Let’s further explore Dr. Rutherford Platt’s thinking about “ecological cities”. Dr. Platt is affiliated with the Department of Geosciences at UMass Amherst. He is no fan of sprawl, but does believe that ecological cities should incorporate greenspace and green infrastructure throughout their fabric.
“Regreening the Metropolis: Pathways to More Ecological Cities”Dr. Platt expands on these themes for Environment magazine in “Toward Ecological Cities” (PDF, June 2004):
A 2004 Keynote Address by Dr. Rutherford Platt
…This presentation is largely concerned with…the loss of “nature” and natural processes due to urbanization. No one has stated this concern more eloquently than the distinguished urban historian, Lewis Mumford:
[The modern city tends] to loosen the bonds that connect [its] inhabitants with nature and to transform, eliminate, or replace its earth-bound aspects, covering the natural site with an artificial environment that enhances the dominance of man and encourages an illusion of complete independence from nature…In the 1950s, the conventional wisdom–for the affluent at least–was that cities are where people are, and the country is where you go on weekends and vacations to find Nature in some place bucolic or maritime. But today, even for those who can afford it, the time and cost of escaping the metropolis has grown with the spread of the metropolis itself and the growing numbers of vehicles trying to leave it… Meanwhile, those who cannot afford to sit in traffic in their SUV–the poor, the elderly, the infirm–are sentenced to live out their lives in the metropolitan environment, come what may…
…cities and metropolitan areas, now too large to conveniently escape, must themselves be viewed as incorporating both built and unbuilt environments… And into the bargain, the urban environment will prove to be more habitable, more sustainable, more “ecological”…
[A] root of the ecological city lies in the long tradition of providing opportunities for urban residents to simply get outdoors [e.g. the parks of Frederick Law Olmsted]…
In urban settings, the influence of biodiversity can be subtle but profound. Michael Klemens, director of the New York Metropolitan Conservation Alliance, puts it this way:
Biodiversity is inextricably part of our sense of place, the very fabric of our comfort and our “being” at a particular locus. The natural world provides the texture and variety that define where we live, work and play. So defined, biodiversity is the tapestry of colors on a wooded hillside in October, the interplay between water and reeds, the chirping of crickets on a summer’s night, the ebb and flow of natural systems evolving over time. And it is that natural template, the very foundation upon which our society is built, that I define as biodiversity, or more simply stated, nature…Loss or degradation of ecological services often requires costly technical substitutes such as flood control projects, water treatment plants, air conditioning, and sun block. Of primary importance to urban regions are those natural functions affecting streamflow and water quality, protection and recharge of groundwater, moderation of urban “heat islands”, protection of local and regional biodiversity, and aesthetic variety…
Finally, the concept of “ecological cities” reflects the importance of open spaces and ecological character in defining local and regional “sense of place”. For example, certain parks and public spaces serve as icons for their cities…
Loss of signature trees or groves to disease or development may devalue real estate, impair sense of place, and cause emotional distress. Conversely, the protection of a special tree or stand of timber strengthens the communal sense of place…
A related concept is bioregionalism, the defining of particular regions (urban or rural) in terms of distinctive ecological, economic, and cultural characteristics. The Connecticut River Valley in Massachusetts, known locally as the Pioneer Valley, is a good example…
…the term “ecological city” is a convenient descriptor for communities and regions that seek to become more green, more healthy, more efficient, and more socially equitable than conventional urban places…
The seed of a different perspective on cities and nature was planted by landscape architect Ian McHarg in his seminal 1968 book, Design with Nature. McHarg urged urban designers to evaluate and incorporate natural factors such as topography, drainage, natural hazards, and microclimate into their plans, rather than overcoming such constraints through technology–which often incurs high costs and has an uneven record of success…
…Some strategies that have been identified by the Ecological Cities Project (www.ecologicalcities.org), based at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, include
[In New Haven, Connecticut, the Urban Resources Initiative] and the Livable City Initiative have jointly assisted community groups to convert dozens of vacant tracts in lower-income neighborhoods to flower and vegetable gardens and community mini-parks…
- rehabilitation and restoration of older parks and urban green spaces;
- protection and restoration of urban wetlands and other sensitive habitat;
- preservation of old growth trees and forest tracts;
- development of greenways and rail trails;
- green design of buildings, including green roofs and green schools;
- brownfield remediation and reuse;
- urban watershed management…
See also:
The Ecological Cities Project: Greenspace in “The Humane Metropolis”
A metropolis (i.e., metro region or citistate) is considered green if it fosters humans’ connections to the natural world — an idea Anne Whiston Spirn promoted in her seminal 1984 book The Granite Garden. Spirn rejected the idea — easily absorbed if one watches too many “concrete jungle” films, or even televised nature documentaries — that the natural world begins beyond the urban fringe. “Nature in the city,” she wrote, “must be cultivated, like a garden, rather than ignored or subdued.”
