McPhearson, Timon; Pickett, Steward T. A.; Grimm, Nancy B.; Niemela, Jari; Alberti, Marina; Elmqvist, Thomas; Weber, Christiane; Haase, Dagmar; Breuste, Juergen; Qureshi, Salman. (2016). Advancing Urban Ecology toward a Science of Cities. Bioscience, 66(3), 198 – 212.
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Abstract
Urban ecology is a field encompassing multiple disciplines and practical applications and has grown rapidly. However, the field is heterogeneous as a global inquiry with multiple theoretical and conceptual frameworks, variable research approaches, and a lack of coordination among multiple schools of thought and research foci. Here, we present an international consensus on how urban ecology can advance along multiple research directions. There is potential for the field to mature as a holistic, integrated science of urban systems. Such an integrated science could better inform decisionmakers who need increased understanding of complex relationships among social, ecological, economic, and built infrastructure systems. To advance the field requires conceptual synthesis, knowledge and data sharing; cross-city comparative research, new intellectual networks, and engagement with additional disciplines. We consider challenges and opportunities for understanding dynamics of urban systems. We suggest pathways for advancing urban ecology research to support the goals of improving urban sustainability and resilience, conserving urban biodiversity, and promoting human well-being on an urbanizing planet.
Keywords
Urban Ecology (biology); Urban Biodiversity; Urbanization & The Environment; Life Sciences; Medical Sciences; Comparative Research; Complexity; Conceptual Frameworks; Urban Ecology; Urban Systems; Ecosystem Services; Green Spaces; Resilience; Framework; Systems; Design; Water; Tree
Harris, Keith. (2020). Blue Seattle: Immanent Ethics and Contemporary Urbanisation. Area, 52(2), 273 – 281.
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Abstract
This paper asserts that critical investigations into the urbanisation process should consider the actually existing ethics of the process itself, without defaulting to transcendent normative principles. Grounded in an ontology of immanence, as presented in Deleuze and Guattari's (9) political philosophy, I argue that attention must be paid to the production and transformation of normativity. Using the redevelopment of the South Lake Union (SLU) neighbourhood of Seattle - (in)famously home to Amazon, but largely envisioned and developed by Paul Allen's investment and philanthropic organisation, Vulcan - as an analytical starting point, this paper sketches out a profile of the blue dimension of the genesis of Seattle's environmental ethic, from early efforts to reshape the region's hydrology and address water pollution in Lake Washington, through efforts by governmental bodies and Vulcan to protect water quality and salmon habitat, and on to a large-scale infrastructure project - the Elliott Bay Seawall replacement - that includes features to enhance biodiversity and ecological functioning in the nearshore environment. In tracking these movements, I identify the emergence of an explicitly post-anthropocentric ethic from what initially appears as an aesthetic concern, while also highlighting the ongoing complexification of an earlier engineering ethic that dates back to the earliest attempts by settlers to manage the natural environment.
Keywords
Water Pollution; Urbanization; Water Quality; Ethics; Political Philosophy; Home Ownership; Seattle (wash.); Blue Space; Deleuze And Guattari; Immanence; Post-anthropocentrism; Seattle; Allen, Paul, 1953-2018; Deleuze; Post-anthropocentrism
Yocom, Ken P.; Andrews, Leann; Faghin, Nicole; Dyson, Karen; Leschine, Thomas; Nam, Jungho. (2016). Revitalizing Urban Waterfronts: Identifying Indicators For Human Well-being. Aims Environmental Science, 3(3), 456 – 473.
