PARENT SESSION
Special Session - Interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches for creating and maintaining sustainable landscapes Chair(s): Fry, Gary¹, Tress, Gunther ², Tress, Bärbel ², Wu, Jianguo (Jingle) ³, ¹ Agricultural University of Norway, Norway² Wageningen University and Research Centre, The Netherlands³ Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Thursday, April 1, 2004 8:00 AM - 11:00 AM Zeus Room B

Understanding the dynamic interactions between society and nature is at the heart of the emerging field of sustainability science whose ultimate goal is to promote sustainable landscapes. The number of large landscape projects that include elements of integration between disciplines has been steadily growing since the mid 1990s. The challenges facing researchers working on such landscape projects include selecting and developing appropriate methodological approaches for addressing their
specific research questions and integrating disciplinary knowledge to solve complex environmental problems. Integrative research teams face problems of communicating across disciplinary boundaries and thus have
difficulties identifying project goals and the methodologies needed to reach these goals. The background for these difficulties is often
related to differences in epistemology of different knowledge cultures. There might be fundamental differences in the perception of what research is, what is regarded as data, reliable methods, and research outputs. If landscape ecology is to contribute to the management of sustainable landscapes, it should increase its body of knowledge towards developing concepts and methods that can be used by integrative research teams. These concepts and methods need to be appealing and acceptable to researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds and seen as
relevant to sustainability science. This special session will offer a unique opportunity for researchers to discuss such conceptual and programatic issues. The special session will include contributions that existing and emerging landscape ecology concepts and methodologies(e.g. sustainability science, ecological networks, cultural landscapes,
landscape scenarios, habitat supplementation and complementation,landscape continuity, heterogeneity, scale effects, dispersion) and
contribute to the development of a science of sustainable landscapes.

Redesigning Neighborhood Parks and Town Squares: Landscape Ecological Issues and Considerations. ^*MUSACCHIO, LAURA ¹, FITZGERALD, FRANK ², FORSYTH, ANN ² and NOERADI, WIRA ², ¹ University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA² University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

ABSTRACT- In urban areas, small parks are important neighborhood amenities but many do not realize their ecological potential. Existing small parks tend to have fairly consistent design elements--tot lot, turf, scattered trees, play courts, and fields--that typically undergo 20 to 25 year cycles of renovation, prompted by play equipment deterioration, or changing recreation and demographic needs. This presentation will provide landscape ecologists, park designers, parks departments, planners, and civic groups with a broader understanding of options that can add landscape ecological and social value alongside more traditional park improvements. The first part of the presentation will review why smaller parks and civic squares serve a primary role in providing amenities in neighborhoods as well as the opportunities for landscape ecological and social updates when they are renovated. The challenges of retrofitting these parks for landscape ecological issues and smart growth development patterns will be examined. The second part of the presentation will review why their scattered spatial distribution in the urban matrix may make them a potentially vital part of an urban green infrastructure system of patches and corridors. Finally, alternative scenarios of small urban park retrofits that are backed up by credible research findings about wildlife habitat, water quality, and human behavior will be presented. These scenarios are designed to enhance communication about potential landscape ecological and social benefits to neighborhood residents and park maintenance staff.

KEY WORDS: urban landscape ecology, open space design, urban design, ecological processes, human ecology