In the Weeds

 Winged sumac

Nice article by Nate Berg in the Sept. 2015 issue of Landscape Architecture magazine on the urban ecology/design work of Future Green Studio, from Brooklyn, New York. Several reclaimed-use projects are featured, including an event space called Nowadays. The design team, led by FGS principal David Seiter, kept the pre-existing honey locust trees that were sprouting through the cracked pavement; and then replanted other urban “weeds”: including sumacs, birch, aspen, goldenrod and Queen Anne’s lace. Seiter is quoted as saying “It’s rooted in a conceptual understanding of landscape and site to reveal the latencies in the site and think about how they can be woven into a future designed environment” (Berg, LAM, 2015, p. 64).

Find out more about Future Green Studio at their company website at http://futuregreenstudio.com/

About their firm: “Our approach is reductive – through analysis, we scrape away and unearth the layers of an existing site to reveal its inherent value and beauty. We develop a thorough understanding of its historical, material and spatial conditions so that we can optimize the often overlooked social, ecological and economic assets that lie dormant within it. The goal of this approach is to reveal the nuances of the urban landscape in subtle, poetic ways; awakening the user to the complex ecology of our cities.”

Cities need natural systems

"Urban spatial design is a key factor shaping how urban dwellers relate to the landscape (Matteo et al., 2014.); therefore we must rethink and redesign urban areas to feature natural ecosystems and the intertwined processes of natural and cultural history."

Beery and Jonnson, 2015, "Inspiring the Outdoor Experience: Does the Path Through a Nature Center Lead Out the Door?", Journal of Interpretation Research, Vol. 20, No. 1, p. 67.

Urban Land Use and Landcover Types

Single-family residential, mixed-family residential, mixed use, and industrial landuse when compared with urban forest, urban grass, paved urban, grass, and forested landcovers (Alberti 2007)

 

 



Forested landscapes tend to be found more often in single-family residential areas than in other land-use types, according to a 2007 paper by Marina Alberti, a professor of urban and environmental planning in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington. In her paper entitled Ecological Signatures: The Science of Sustainable Urban Forms in Places (19(3)), Alberti uses GIS data to identify the primary ecological signatures of urban development. As shown in her graph above (2007), an analysis of the Seattle metropolitan area shows that single-family residential (SFR) ranked high in urban forests and conserved forests but lower in impermeable paved urban surfaces (concrete and asphalt). Mixed-family residential (MFR) and mixed-use (residential and commercial zones) tended to have less forests but more urban lawns. Industrial landscapes tended to be highly paved with some grass and little forested land. As your community grows and expands with residential, commercial, or industrial properties; what impacts does that expansion mean for urban biodiversity?

Exotic vegetation types in urban areas are linked to longitude

Colonial Williamsburg, VA

It seems that the fruit does not fall far from the tree. In a paper published in Urban Habitats (Vol. 1, no. 1), researchers Steven Clements and Gerry Moore studied 8 U.S. eastern cities and compared the diversity of both native and non-native plants. Looking at Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Detroit, Chicago, Minneapolis, and St. Louis, they found that these cities averaged 65% native trees to 35% exotics. For the native trees, they found similar clusters of species in the Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C. area; and another cluster around Detroit, Chicago and Minneapolis. For the non-native trees, they found the most similarity around Chicago and Detroit, and New York and Philadelphia. Clements and Moore surmise that the exotic tree clustering is longitudinal, and "most likely the result of the history of plant introduction in North America." The eastern seaports have the most non-native species which declines significantly as one moves westward. They also note that exotic species have more time to become established with older cities. Similar observations can be seen along the Gulf Coast near New Orleans and Mobile, though it is more latitudinal.

Detroit-isms

Detroitism: "the fetish for crumbling urban landscapes mixed with eccentric utopian delusions, 'where bohemians from expensive coastal cities can have the $100 house and community garden of their dreams." -- John Patrick Leary, Guernica magazine, 1/15/2011
 (Image by Michael Yun)

Michael Yun makes an interesting case in his master's thesis at the University of Michigan for Detroit's ample vacant lands to be restored to the vast prairie that it once was. Entitled "Alternative Uses for Vacant Land in Detroit, Michigan", Yun takes a look at the potential rejuvenation of derelict land. Completed in 2008 under Professor Joan Nassauer, Yun notes that the existing open lands in Detroit help to filter stormwater, harbor native plant and animal species, and serve as greenways that run through the city-- even better than what the previous houses and urban landscapes once did. He proposes for areas that have four contiguously vacant properties be converted to prairie, with a 30 foot mown buffer between the lots and adjacent properties. This would provide a safe distance so that occasional prescribed burns can maintain the prairie plots (or if it is a dilapidated structure, can burn the prairie and eyesore all at once). Yun extrapolates how this approach could be applied across the city-- which seems unlikely--but even if prairies were restored upon a few small plots, it would reduce the mowing needs and add a much-needed landscape integrity once again to portions of the city.  Believe me, anything would look better than the current institutional-looking mown vacant plots. His study raises more questions than answers, but Yun's motives are clear when he writes "Could benevolent acts of restoration begin to heal the community even if the initial physical changes seem modest?  Central to the value of this proposal is balanced consideration of both ecology and culture, and a belief that there is an underlying symbiosis of the two.  Compassion, benevolence and healing are qualities that will positively influence both.  In this sense, humble actions toward repair are the necessary first step."

Reclaiming the New Orleans Arts District