by aleida, on April 27th, 2010
Image courtesy of BrightTALK webinar
BrightTALK’s Green Building Summit on April 22, 2010 continued with Bridging Ecological Research and Urban Design: Ecological Design and Planning, presented by Alexander J. Felson from Yale University School of Architecture and Forestry and Environmental Studies.
Felson first did a fast-paced overview of the lack of rigor within sustainability, stating that “often what passes as sustainability are in fact predictions of actions or conditions that are expected to lead to sustainability.” He identified these as necessary questions to ask when it comes to sustainability:
- Which system, subsystem, or characteristics are to be sustained?
- How long are the systems to be sustained?
- When can we assess whether the system has actually been sustained?
So in his work, Felson has been pushing the notion of linking science to practice. He admits it’s not a new concept. Some of the ways in which the two have been linked are:
- monitoring and developing metrics – technology
- applied ecology/urban ecology
- translating ecological science into practical use (ecosystem services)
“There has also been a move to explore multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and transdisciplinary partnerships as a way of addressing these ideas of linking science to practice and really playing more of a management role,” says Felson.
He goes on to present case studies of “designed experiments”: “a creative combination of traditional ecological research methods with urban design to create functional experiments with invested cultural meaning.” He speaks about:
- wetland remediation cells that can be introduced to parking lots around the United States;
- the LiB-E (Life Information Beacon – Ecology) Project, a web-based community engagement board that would gather information from community members to quantitatively assess the lifestyle decision-making patterns and their implication on sustainable practices;
- saltwater irrigation along New York’s East River waterfront;
- Million Trees NYC 2008, a reforestation project set up as the largest urban forestry study in the country that hopes to answer how best to incorporate the required rigor and statistical criteria for experimentation with public use patterns;
- the Tuxedo Reserve, a conceptual storm water management project incorporating high-value vernal pools and home to the marble salamander, a species of special concern. The project linked ecological practice with master planning and local land use law.
To watch the full presentation, please visit here.
Click on the icon below for a text only download version of this post:
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by R. Aleida Montejo, Green Webcasts. Green Webcasts said: Event review: BrightTALK Green Building Summit – Session 3 : Alexander Felson of Yale University http://shar.es/m5uL9 [...]