City As Habitat: Planning the Nature Connected City

By Tim Beatley

I was surprised to see pelicans in inland Canada, but on a recent visit to Roper Pond, one of Edmonton, Canada's urban natural areas, designed to collect stormwater and restore important wildlife habitat, there they were. American white pelicans, known for fishing by skimming the water (in contrast to the diving brown pelicans), spend summers up there. One pelican flew over to check us out (a common sight this time of year, I was told by my city of Edmonton hosts).

As the world faces a global loss of biodiversity caused by a potent combination of climate change and land-use changes (like deforestation and urbanization) the city of Edmonton (pop. 878,000) is making an international name for itself as an important model of a nature-friendly city. It is working hard to grow in ways that ensure space for both wildlife and people.

The city of Edmonton, capital of Alberta, Canada, has made an international name for itself as an important model of a nature friendly city, with its strong commitment to fostering ecological networks like the River Valley (North America's largest linear park) along the North Saskatchewan River, which runs through the city. "North Saskatchewan River Valley" by Kurt Bauschardt, Flickr (CC-BY-SA-2.0).

Connecting (with) nature

Edmonton boasts the largest linear park in North America, called the River Valley (along the North Saskatchewan River), created with much foresight in 1913. It traverses the entire city, offering residents a cluster of 20 public parks along the river and about 100 miles of maintained trails. Efforts to protect this river basin as a major urban asset date back to the early 20th century and the work of landscape architect Frederick C. Todd.

At the heart Edmonton's approach is a commitment to ecological networks, like the River Valley, and connectedness. This is embodied in the 2007 adoption of the city's Natural Connections Strategic Plan, which identifies core protected areas and important corridors for wildlife species.

The commitment to ecological connections is one of the nine strategic goals in the city's Municipal Development Plan (its top legislative plan) and increasingly finds its way into finer-grain neighborhood structure plans. Protected areas set aside largely for biodiversity conservation are considerable, nearly 10,000 acres in size.

An impressive application of Edmonton's vision is a new approach to infrastructure design, wildlife passages in particular. The city created its first wildlife passage in 2007; today there are 27. Some, such as the underpass at Hawks Ridge — often described as the flagship passage — accommodate the movement of large mammals, including deer and moose, while others are built for smaller creatures like amphibians, birds, and bats.

Most importantly, in 2010 the city adopted innovative Wildlife Passage Engineering Design Guidelines — the product of a unique and increasingly important collaboration between biologists, planners, and civil and traffic engineers. The guidelines set the minimum design requirements for new road projects and provide very detailed engineering guidance.

More recently, the city has undertaken an Environmental Sensitivities Project that will provide an even more extensive understanding of the impediments to wildlife movement. Based on Circuitscape mapping (a form of digital analysis modeled after the ideas of voltage and resistance found in electric circuits), the city is looking at two species in particular: chickadees and coyotes.

Biological factors (such as the fact that chickadees don't like to cross roads wider than 27 yards) are included in the modeling, which generates maps that show flows, movements, and potential blockages. This analysis will inform next steps, including prioritizing certain areas for habitat restoration and wildlife passages. A botanical field guide assists in the restoration of native plant communities in Edmonton The benefits of ecological connections and connectedness are many, including significant economic savings and increased public safety. Wildlife collisions are a major concern throughout Alberta. In Edmonton, despite significant population growth, wildlife collisions have declined by more than 50 percent since the implementation of the wildlife passage design guidelines.

Grant Pearsell, director of parks and biodiversity for the city, says the guidelines have helped project stakeholders consider wildlife earlier in the design process. They have also improved crossdisciplinary collaboration.

"I was actually very pleasantly surprised that the engineers had been wanting and waiting for something like this," Pearsell says.

The latest chapter in the Edmonton story is the development of a new initiative called Breathe, which expands the notion of habitat to include other spaces in the city where nature and animals might be found, from roadside verges and median strips to green rooftops. Breathe focuses on three major themes — ecology, celebration, and wellness — that together acknowledge the value and importance of linking ecology and biodiversity with human and landscape health, and reinforce the need to celebrate our connections to place.

The city has several other nature programs, including its Master Naturalist Program, run by the city, and the very creative Urban BioKits that guide and challenge new residents and families to visit and learn about local natural areas.

A global perspective

Several recent studies point to the seriousness of the global biodiversity loss. There is also a growing realization that declining species diversity significantly impairs the functionality and resilience of ecosystems.

In one study, recently published in Nature, Tim Newbold and colleagues looked at species abundance globally, analyzing almost 19,000 sites (and 1.8 million measurements), and found that for almost 60 percent of the planet's surface, a commonly accepted planetary boundary (or threshold) of 10 percent reduction in species abundance had already been passed. There is growing consensus that beyond this threshold the functioning of ecosystems could decline sharply. While some critics question how meaningful the 10 percent species decline is, the findings are alarming nonetheless because they show how widespread and pervasive these losses are worldwide.

Climate change will only further exacerbate these trends, as a recent Clemson University study shows: Spatial modeling of projected sea-level rise shows that increased habitat fragmentation will occur. These worrisome trends further point to the importance of nature-friendly visions, as in Edmonton, that understand the value of landscape connectivity, even (or especially) in cities.

Tim Beatley is the Teresa Heinz Professor of Sustainable Communities at the University of Virginia, where he directs the Biophilic Cities Project.