ULTRA-Ex: Parks and Vacant Lands as Mechanisms of Ecological and Social Stability in the Cleveland Urban Ecosystem

目前城市公园管理和城市景观设计的做法往往是基于这样的原则，即加强城市社区内的生态系统服务，通过向社区居民灌输位置自豪感和环境管理价值观，促进社会和生态稳定。然而，关于城市公园能否维持有益于城市居民的有意义的生态系统服务的能力仍然存在，尽管对生态完整性的多重加速挑战，例如鹿过多、入侵动植物物种、废物和雨水的影响，特别是在较老的、经济困难的城市内。经济困难也导致了许多城市的大量空置/废弃物业，城市景观设计师经常将其视为将自然便利设施和生态系统服务纳入城市核心的重新开发机会。这项研究的目标将是调查公园社区内管理和最佳管理实践的社会决定因素，以响应社区分水岭保护组织提供的教育和外展规划和改造技术，并监测这些干预措施对生态、水文和社会经济变量的长期变化。将编制俄亥俄州凯霍加县内空置和废弃财产的清单和生态/社会经济特征。这一过程将作为规划一个或多个社区重建的基础，并在未来实施对这些地点内的生态、水文和社会经济变量的长期监测。该项目将促进将科学和设计方法整合到城市生态系统研究中。该项目将建立东北俄亥俄生态系统联盟(NEOECO)，这是一个多机构合作伙伴关系，将集中和整合该地区在城市生态、景观设计、城市规划和自然资源管理方面的大量智力资产和研究能力。东北大西洋海洋工程组织内负责自然资源管理的主要机构的参与将促进将科学知识有效地转化为管理和振兴退化的克利夫兰城市生态系统的决策。通过会议、研讨会和互联网参与社区活动是该项目的主要活动。NEOECO网站将为学术、专业和教育用户提供获取项目结果和数据的方式。教育外展还将通过与NEOECO参与者主办的现有项目互动来实现，这些项目为克利夫兰大都会学区内的学生和教师提供城市生态培训。该项目的研究生和本科生参与者将接受融合生态科学、资源管理和城市景观设计元素的跨学科培训。

Current practices of urban park management and urban landscape design are often predicated upon the principle that enhancing ecosystem services within urban neighborhoods promotes both social and ecological stability by instilling pride-of-place and environmental stewardship values among neighborhood residents. However, important questions remain concerning the ability of urban parks to sustain meaningful ecosystem services that benefit city residents, despite multiple, accelerating challenges to ecological integrity, e.g., overpopulated deer, invasive plant and animal species, waste- and storm water impacts, especially within older, economically-challenged cities. Economic hardship has also resulted in an abundance of vacant/abandoned properties in many cities, which urban landscape designers often view as opportunities for re-development that incorporate natural amenities and ecosystem services into the urban core. The objectives of this research will be to investigate social determinants of stewardship and best management practices within park neighborhoods in response to educational and outreach programming and retrofit technologies supplied by a community-based watershed protection organization, and monitor the long-term changes in ecological, hydrologic, and socioeconomic variables in response to these interventions. Inventories and ecological/socioeconomic characterizations of vacant and abandoned properties within Cuyahoga County, Ohio, will be developed. This process will serve as a basis for planning the redevelopment of one or more neighborhoods and future implementation of long-term monitoring of ecological, hydrologic, and socioeconomic variables within those sites.The project will promote the integration of scientific and design approaches to urban ecosystem studies. The project will establish the Northeast Ohio Ecosystem Consortium (NEOECO), a multi-institutional partnership that will bring focus and integration to the region's considerable intellectual assets and research capacity in urban ecology, landscape design, urban planning, and natural resource management. The participation of leading agencies for natural resource management within NEOECO will promote the effective transfer of scientific knowledge into decision-making for management and revitalization of the degraded Cleveland urban ecosystem. Community-engagement through meetings, workshops, and the Internet are principal activities of this project. The NEOECO website will provide modes of access to project results and data tailored to scholarly, professional, and educational users. Educational outreach will also be accomplished by interacting with existing programs hosted by NEOECO participants that provide urban ecological training to students and teachers within the Cleveland Metropolitan School District. Graduate and undergraduate participants in the project will receive interdisciplinary training integrating elements of ecological science, resource management, and urban landscape design.