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Abstract
Waterfront cities worldwide have begun the process of regenerating and developing their formerly industrial waterfronts into land uses that reflect a post-industrial economic vision of mixed urban uses supporting a diverse economy and wide range of infrastructure. These revitalization projects require distinct planning and management tactics to determine project-defined successes inclusive of economic, ecological, and human well-being perspectives. While empirically developed templates for economic and ecological measures exist, the multi-dimensionality and subjective nature of human well-being is more difficult to assess. Through an extensive review of indicator frameworks and expert interviews, our research proposes an organizational, yet adaptable, human well-being indicators framework for the management and development of urban waterfront revitalization projects. We analyze the framework through the lens of two waterfront projects in the Puget Sound region of the United States and identify several key factors necessary to developing project-specific human well-being indicator frameworks for urban waterfront revitalization projects. These factors include: initially specify goals and objectives of a given project, acknowledge contextual conditions including prospective land uses and projected users, identify the stage of development or management to use appropriate indicators for that stage, and develop and utilize data sources that are at a similar scale to the size of the project.
Keywords
Quality-of-life; City Waterfront; Dimensions; Framework; Science; Policy; Urban Waterfront Revitalization; Human Well-being; Indicators; Design And Management
Kuriyama, Naoko; Maly, Elizabeth; Leon, Jorge; Abramson, Daniel; Nguyen, Lan T.; Bostrom, Ann. (2020). Towards a Comparative Framework of Adaptive Planning and Anticipatory Action Regimes in Chile, Japan, and the US: An Exploration of Multiple Contexts Informing Tsunami Risk-based Planning and Relocation. Journal Of Disaster Research, 15(7), 878 – 889.
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Abstract
Coastal regions around the Pacific Ring of Fire share the risk of massive earthquakes and tsunamis. Along with their own political-economic, cultural and biophysical contexts, each region has their own history and experiences of tsunami disasters. Coastal areas of Washington State in the U.S. are currently at risk of experiencing a tsunami following a massive Magnitude 9 (M9) earthquake anticipated in the Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ). Looking ahead to consider adaptive planning in advance of a tsunami following this M9 event, this paper explores how lessons from recent megaquake- and tsunami-related experiences of risk-based planning and relocation in coastal areas of Japan and Chile could inform anticipatory action in coastal Washington State. Based on a comparison of earthquake and tsunami hazards, social factors, and the roles of government, this paper outlines a framework to compare policy contexts of tsunami risk-based planning and relocation in three Ring of Fire countries, including factors shaping the possible transfer of approaches between them. Findings suggest some aspects of comparative significance and commonalities shared across coastal communities in the three countries and at the same time highlight numerous differences in governance and policies related to planning and relocation. Although there are limitations to the transferability of lessons in disaster adaptive planning and anticipatory action from one national/regional context to another, we believe there is much more that Washington and the Pacific Northwest can learn from Japanese and Chilean experiences. In any context, risk reduction policies and actions need to garner political support in order to be implemented. Additional case study research and detailed analysis is still needed to understand specific lessons that may be applied to detailed risk-based planning and relocation programs across these different national contexts.
Keywords
Great Earthquake Recurrence; Land-use; Statistical-analyses; Subduction Zone; New-zealand; Community; Recovery; Management; Cascadia; Policies; Risk-based Planning; Earthquake; Tsunami; Disaster Governance; Residential Relocation
Green Futures Lab is dedicated to supporting interdisciplinary research and design that advances our understanding of, visions for, and design of a vital and ecologically sustainable public realm. The Lab’s goal is to develop green infrastructure solutions within a local and global context.
The Green Futures Lab explores and promotes planning and design for active transportation, including cycling and pedestrian environments; conducts research and design projects that aim to improve the ability of public spaces to build community and provide recreation and revitalization; works to improve the health of our water bodies and sustain our water resources through green infrastructure innovations, ecosystem restoration, and open space protection; innovates strategies for creating quality habitat, particularly within urban environments where it is most limited; and explores low-carbon urban design solutions to mitigate climate change.
Working with the University of Washington, local communities, and international partners, the lab provides planning, design, and education for healthy, equitably accessible, and regenerative urban and ecological systems.
The Circular City + Living Systems Lab (CCLS) is an interdisciplinary group of faculty and students applying principles of research and design to investigate transformative strategies for future cities that are adaptive and resilient while facing climate change.
Synthesizing expertise from architecture, landscape architecture, engineering, planning, biology, and ecology, the Lab’s innovative research spans core topics such as the integration of living systems in the built environment to produce and circulate resources within the food-water-energy nexus, and spatial design responses to COVID-19.
