Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Activating landscape ecology: a governance framework for design-in-science

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Landscape Ecology Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Context

In response to predominantly local and private approaches to landscape change, landscape ecologists should critically assess the multiscalar influences on landscape design.

Objectives

This study develops a governance framework for Nassauer and Opdam’s “Design-in-Science” model. Its objective is to create an approach for examining hierarchical constraints on landscape design in order to investigate linkages among urban greening initiatives, patterns of landscape change, and the broader societal values driving those changes. It aims to provide an integrative and actionable approach for landscape sustainability science.

Methods

This framework is examined through an ethnographic study of public policy processes surrounding the urban tree initiatives in Boston, MA; Philadelphia, PA; and Baltimore, MD.

Results

These initiatives demonstrate the impact of political and economic decentralization on urban landscape patterns. Their collaborative governance approach incorporates diverse resources to implement programming at a fine-scale. The predominant tree giveaway program fragments the urban and regional forest.

Conclusion

Spatial and temporal fragmentation undermines the long-term security of urban greening programs, and it suggests reconsideration of the role of state regimes in driving broad scale spatial planning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Reproduced with Permission from Nassauer and Opdam (2008)

Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Agrawal A (2010) Local institutions and adaptation to climate change. In: Mearns R (ed) Social dimensions of climate change. equity and vulnerability in a warming world. World Bank Publications, Singapore, pp 173–198

    Google Scholar 

  • Ahern J (2011) From fail-safe to safe-to-fail: sustainability and resilience in the new urban world. Landsc Urban Plan 100(4):341–343

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Allen TF, Hoekstra TW (1992) Toward a unified ecology. New York

  • Amati M, Taylor L (2010) From green belts to green infrastructure. Plan Pract Res 25(2):143–155

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bebbington AJ, Batterbury SPJ (2001) Transnational livelihoods and landscapes: political ecologies of globalization. Cult Geogr 8(4):369–380

    Google Scholar 

  • Beunen R, Opdam P (2011) When landscape planning becomes landscape governance, what happens to the science? Landsc Urban Plan 100(4):324–326

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brenner N, Theodore N (2002) Cities and the geographies of “actually existing neoliberalism”. Antipode 34(3):349–379

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bridge G, Perreault T (2009) Environmental Governance. In: Castree N, Demeritt D, Liverman D, Rhoads B (eds) A companion to environmental geography. Blackwell Publishing, West Sussex

    Google Scholar 

  • Dwyer JF, Nowak DJ, Noble MH (2003) Sustaining urban forests. J Arboric 29:49–55

    Google Scholar 

  • Evans JP (2011) Resilience, ecology and adaptation in the experimental city. Trans Inst Br Geogr 36(2):223–237

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Foo K (2017) Institutionalizing urban possibility: urban greening and vacant land governance in three American Cities. In: Henneberry John (ed) Transience and permanence in urban development. Wiley-Blackwell, Oxford, U.K

    Google Scholar 

  • Foo K (2018) Examining the role of NGOs in urban environmental governance. Cities. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cities.2018.01.002

    Google Scholar 

  • Forman RT (2003) Road ecology: science and solutions. Island Press, Washington

    Google Scholar 

  • Franklin JF, Forman RT (1987) Creating landscape patterns by forest cutting: ecological consequences and principles. Landscape Ecol 1(1):5–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gobster PH, Nassauer JI, Daniel TC, Fry G (2007) The shared landscape: what does aesthetics have to do with ecology? Landscape Ecol 22(7):959–972

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grove J, Cadenasso ML, Burch WR Jr, Pickett ST, Schwarz K, O’Neil-Dunne J, Boone C (2006) Data and methods comparing social structure and vegetation structure of urban neighborhoods in Baltimore, Maryland. Soc Nat Res 19(2):117–136

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Holifield R (2001) Defining environmental justice and environmental racism. Urban Geogr 22(1):78–90

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jessop B (2008) State power. Polity Press, Malden, MA

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnston DM, Wescoat JL (2008) Political economies of landscape change. Springer, Dordrech

    Google Scholar 

  • Leichenko R (2011) Climate change and urban resilience. Curr opin environ sustain 3(3):164–168

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lemos MC, Agrawal A (2006) Environmental governance. Annu Rev Environ Resour 31:297–325

