{"id":459,"date":"2011-11-19T17:22:24","date_gmt":"2011-11-19T06:22:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/?p=459"},"modified":"2011-11-19T17:22:24","modified_gmt":"2011-11-19T06:22:24","slug":"applied-urban-ecology","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/?p=459","title":{"rendered":"Applied Urban Ecology"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Rating:<\/strong> \"★\"\"★\"\"★\"\"☆\"\"☆\"<\/p>\n

Matthias Richter and Ulrike Weiland. (eds). 2012. Applied Urban Ecology. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978 1 4443 3340 4.<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

Given that urban areas frequently degrade ecosystem processes and that, as urban areas expand this problem will only get worse, it follows that we need to consider ways to improve existing conditions. The aim of this text is to show how it might be done.<\/p>\n

It is very clear that tackling urban ecological problems is not the same as doing the same in wilderness areas. Apart from the need to understand urban processes and their impacts upon ecosystems there’s a far more complex set of issues that need to be taken into account. To some extent, these can be seen as wicked problems<\/a>, where a solution might well create other issues. It’s not surprising then that this text is divided into four main parts with several subdivisions.<\/p>\n

The first part and chapter looks briefly at the background to urban ecology, where it came from and the issues it faces. A similarly brief second part examines the links between urban ecology and similar topics and ways we can monitor the situation. Part three subdivides the topic into a number of key areas. In pathways we see how we can characterise urban patterns through the landscape approach as well as through energy flow diagrams.\u00a0 Socioenvironmental threats are the results of a rate of urbanisation greater than the system can cope with. The examples of Indian megacities is apposite given the issues they face but there’s the more surprising example of urban wastelands and the value they can have as wilderness areas (often, as in the case of London, as areas with rare species worthy of conservation status! Climate change means many urban areas are under threat and this section examines how we can plan to mitigate some of the resulting issues. In the section on urban biodiversity we look not at species distribution but at the ways in which species diversity can enrich human life and the ways in which our attitudes to urban species (e.g. trees) can influence urban ecology. The next theme is urban design which can either make or mar an area. The contributors describe how this can be navigated concluding with a chapter looking at Shanghai’s Expo Houtan Park. A final chapter\/section investigates the issue of water and the way in which it is moved, politically, around the city with a range of resultant issues. A final brief chapter\u00a0 highlights the role that can be played in urban management by urban ecology.<\/p>\n

This is a very readable high-speed tour through the complexities of actually getting urban ecology to improve the ecology of urban areas. It shows the many aspects that need to be navigated and is frank about the issues that we face. This is a great primer for those wanting to know more about the practical aspects of a key current issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rating: Matthias Richter and Ulrike Weiland. (eds). 2012. Applied Urban Ecology. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 978 1 4443 3340 4. Given that urban areas frequently degrade ecosystem processes and that, as urban areas expand this problem will only get worse, it follows that we need to consider ways to improve existing conditions. The aim of this text is to show how it might be done. It is very clear that tackling urban ecological problems is not the same as doing the same […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":460,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[46,27,125,126,127,102,128,124],"class_list":["post-459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-review","tag-biodiversity","tag-climate-change","tag-design","tag-megacities","tag-urban-design","tag-urban-ecology","tag-urban-politics","tag-urban-systems"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=459"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":469,"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459\/revisions\/469"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/460"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ecogeog.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}