Social-ecological and technological factors moderate the value of urban nature

By Bonnie L. Keeler, Perrine Hamel, Timon McPhearson, Maike H. Hamann, Marie L. Donahue, Kelly A. Meza Prado, Katie K. Arkema, Gregory N. Bratman, Kate A. Brauman, Jacques C. Finlay, Anne D. Guerry, Sarah E. Hobbie, Justin A. Johnson, Graham K. MacDonald, Robert I. McDonald, Nick Neverisky & Spencer A. Wood

Project Team: Timon McPhearson

Urban ecosystems and biodiversity are forms of natural capital with profound influence on human wellbeing. As part of the Natural Capital Project, USL is developing the Urban InVEST valuation model with colleagues from Stanford University, University of Minnesota, the Stockholm Resilience Centre, and the Beijer Institute for Ecological Economics. Urban InVEST integrates spatially explicit biophysical and socio-economic data to allow users to quantify and map the impacts of alternative urban designs on ecosystem services — showing their associated benefits and costs for different communities.

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Project themes

Big Data & Artificial Intelligence · Nature-Based Solutions · Urban Ecology

Project Team: Timon McPhearson

The Seeds of Good Anthropocenes project is a collaboration with the Stockholm Resilience Centre funded initially through Future Earth. Our aim is to counterbalance dystopian visions of the future that may be inhibiting the ability to cooperate effectively on problem solving.

USL is working with project participants to solicit, explore, and develop a suite of alternative, plausible “good anthropocenes” — future scenarios that are socially and environmentally desirable, just, and sustainable.

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Project themes

Community Engagement · Environmental Justice & Equity

Project Team: Timon McPhearson, Daniel Sauter, Claudia Tomateo

Building Resilient Coastal Cities through Smart and Connected Communities was a project to develop a data visualization and user interface design for web platform. This work involved mapping use cases, tools classification and social networks based on different stakeholders’ data from San Juan, Baltimore and Miami workshops. The product was represented in a series of interface workflow in form of storyboard (Screen designs), low fidelity wireframes and animated video mockups of platform usage. The tool is used as a “network of networks”, to help stakeholders map current projects and tools being used in the field and to discourage the duplication of efforts and co-production of knowledge.

project themes

Urban Climate Resilience · Urban Policy & Planning

Project Team: Timon McPhearson, Taylor Drake Chris Hepner Josh Snow

Like most cities, New York struggles with a lack of connectivity between parks and smaller green spaces. The Networked Urban Ecology project is dedicated to linking fragmented habitats that promote biodiversity and provide important services to society. Through a program called Connect the Dots, it merges ecological research with participatory design to build innovative corridors between parkland, street vegetation, green roofs/walls, and other elements throughout the city — with emphasis on places where greenery is lacking. This network has the potential to significantly improve public health, livability, equity, resilience, and sustainability.

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Project theme

Urban Ecology

AI, People & Planet is a research initiative hosted by the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics at the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Princeton Institute for International Regional and Studies at Princeton University, The Urban Systems Lab at The New School and, the Stockholm Resilience Centre at Stockholm University.

The USL is exploring advances in urban data science, availability of real-time data, advanced spatial modeling, machine learning, cloud-based GPU processing, and cutting-edge visualization of urban social and infrastructure systems to ask new questions to be asked about key climate change risks and opportunities to advance adaptation in cities. Our interdisciplinary team includes scientists, planners, NGOs, industry, and other stakeholders working around the world to plan and envision positive urban futures, assessing heat and flood risk, and analyzing nature-based solutions and other strategies for building SETS resilience in cities.