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lenzholzer S, Duchhart I, Koh J (2013) ‘Research through designing’ in landscape architecture. Lands Urban Plan 113:120–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lerman SB, Warren PS (2011) The conservation value of residential yards: linking birds and people. Ecol Appl 21(4):1327–1339

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Levin SA (1992) The problem of pattern and scale in ecology: the Robert H. MacArthur award lecture. Ecology 73(6):1943–1967

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li H, Wu J (2004) Use and misuse of landscape indices. Landsc Ecol 19(4):389

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marcus GE (1986) Contemporary problems of ethnography in the modern world system. In: Clifford J, Marcus GE (eds) Writing culture: the poetics and politics of ethnography. University of California Press, Berkeley

    Google Scholar 

  • McCarthy J, Prudham S (2004) Neoliberal nature and the nature of neoliberalism. Geoforum 35(3):275–283

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nassauer JI (2006) Landscape planning and conservation biology: systems thinking revisited. Conserv Biol 20(3):677–678

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nassauer JI, Opdam P (2008) Design in science: extending the landscape ecology paradigm. Landsc Ecol 23(6):633–644

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nowak DJ (1993) Historical vegetation change in Oakland and its implications for urban forest management. J Arboric 19(5):313–319

    Google Scholar 

  • Nowak DJ, Greenfield EJ (2012) Tree and impervious cover change in US cities. Urban For Urban Greening 11(1):21–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • O’Neill RV, DeAngelis DL, Waide JB, Allen TFH (1986) A hierarchical concept of ecosystems. Princeton University Press, Princeton

    Google Scholar 

  • Opdam P, Luque S, Nassauer J, Verburg PH, Wu J (2018) How can landscape ecology contribute to sustainability science? Landsc Ecol 33:1–7

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peck J, Theodore N, Brenner N (2009) Neoliberal urbanism: models, moments, mutations. SAIS Rev Int Aff 29(1):49–66

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peet R, Hartwick E (2015) Theories of development: contentions, arguments, alternatives. Guilford Publications, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Polanyi K, MacIver RM (1944) The great transformation, vol 2. Beacon Press, Boston, p 145

    Google Scholar 

  • Schwarz K, Fragkias M, Boone CG, Zhou W, McHale M, Grove JM, Ogden L (2015) Trees grow on money: urban tree canopy cover and environmental justice. PLoS One 10(4):e0122051

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Seto KC, Sánchez-Rodríguez R, Fragkias M (2010) The new geography of contemporary urbanization and the environment. Annu Rev Environ Resour 35(1):167

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Smith DE (2005) Institutional ethnography: a sociology for people. Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Lanham

    Google Scholar 

  • Swaffield S (2013) Empowering landscape ecology-connecting science to governance through design values. Landsc Ecol 28(6):1193–1201

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Troy A, Grove JM, O’Neil-Dunne J (2012) The relationship between tree canopy and crime rates across an urban–rural gradient in the greater Baltimore region. Landsc Urban Plan 106(3):262–270

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Urban DL, O’Neill RV, Shugart HH Jr (1987) A hierarchical perspective can help scientists understand spatial patterns. Bioscience 37(2):119–127

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vitousek PM, Mooney HA, Lubchenco J, Melillo JM (1997) Human domination of Earth’s ecosystems. Science 277(5325):494–499

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wiens JA (1989) Spatial scaling in ecology. Funct Ecol 3(4):385–397

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J (2013) Landscape sustainability science: ecosystem services and human well-being in changing landscapes. Landsc Ecol 28(6):999–1023

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu J (2015) Urban ecology and sustainability: the state-of-the-science and future directions. Landsc Urban Plan 125:209–221

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Young RF (2011) Planting the Living City: best practices in planning green infrastructure—results from major US cities. J Am Plan Assoc 77(4):368–381

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, MA, USA

    Katherine Foo

  2. Clark University, Worcester, MA, USA

    James McCarthy & Anthony Bebbington

  3. University of Melbourne, Melbourne, VIC, Australia

    Anthony Bebbington

Authors
  1. Katherine Foo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. James McCarthy
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Anthony Bebbington
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Katherine Foo.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Foo, K., McCarthy, J. & Bebbington, A. Activating landscape ecology: a governance framework for design-in-science. Landscape Ecol 33, 675–689 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-018-0630-3

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-018-0630-3

Keywords

Search

Navigation