Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability

April 10 (Thursday) at 10 am ET    Register

Urban Ecology Beyond the City

Abstract:The memory and contributions of Rachel Carson are precious to both environmental scientists and to those who fight for and advocate for the appreciation and repair of the natural world. She reminded the public and policy makers of the inextricable link between humans and that natural world, and exposed the grave risks of forgetting or abusing that link. But her legacy is very germane beyond the wildness of the sea, or the pleasures and benefits people derive from ecosystems commonly recognized as natural. Her insight can extend to the appreciation and repair of both the social and the ecological components of cities and other urban places. Where else is the link between humans and the structure and functioning of ecosystems so intimate, and yet so fraught? This talk will examine progress in how urban ecological science is improving its understanding of the human-natural linkages in urban places. It will show how the scope and approach to urban systems has changed over time in the United States, and show how urban insights have influenced our thinking about the biological science of ecology. Furthermore, it will examine how different approaches to ecology in, of, and with the city represent broadening spheres of coproduction, including not only coproduction of actionable knowledge, but also exposing the social-natural coproduction of urban places themselves. These basics confront key global realities that characterize contemporary urban systems. The expanding science invites us to think more broadly about the familiar ecosystem concept, but it also requires better integration of human institutions and social processes with biogeophysical ones. These varieties of coproduction mirror Carson’s concern with the linkage of the natural and human for the benefit of both.

Dr. Stewart Pickett is an ecologist internationally known for contributions to urban ecology, social-ecological systems theory, and the study of natural disturbance. He was born and raised in Louisville, KY. He received a B.S. in Botany from the University of Kentucky in 1972, and the PhD in Botany from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana in 1977. He served on the faculty of Rutgers University until 1986, after which he moved to Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, NY, where he is now Distinguished Senior Scientist, Emeritus. He was founding director of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, a pioneering interdisciplinary program encompassing research, community engagement, and education in a complex social-ecological metropolitan system. He has authored or edited more than a dozen books, and over 300 research publications. He has served as President of the Ecological Society of America, and on the boards of the American Institute of Biological Sciences, Defenders of Wildlife, City as Living Laboratory, the McHarg Center for Ecological Urbanism. He is a recipient of the Botanical Society of America’s Centennial Award, a Fellow of the Ecological Society of America, and its 2021 Eminent Ecologist; He was one of three recipients of the BBVP Foundation 2022 Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Ecology and Conservation. He is an elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. His research has been applied in the contexts of ecology in urban design and planning, environmental justice, and landscape-based conservation.

More information about Dr. Pickett and his work is available here. Full CV - Google Scholar

Essays on urban themes by Dr. Pickett can be found at https://baltimoreecosystemstudy.org/balto-brief-v2/ His name will appear in the brief description of posts he wrote for the Baltimore Ecosystem Study project.

Dr. Pickett is also a periodic contributor to The Nature of Cities blog.