Abstract

New Urban Nature(s) and Greenways – Strategies for Effective Planning, Design, and Management

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Abstract

This presentation is based on literature review and precedent studies in North America, Europe and Asia. Substantial areas of neglected and underused lands exist in virtually all urban areas globally. These spontaneous landscapes, also known as drossscapes, are distributed unevenly in cities, often following infrastructure lines or abandoned land uses.  Their spatial extent and distribution is unique in every city and with respect to their relationship with other green spaces – thus representing important  opportunities to add to, or complement, existing greenways.

Because these new urban nature(s) are often perceived as dangerous, messy and unhealthy, new strategies are needed to realize the opportunity they present for expanding and enhancing greenways.  The presentation will discuss selected strategies; to build constituencies of public support, to manage these ecosystems to provide ecosystem services and mitigate associated disservices, and to integrate these new urban nature(s) into greenways. Precedent studies will illustrate the variable but distinct character these landscapes present and how they have been successfully transformed into urban greenways that are valued in their host communities.  

 

 

References

 

Berger, Alan. 2006.  Drosscape: wasting land in urban America. Princeton University Press, New York. 

 

Del Tredici, Peter. 2010.  “Spontaneous Urban Vegetation: Reflections of Change in a Globalized World,” Nature and Culture 5: 299–315.

 

Kowarik, Ingo. 2000. “Human Agency in Biological Invasions: Secondary Releases Foster Naturalization and Population Expansion of Alien Plant Species,” Biological Invasions 5 (2003): 293–312. 

 

Kühn, Norbert.2006. “Intentions for the Unintentional Spontaneous

Vegetation as the Basis for Innovative Planting Design in Urban Areas,” Journal of Landscape Architecture, Autumn 2006: 46–53.

 

Teixeira, Catarina Patoilo; Fernandes, Cláudia Oliveira: Ahern, Jack; Honrado, João Pradinho; Farinha-Marques, Paulo. 2021. Urban ecological novelty assessment: Implications for urban green infrastructure planning and management. Science of the Total Environment: 773, 145121. 

 

 

Keywords: greenways, novel urban ecosystems, urban ecosystem management

How to Cite:

Ahern, J., (2025) “New Urban Nature(s) and Greenways – Strategies for Effective Planning, Design, and Management”, Fábos Conference on Landscape and Greenway Planning 8(1). doi: https://doi.org/10.7275/fabos.2745