Growing cities and green space

Can urban density increase as well as green area? It depends. Cities without strong urban or green infrastructure regulations can result in sprawling concrete jungles, as green areas are viewed as ‘ready for development’. In cities such as Seattle that have urban growth boundaries, then yes, it can grow more green without the fear of losing what it seeks to protect. But growing urban areas that place a priority on biodiversity, such as Singapore, can do some impressive things. The city population of Singapore grew by 68% between 1987 and 2006. Yet the green footprint in this Garden City grew between 35-47% for the same period. How? Because they planned for it. For more on this head over to https://therevelator.org/urban-ecology-sustainable-cities/

What is the Ecological Landscape Alliance?

“The Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA) is a nonprofit, member-based organization made up of professionals, businesses and pro-active community members who believe in using landscape practices that are environmentally safe and beneficial.

Our Mission

The Ecological Landscape Alliance (ELA) was founded in 1991. We advocate for environmentally responsible stewardship of land and natural resources in landscaping and horticultural practices of both professionals and the public. Through education, collaboration, and networking, ELA promotes the design, installation, and maintenance of landscapes that are guided by a knowledge of and respect for natural ecosystems.

Our Members

We are diverse in many ways but united in common purpose. We:

Believe in using landscaping practices that are environmentally safe;

Believe that natural systems are the best guide for learning how to develop and maintain healthy landscapes;

Value landscaping methods that are based upon scientific studies and practical experience;

Are committed to educating ourselves and others about ecological landscaping methods; and

Believe that a network of dedicated people can be a powerful agent for change.”

Find out more about ELA at https://www.ecolandscaping.org/about/

Cities are Living Systems Too

photo credit (National Galleries of Victoria https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/#)

Agrarian Legacy

Lewis et al in Global Change Biology (2006) found that residential soil levels can be impacted from prior land use for up to 40 years later. This might explain why many residences in the southern U.S. have elevated P levels on former agricultural lands. The authors compared former agriculture lands with natural lands and found significant soil differences. They term this a ‘direct agrarian legacy.’ How many other legacies are out there?

Lewis, Kaye, Gries, Kinzig, and Redman. 2006. Agrarian legacy in soil-nutrient pools of urbanizing arid lands. Global Change Biology 12:703-709.

Ecoacoustics of London

Here’s an interesting project that looks at the sound of a major city, including its biodiversity.

“We have created tools to make it easier to monitor the environment in London.

CityNet is a machine-learned system that measures the amount of audible sound made by wildlife and humans recorded using sound recorders. This can be used to give a very detailed picture of how biodiversity and human activities change over time.

We use an interactive map to display the automatically-inferred trends in biodiversity and human sounds at 63 sites of green infrastructure in and around Greater London, UK.”

Find out more here:

http://www.londonsounds.org/about.html