Design Christopher G. Boone Chapter 4: Integral Urbanism: A Context for Urban Design Nan Ellin Chapter 5: Landscape as Method and Medium for the Ecological Design of Cities Joan Nassauer Section II. Shared Conceptual Understanding: Four Themes for Bridging Ecology and Urban Design Theme 1: Spatial Heterogeneity in Ecology and Urban Design Chapter 6: Ecological Heterogeneity in Urban Ecosystems: Reconceptualized Land Cover Models as a Bridge to Urban Design M.L. Cadenasso, S.T.A. Pickett, Brian P. McGrath, and Victoria Marshall Chapter 7: Urban Patch Dynamics and Resilience: Three London Urban Design Ecologies D. Grahame Shane Theme 2: Flux of Water in the Urban Realm Chapter 8: Eco-engineering for Water: From Soft to Hard & Back Kelly Shannon Chapter 9: Beyond Restoration and into Design: Hydrologic Alterations in Aridland Cities Elisabeth K. Larson, Stevan Earl, Elizabeth M. Hagen, Rebecca Hale, Hilairy Hartnett, Michelle McCrackin, Melissa McHale, and Nancy B. Grimm Theme 3: Resilience: Adaptation and Change in Urban Systems Chapter 10: Ecological Resilience as a Foundation for Urban Design and Sustainability Jianguo Wu and Tong Wu Chapter 11: Slow, Moderate, Fast: Urban Adaptation and Change Brian P. McGrath Theme 4: Social Actors and Agents of Urban Organization Chapter 12: Anchoring a Terrain: Landscapes beyond Urbanism Dilip da Cunha Chapter 13: Storyline and Design: How Civic Stewardship Shapes Urban Design in New York City Erika S. Svendsen Chapter 14: Eco-cities without Ecology: Constructing Ideologies, Valuing Nature Julie Sze and Gerardo Gambirazzio Section III. Bridging Ecology and Urban Design Practice Chapter 15: Sponge City Ignacio F. Bunster-Ossa Chapter 16: Civic Space in Regional Frameworks: Resilient Approaches to Urban Design Jill Desimini Chapter 17: Aesthetic Resilience Victoria Marshall with Christina Tague Chapter 18: Anchoring Philadelphia Anuradha Mathur and Dilip da Cunha Chapter 19: Shanghai Chemical Industrial Park Treatment Wetland: Integrated Strategies in Natural Treatment System Design Kerry Rubin and Rowan Roderick-Jones Chapter 20: Just Ground: A Social Infrastructure for Urban Landscape Regeneration Julie Bargmann Chapter 21: Ecological and Social Linkages in Urban Design Projects: A Synthesis J. Morgan Grove Section IV. Urban Design in Expanded Disciplinary and Geographical Contexts Chapter 22: The Design Process as a Framework for Collaboration between Ecologists and Designers Alexander J. Felson Chapter 23: Remixing Messages: A Call for Collaboration between Artists and Scientists Mary Miss Chapter 24: Landscape Urbanism: A North American Perspective Alissa North and Charles Waldheim Chapter 25: Urbanism and Ecological Rationality Paola Viganò Chapter 26: Bangkok: The Ecology and Design of an Aqua-City Danai Thaitakoo, Brian McGrath, Suebsiri Srithanyarat, and Ying Palopakon Chapter 27: Disturbanism in the South Pacific: Disturbance Ecology as a Basis for Urban Resilience in Small Island States Rod Barnett and Jacqueline Margetts Section V. Moving Forward Chapter 28: The Ecology of the Metacity: Shaping the Dynamic, Patchy, Networked, and Adaptive Cities of the Future S.T.A. Pickett, Brian P. McGrath, and M.L. Cadenasso Index.