Symposium
Career Track
Public-Private Sector
Kat Superfisky
Urban Ecologist
City of Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Urban areas play an essential role in advancing conservation goals. Cities are uniquely positioned to have a significant impact on the health and resilience of ecosystems and biodiversity. Unlike more “wildland” ecosystems, urban ecosystems are not solely owned and/or managed by public entities or with the sole goal of ecosystem restoration and/or enhancement. Rather, urban ecosystems have a spectrum of “land managers” ranging from private residents, businesses, utility companies, schools and other institutions, etc. and must take into account the socio-political and economic systems that are also inextricably linked to the environmental systems in cities. The management of urban ecosystems must therefore involve non-traditional/ecological sectors and disciplines.
This symposium will be centered around the theme of how non-ecological sectors and disciplines–such as municipal government, private firms, planning, and design–all play essential roles in the management of urban ecosystems. The aim of the symposium is to stress the importance of different strategies for getting science, research and ecological expertise into the hands, minds and hearts of the people working on plans, policies and projects in cities. Those in attendance at the symposium will hear how multiple large cities/municipalities in different geographical contexts (of Los Angeles, California and Austin, Texas) as well as design firms (based in New York City, New York and Austin, Texas) use ecology to inform the work they are doing to address environmental challenges and manage urban ecosystems. Strategies for how to integrate data into practice by linking science/ecological expertise with planning and design professions, in both the public and private sector will be discussed. Two presenters will provide a municipal government perspective, emphasizing planning efforts that lead to ecosystem management outcomes (in the City of Los Angeles and City of Austin) and two presenters will provide perspectives on how the private sector and design can shape urban ecosystems. Speakers will touch on specific efforts, such as creating land use regulations for private property to address wildlife habitat and connectivity and more broadly - ecosystem services; how graphic information sharing can be used in communicating with diverse audiences; and how investing in nature-based solutions and urban greenspaces supports public health and how the data supports this and can be used in the planning and design process; among other examples. The symposium presenters aim to evoke fruitful discussion with ESA attendees about how to best connect ecological research and expertise to planning and design efforts underway in cities.
Presenting Author: Kat Superfisky – City of Los Angeles
Presenting Author: Katie Coyne – City of Austin
Presenting Author: Kari Spiegelhalter, Landscape Architecture – Mend Collaborative
Presenting Author: Kaleen Juarez – SCAPE Landscape Architecture