Photo Essay: Our Woods in Winter
Photo Essay: The Forest Behind View Avenue
Topographical Map Shows How Kohl Condo Proposal Will Eat Into a Rare Stand of Mature Trees in Downtown
Irony of Infill: You Have to Drive to Enjoy Nature
Smart Growth with Balance: The American Planning Association
All development — including redevelopment, infill development, and new construction in urbanizing areas — should plan for biodiversity and incorporate green infrastructure. Green infrastructure helps to maintain natural ecosystems, including clean air and water; reduces wildlife habitat fragmentation, pollution, and other threats to biodiversity. It also improves the quality of life for people.
UMass Press: “Natural Land: Preserving and Funding Open Space”
Protecting open space is often about protecting what makes a community special and unique… At the small-town or village scale, a forested hillside or surrounding farmland helps create a unique sense of place. Furthermore, preserving open space helps to create distinct edges that stop the blurring of community boundaries that is characteristic of urban sprawl. Defining what is unique about one’s community and identifying places that are special to local residents is an important part of the overall planning process (Hester 1990)…
Northampton Redoubt: Urban Ecology, Planting Trees, and the Long-Term View
If we remove all of our in-town forested areas and wetlands they will likely be gone forever or at least a very long time. We would do well for posterity to err on the side of caution.
Downstreet.net: “Despite Tree City USA Honor Northampton Planting Lags”
Northampton’s Flood and Natural Hazard Mitigation Plan: Wetlands Buffers of 100 Feet Are an Effective Flood Mitigation Strategy and Should Be Consistently Enforced
Northampton Open Space Plan: “This loss of habitat and natural flood buffering areas is Northampton’s most serious environmental problem”
Metro Portland’s Long Experience with Smart Growth: A Cautionary Tale
It is certainly the case that suburban-type development requires infrastructure development. But so does in-fill development. The important difference is that infrastructure development in the suburban context occurs in a green-field development setting; that is, infrastructure development costs are favored by the relative ease with which right-of-way can be obtained, and the fact that there is not much need to acquire and demolish existing development. For example, Portland is currently laboring to finance a multi-billion dollar consolidated sewer outflow system to accommodate the effects that dense (and impervious) development is having on surface water accumulations in the region.
The Economic Value of Wetlands: Wetlands’ Role in Flood Protection in Western Washington
…Episodic flooding along rivers and streams in the lowlands of Western Washington has become a recurrent theme of recent years. Development practices that eliminate or compromise natural systems capable of controlling runoff appear to be exacerbating flooding problems in many areas. This highlights the importance of the remaining natural systems capable of attenuating flood flows, particularly wetlands, in the region’s defenses against increasingly destructive floods…
The analysis suggests that communities are likely to pay an increasingly high price for flood protection if they allow their remaining natural systems capable of attenuating flood flows to become further compromised in their ability to do so…
More than half of the wetlands that once existed in western Washington have been lost. Often the cause has been agricultural conversion, but today wetlands are increasingly at risk due to urban and suburban development. Western Washington is now one of the fastest growing regions of the country, and the remaining wetlands in rapidly developing areas are increasingly valuable for the flood protection they can provide. At the same time, the increasing pace and density of development is resulting in the natural wetlands systems that are capable of absorbing urban runoff becoming ever more fragmented, even as the need for flood protection grows ever more critical…
Connecticut River Watershed Action Plan: Remove impervious surfaces within 50 feet of streams
EPA: Urban Heat Islands