Ongoing work at the CCLS includes research on urban integration of aquaponics, urban and building-integrated agriculture, circular economies in the food industry, algae production, and green roof performance.
Monica Huang is a research engineer for the Carbon Leadership Forum at the University of Washington with expertise in environmental life cycle assessment (LCA). Recent research topics include the environmental impact of housing, optimizing tall wood structures, and developing data on the environmental impact of earthquake damage. She was also the lead author for a guide on the use of LCA in design and construction practice. Past research experience includes diverse topics such as astronomy, electronic waste, and sea level rise. As a graduate student, she developed the Port of Seattle’s first study on the impacts of sea level rise on seaport structures.
Christine Bae is an Associate Professor in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington, Seattle. She received her Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Southern California. Her primary areas of interest are transportation and the environment; land use, growth management and urban sprawl; urban regeneration; environmental equity and justice; and international planning and globalization. She recently co-authored an article on measuring pedestrian exposure to PM2.5 in the Seattle, Washington, International District. She teaches a course “Mega City Planning”, in which she leads a group of students to Seoul, South Korea for two weeks in spring quarter. She is currently the West Representative for the Association of Collegiate Schools of Planning, and a Board Member for the Western Regional Science Association. She is also the recipient of an on-going Sea Grant for The Economic and Environmental Impacts of Moorage Marinas in the West Coast.
Marina Alberti is Professor of Urban and Environmental Planning in the Department of Urban Design and Planning at the University of Washington. She directs the Urban Ecology Research Laboratory and lead the International Research Network on Urban Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics. She teaches courses in Urban Science, Urban Ecology, Environmental Planning, Research Design, Geographic Information Systems, and Group Dynamic and Conflict resolution. Alberti’s research interests are in urban ecology and evolution. Her studies focus on the interactions between urban patterns and ecosystem function, urban signatures of evolutionary change, and the properties of cities that enhance their resilience and transformative capacity. She also leads research on urban ecological modeling, scenario planning, and urban ecological metrics to monitor progress and inform policy-making and planning. In her book Cities That Think like Planets (UW Press 2016), Alberti advances a science of cities that work on a planetary scale and link unpredictable dynamics to the potential for socio-ecological innovation.
Ken Yocom is the Interim Dean of the College of Built Environments and a Professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture. He also has an adjunct appointment in the Department of Urban Design and Planning, serves on the steering committee of the PhD in the Built Environments Program, and is core faculty for the Interdisciplinary PhD Program in Urban Design and Planning within the College of Built Environments. He primarily teaches seminar and studio courses in theory, ecology, and urban design.
Trained as an ecologist and landscape architect with professional experience in the environmental consulting and construction industries, he is a graduate of our MLA program (2002). Ken also earned his PhD from the Program in the Built Environments (2007), where he researched nature and society relations through the contemporary context of urban ecological restoration practices.
Ken’s current research, teaching, and practice explore the convergence of urban infrastructure and ecological systems through adaptive design approaches that serve to demystify emerging strategies and technologies for sustainable and resilient development. More specifically, he investigates how water –in all its forms- shapes the past to future functions and patterns of our built environments. He has written extensively on the themes developed from his work including two books, Ecological Design (with Nancy Rottle, Bloomsbury, 2012) and NOW Urbanism: The Future City is Here (with Jeff Hou, Ben Spencer, and Thaisa Way (editors), Routledge, 2014). He has also written for professional practice and scholarly publications on issues of global biodiversity, urban environmental governance, ecological design, and contemporary nature and society relations in the urban context.
In his teaching, Ken emphasizes the development of a holistic and integrated approach that embraces the complexity of our built environments, yet discreetly explores the intersections and overlaps that frame our understanding and appreciation of particular places. He has a strong belief that collaboratively, the allied design professions can act as catalysts in recognizing, utilizing, and transforming the inherent potential of our built environments into places that are socially equitable, environmentally just, and economically sustainable.