Restoring Ecosystems and Cities: Scientific and Ethical Issues

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This study will examine the interplay of scientific, ethical, and cultural judgments in evaluating the restoration of natural and urban environments. Restoration has become a centerpiece of ecological and urban policy. Yet the concept of restoration is rife with ambiguities and conflicting interpretations. The proposed study, conducted by an interdisciplinary team of two philosophers, an ecologist, a geographer and an urban planner, will examine and compare the issues raised by natural and urban restoration. The investigators will focus on three areas where restoration projects are underway or being planned: the Severn River basin and the Baltimore neighborhoods of Marble Hill and Butcher's Hill. They will examine the diverse and sometimes conflicting visions of restoration that underlie these projects and, more broadly, explore the roles of science, history, and culture in evaluating restoration projects and adjudicating the conflicts they engender. The investigators will write a coordinated series of papers, reporting their analysis of restoration issues and their studies of specific restoration projects. These papers will be submitted to journals of public, environmental, and urban policy, and collected into an anthology.