Social-ecological innovation : adaptive responses to urban environmental conditions

Novel approaches to natural resource management, particularly those which promote stakeholder participation, have been put forward as fundamental ingredients for establishing resilient, polycentric forms of environmental governance. This is nowhere more pertinent than in the case of the complex adaptive systems associated with urban areas. Decentralisation of urban green space management has been posited as an element thereof which, according to resilience thinking, should contribute to the adaptive capacity of cities and the ecosystem services upon which they rely. Implicit in this move towards increased adaptive capacity is the ability to manage through innovation. Although the importance of innovation towards system adaptability has been acknowledged, little work has thus far been carried out which demonstrates that innovative use of urban green space represents a form of adaptive response to environmental conditions. The current paper reports on research which maps examples of organised social-ecological innovation (OSEI) in an urban study area and evaluates them as adaptive responses to local environmental conditions which may contribute to system resilience. The results present OSEI as a coherent body of responses to local social and environmental deprivation, exhibiting diversity and adaptability according to individual contexts. The study therefore provides evidence for the importance of local stakeholder-led innovation as in the building of adaptive capacity in urban social-ecological systems

Urban agriculture in shared spaces : the difficulties with collaboration in an age of austerity

The expanding critical literature on Urban Agriculture (UA) makes links between the withdrawal of state services and the institutionalisation of volunteering, while observing that challenging funding landscapes can foster competitive environments between third sector organisations. Where these organisations are forced to compete for survival at the expense of collaboration, their ability to collectively upscale and expand beneficial activities can be compromised. This paper focuses on a lottery-funded UA project and draws predominantly on observations and interviews held with project staff and growing group volunteers. Research conducted in Wythenshawe, Manchester (UK), highlights difficulties experienced by organisations attempting to function in an environment disfigured by depletion, illustrating conflicts that can arise between community groups and charitable organisations competing for space and resources. Inter-organisational dynamics are considered at two scales; at the grassroots level between growing groups, and at a structural level between project partners. In a landscape scarred by local authority cutbacks and restructures, a dearth of funding opportunities and increasingly precarious employment, external initiatives can be met with suspicion or hostility, particularly when viewed as superfluous interventions. The resulting “siege mentality” reflects the need for organisational self-preservation but perhaps paradoxically results in groups with similar goals and complementary ideologies working against each other rather than in cooperation. Keywords: Urban Agriculture; critical geography; neoliberalism; community growing; urban farmin

Street trees reduce the negative effects of urbanization on birds

The effects of streets on biodiversity is an important aspect of urban ecology, but it has been neglected worldwide. Several vegetation attributes (e.g. street tree density and diversity) have important effects on biodiversity and ecological processes. In this study, we evaluated the influences of urban vegetationÐrepresented by characteristics of street trees (canopy size, proportion of native tree species and tree species richness)Ðand characteristics of the landscape (distance to parks and vegetation quantity), and human impacts (human population size and exposure to noise) on taxonomic data and functional diversity indices of the bird community inhabiting streets. The study area was the southern region of Belo Horizonte (Minas Gerais, Brazil), a largely urbanized city in the understudied Neotropical region. Bird data were collected on 60 point count locations distributed across the streets of the landscape. We used a series of competing GLM models (using Akaike's information criterion for small sample sizes) to assess the relative contribution of the different sets of variables to explain the observed patterns. Seventy-three bird species were observed exploiting the streets: native species were the most abundant and frequent throughout this landscape. The bird community's functional richness and Rao's Quadratic Entropy presented values lower than 0.5. Therefore, this landscape was favoring few functional traits. Exposure to noise was the most limiting factor for this bird community. However, the average size of arboreal patches and, especially the characteristics of street trees, were able to reduce the negative effects of noise on the bird community. These results show the importance of adequately planning the urban afforestation process: increasing tree species richness, preserving large trees and planting more native trees species in the streets are management practices that will increase bird species richness, abundance and community functional aspects and consequently improve human wellbeing and quality of life

Appraisal of social-ecological innovation as an adaptive response by stakeholders to local conditions : mapping stakeholder involvement in horticulture orientated green space management

Urban areas are hubs of creativity and innovation providing fertile ground for novel responses to modern environmental challenges. Previous studies have attempted to conceptualise the ecological, social and political potential of social-ecological innovation in urban green space management. However, little work has been conducted on the social-ecological conditions influencing their occurrence and distribution. Further research is therefore necessary to demonstrate whether stakeholder stewardship of green resources contributes towards adaptive capacity in socialecological systems. The research reported here explored the extent of organised social-ecological innovations in a continuous urban landscape comprising three adjoining metropolitan areas: Manchester, Salford and Trafford (UK). Examples of horticulture orientated organised socialecological innovation were identified using a snowball-sampling method. Their distribution, explored with GIS and remote sensing technology, was found to be significantly associated with levels of both, social and ecological, deprivation. The study presented social-ecological innovation as an adaptive response to environmental stressors, conditioned by specific social and ecological parameters in the landscape. It therefore provides empirical support for social-ecological innovation as a valid ingredient contributing to resilience in adaptive social-ecological systems. Not only do such collective community-led elements of natural resource management warrant acknowledgement in urban green space planning, but their distribution and productivity may provide a valuable social-ecological laboratory for the study of polycentric governance and adaptive capacity in the urban environment

Sustainable regeneration : everyday landscapes of food acquisition, Pendleton

The report is structured as follows. Chapter two provides the context to the research, outlining why a study of food acquisition and digital inclusion is necessary in Pendleton at this time, and why both issues are linked to the current regeneration programme. Chapter three sets out the methodology employed along with details of the recruitment of participants. Chapter four provides a detailed analysis of the findings from the digital skills side of the research including: digital usage, confidence and competence, and digital skills and shopping, and chapter five focuses on findings related to the food landscape. Chapter six summarises the key findings by identifying what is going well, making recommendations for changes at a variety of scale, as well as specific recommendations for the on-going regeneration programme, and recommendations for further research

Urban agriculture : evaluating informal and formal practices

Urban agriculture (UA) is a fast-increasing element in many settlements in the Global North. This paper reviews the diversity of UA activity, ranging from legal to illegal, formal to informal. Focusing particularly on current research on UA projects in England, including small-scale guerrilla gardening and large community projects supported by community and government funding, we look at the realities of UA. We suggest that it is under-theorised as previous research has focused on practicalities and activism. In particular, we highlight the problematic contribution of UA to food production, the wider value in terms of community development, health and wellbeing, and warn of the danger of the ‘local trap’