This study is intended to be a framework for rewilding in urban spaces. Our goal is to highlight the potential for small-scale infrastructure and planning initiatives which may lead to large-scale ecological and social impacts. We begin by introducing the topic of urban rewilding, including defining the key terms and case studies which have informed our design and planning suggestions. This is followed by the application of our research in a sample project located in San Rafael, CA. Here, we analyze historical, socio-cultural, and environmental contexts, then suggest speculative design options that may be of particular use along the shoreline of this site. Our project focuses on three target species of either threatened or endangered status, while also highlighting how these solutions serve a broad range of animals. Along with providing habitat space for urban wildlife, these design strategies produce ecological benefits that persist into the future. This includes potential for mitigating impacts of climate change caused by flooding related to heavier rains and sea level rise. We conclude by suggesting policy and education programs which support these design strategies, while working toward deeper socio-ecological connectivity.
It is estimated that up to 83% of the United States population lives in urban areas, and these numbers are expected to rise leading to higher and higher density of human activities and development. Higher energy usage, more impermeable surfaces, lower air and water quality, and overall low biodiversity are cascading effects of this development.
Hence, Urban Rewilding aims to reintroduce wild organisms and ecosystems in urban areas to affect change where environmental processes have become dysfunctional because of human activities. Rather than utopian idealized nature-only goals, this movement pushes for balance and co-benefits, advocating for changes that provide space for wildlife in cities, reconnecting people with the environment, and allowing these spaces to provide ecosystem services for all.
Urban development and suburban expansion have led to increasingly fragmented landscapes. With widening gaps between habitat fragments, the spaces between critical habitats create harsh barriers to wild animals of many kinds. The result is often “wildlife sinks” which trap populations within habitat patches too small to support their needs, exposing them to predation and competition, and cutting off access from larger wildlands at the urban fringe.
Protected open spaces including forests and riparian systems are interconnected with dense urban settlements and must be viewed and managed as integral components of the city. Within this complex matrix, fragments of wildlands (existing and/or restored) may be connected through a series of stepping stone habitats that provide resources and migration pathways critical to survival.
This project aims to first frame an understanding of rewilding and wildlife corridors, then contextualizes urban settings within their broader regional landscapes in order to highlight a number of opportunities for connectivity and improvement of ecological services within cities and metropolitan regions.
We then provide a case study of the City of San Rafael, to illustrate design and planning strategies for creating and maintaining mutually beneficial stepping stone habitats as an opportunity for ecological connectivity as well as climate adaptation.
Project Team
Deborah Le-En Tan, Marina Stern and Vincent Lascassies