This page intentionally left blank Urban Regions Ecology and Planning Beyond the City Natural systems and their human uses are of central importance in urban regions, where diverse greenspaces and built spaces of essentially equal value spatially intertwine. With land planning, socioeconomics, and natural systems as foundations, this book combines urban planning and ecological science in examining urban regions. Writing for graduate students, academic researchers, planners, conservationists, and policy makers, and with the use of informative urban-region color maps, Richard Forman compares 38 urban regions from 32 nations, including London, Chicago, Ottawa, Brasilia, Cairo, Beijing, Bangkok, Canberra, and a major case study of the Greater Barcelona Region. Alternative patterns of urbanization spread (including sprawl) are evaluated from the perspective of nature and people, and land-use principles extracted from landscape ecology, transportation, and hydrology are stated. Good, bad, and interesting spatial patterns for creating sustainable land mosaics are pinpointed, and urban regions are considered in broader contexts, from climate change to biodiversity loss, disasters, and sense of place. Richard T. T. Forman is Harvard University’s Professor of Advanced Environmental Studies in Landscape Ecology. Previously at the University of Wisconsin and Rutgers University, he is an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and recipient of the Lindback Award for Teaching Excellence as well as of honorary degrees and medals in the USA and internationally. Urban Regions Ecology and Planning Beyond the City Richard T. T. Forman HarvardUniversity CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITY PRESS Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB2 8RU, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521854467 © Cambridge University Press 2008 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2008 ISBN-13 978-0-511-40977-6 eBook (NetLibrary) ISBN-13 978-0-521-85446-7 hardback ISBN-13 978-0-521-67076-0 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Dedicated to Sabrina Forman Heim and her family, Karl, Brianna, Matthew Contents Foreword xi Foreword xiii Preface xvii Acknowledgments xxi 1 Regions and land mosaics 1 Aframework 1 Termsandconceptstorevealurbanregions 6 Regions 11 Land-mosaicperspectiveandlandscapeecology 16 Spatialscalesandtheirattributes 18 2 Planning land 27 Planningandlandmanagement 27 Conservationplanning 33 Plannedcities 40 Urban-regionplanning 45 3 Economic dimensions and socio-cultural patterns 51 Growth,regulatory,andecologicaleconomics 51 Economicsintime,space,andfootprints 59 Socialpatterns 66 Culture 73 4 Natural systems and greenspaces 80 Ecosystem,community,andpopulationecology 82 Freshwaterandmarinecoastecology 93 vii viii Contents Earthandsoil 99 Microclimateandairpollutants 102 Greenspaces 105 5 Thirty-eight urban regions 113 Selectingcities,determiningboundaries,mappingregions 113 Keyspatialattributes 119 Thirty-eighturbanregionsmapped 125 Place-namesynopsesoftheregions 125 Broadpatternsoftheurban-regionset 134 6 Nature, food, and water 138 Spatialanalysisforpatterns 138 Natureinurbanregions 142 Foodinurbanregions 150 Waterinurbanregions 155 7 Built systems, built areas, and whole regions 164 Naturalsystemswithinandnexttobuiltareas 165 Builtsystems 168 Builtareas 177 Wholeregions 189 8 Urbanization models and the regions 198 Land-changepatternsandmodels 199 Foururbanizationmodels 206 Modelsappliedtocasestudies 211 Urbanizationoptionsevaluatedwith18attributesand38regions 215 9 Basic principles for molding land mosaics 223 Patchsizes,edges,andhabitats 224 Naturalprocesses,corridors,andnetworks 229 Transportationmodes 232 Communitiesanddevelopment 234 Landmosaicsandlandscapechange 239 10 The Barcelona Region’s land mosaic 243 Perspectiveandapproach 244 Nature,food,andwater 248 Builtareasandsystems 260 Threeplanoptionsfortheregion 268 Reflectionstwoyearslater 274