Symposium
Career Track
Tim Nuttle, Nuttle, PhD, CSE, CWB
Principal
Oikos Ecology LLC
Elizabeth, Pennsylvania, United States
Keith Bower
Biohabitats, United States
Keith Bower
Biohabitats, United States
More than street trees, aesthetic landscaping, or green stormwater infrastructure, nature-based solutions are increasingly being applied to meet various design goals in the built environment. However, the science of ecology has much more to offer site design and urban planning than plant selection, because ecologists understand how living and non-living components interact in space, at different scales, and change through time. In this symposium, we discuss how ecologists as members of interdisciplinary design teams have infused scientifically based ecological principals into a variety of projects at different scales across North America. The projects use ecologically informed, nature-based approaches to meet design goals such as providing habitat, carbon sequestration, reducing urban heat island, increasing equitable access to public realm green space, stormwater management, recreation and respite, transportation connectivity through greenways, and environmental regulatory compliance, among others. Because each of these goals applies ecologically informed, nature-based design in a public, human-activated setting, the projects reviewed in this Symposium each create what we call an Ecological Commons at various scales.
Presenting Author: Tim Nuttle, Nuttle, PhD, CSE, CWB – Oikos Ecology LLC
Presenting Author: Chris Streb – Biohabitats
Presenting Author: Steven Handel – Rutgers University
Presenting Author: Jennifer Dowdel – Biohabitats