Ecological urban planning and design : a systematic literature review

Angela Heymans, Jessica Breadsell, Gregory M. Morrison, Joshua J. Byrne, Christine Eon

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

106 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Urbanization is a defining feature of the modern age, yet the current model of urban development profoundly alters the natural environment, often reducing biodiversity and ultimately threatening human wellbeing. An ecologically based urban planning and design paradigm should consider a more harmonious relationship. Through a systematic literature review of 57 papers, this research identified relevant concepts and theories that could underpin this new paradigm. It revealed a noticeable increase in academic interest in this subject since 2013 and the development of concepts and theories that reflect a more holistic socio-ecological systems approach to urban planning and design based on a transdisciplinary integration and synthesis of research. Seven main themes underpin the academic literature: ecosystem services, socio-ecological systems, resilience, biodiversity, landscape, green infrastructure, as well as integrated and holistic approaches. Six of these can be organised into either a sustainability stream or a spatial stream, representing the foundations of a potential new ecological urban planning and design paradigm that applies sustainability-related concepts in a spatial setting. The final theme, integrated and holistic, includes concepts that reflect the fundamental characteristics of this new paradigm, which can be termed 'urban consonance'.
Original languageEnglish
Article number3723
Number of pages20
JournalSustainability
Volume11
Issue number13
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Open Access - Access Right Statement

© 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Ecological urban planning and design : a systematic literature review'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this