Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Novel Urban Ecosystems: Opportunities From And To Landscape Architecture, Catarina Patoilo Teixeira, Cláudia Oliveira Fernandes, Jack Ahern

Landscape Architecture & Regional Planning Faculty Publication Series

Novel assemblages of biotic, abiotic, and social components resulting from human-induced actions (e.g., climate change, land-use change, species movement) have been labeled as “Novel Ecosystems”, or “Novel Urban Ecosystems” when emerging in urban contexts. This concept has been shifting perspectives among some scientists and making them question traditional values about human-nature interactions in a rapidly changing era dominated by anthropogenic actions (Anthropocene). Controversial dimensions surrounding the Novel Ecosystems and Novel Urban Ecosystems terms may be preventing the evolution and further research of these concepts. The environmental problems that our society will soon face support a search for innovative solutions and …