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- Right ways to pursue ecopracticology and their moral guardrails
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Abstract: Abstract In this rejoinder, I respond to the comment Ian Douglas made on my 2019 article on ecopracticology; following his use of examples, I too share an instance of life-changing experience that led me step into the role of ecopracticologist; and further, I present three practical and moral ways to pursue ecopracticology that I have learned and experimented with in the past 10 years.
PubDate: 2023-11-20
- Heat planning in small and medium-sized cities: A collaborative
application of PIRS™ for heat in Kent, WA, USA-
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Abstract: Abstract Extreme heat is among the deadliest climate-related hazards with social and ecological impacts. Heat risks are increasing due to climate change and characteristics of the built environment, particularly in urban areas. Many larger and well-resourced cities are making progress on heat initiatives, such as creating heat action plans and pursuing strategies to mitigate heat. Less is known though about how small and medium-sized cities, often with fewer resources and more limited planning capacity, are addressing heat risks. To address the lack of understanding of heat planning in understudied cities, we collaborate with local planning practitioners to apply the Plan Integration for Resilience Scorecard™ (PIRS™) for Heat method to assess heat mitigation planning in Kent, WA. We categorize, score, and spatially analyze policies in the city’s plans based on their potential to mitigate heat and compare the results with indicators of physical heat hazard and social vulnerability to identify opportunities for improved heat planning. We engaged iteratively with practitioners throughout the research process, from developing the research question to the plan selection, policy mapping, and interpretation of the results. Results suggest that heat planning is in its infancy. Planned policies with the potential to mitigate heat, mostly by reducing waste heat or urban greening, tend to rely heavily on a small subset of possible policy tools, notably capital improvements. These policies are concentrated in more socially vulnerable areas of the city, but those areas may not experience the hottest temperatures. Additionally, city officials found the process and results helpful for future heat planning and believe it will increase collaboration between city departments to address heat. More broadly, this study provides insights about the potential for PIRS™ for Heat to be used to co-produce heat planning knowledge.
PubDate: 2023-11-14
- Encouraging research to be ecopracticological, three topical areas will be
featured at the SEPR 2024 conference and in two 2025 special SEPR issues-
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PubDate: 2023-11-06
- Assessing the dependence of livelihoods in rural communities on tropical
forests: insights from the Midnapore Forest Division in West Bengal, India
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Abstract: Abstract Forest resources play a vital role in the livelihoods of rural communities living in forest fringe areas, serving as an integral part of their economic framework. India, being one of the world’s most forest-rich countries, heavily relies on non-wood forest products, with approximately 60% consumed locally (FAO., 2012). The COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant adverse impact on over 200 countries, including India, affecting various sectors such as agriculture, forestry, and trade. This study focuses on three forest ranges in Midnapore forest division of Paschim Midnapore district, West Bengal in India, to understand the local economy and the effects of the pandemic on forest range inhabitants. Through twelve focused group discussions and 540 household surveys, we collected data on local economic sources, forest dependency, and the socioeconomic impact of COVID-19. Statistical analyses, including ANOVA post hoc and multivariate analysis, were conducted to assess the variance of forest dependence across different forest ranges during two consecutive periods. During the pre- and post-lockdown periods, there were significant differences observed among various sources of income, viz. the income from the forest, wages, livestock, and agriculture and between the forest regions depicted through the analysis of relative forest income (RFI). The analysis also revealed highlighting changes in income patterns, forest product collection, and forest dependency for different forest ranges. The results showed that forest dwellers faced economic challenges, with a shift from higher-income classes to lower-income classes during the lockdown. Collection and earnings from non-timber forest products were significantly affected, leading to economic distress for marginalized forest dwellers. Forest income remained an essential component of their livelihoods, but the pandemic caused fluctuations in forest dependency. The study underscores the importance of sustainable forest management and the need for targeted interventions to support forest-dependent communities during such crises.
PubDate: 2023-10-30
- Correction to: Mega‑eco projects: a global assessment of large‑scale
ecological restoration initiatives-
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PubDate: 2023-10-11
- How can a junior scholar become engaged in
ecopracticology—socio-ecological practice research'-
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Abstract: Abstract In this comment, I illustrate a way through which a young scholar can become involved and further engaged in socio-ecological practice research.
PubDate: 2023-10-05
- Ecosocial compensation of nature-based social values in Turku, South-West
Finland-
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Abstract: Abstract Complementary building is one of the key objectives in current urban planning as cities attempt to mitigate climate change. However, this development often reduces the urban green space. This incremental encroachment can negatively affect both the well-being of residents and biodiversity. Compensation is a way to safeguard the urban green space under the pressure of complementary construction. In the spirit of creative democracy, in this study, we examined the preconditions for ecosocial compensation and the mitigation of the harmful effects of incremental encroachment, as well as the mitigation hierarchy, in the context of land-use planning. We organised three workshops for planners and civil society associations at which we examined the preconditions for ecosocial compensation and other mitigation options using co-creation methods. We also carried out a PPGIS survey for the residents of Turku and were able to insert one question into the voting advice application of the municipal election in 2021. Our results show that there is a need for a new kind of information regarding nature-based social values when considering mitigation options and compensation. A comprehensive planning approach instead of incremental planning practices is important for considering compensation. Residents’ initiative is essential in the ecosocial approach, and the compensation process may become a way for residents to step up and introduce concerns and new opportunities to the public discussion and actual decisions about urban green space.
PubDate: 2023-08-17
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00163-9
- Mega-eco projects: a global assessment of large-scale ecological
restoration initiatives-
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Abstract: Abstract One way to address the crises of climate change and biodiversity loss is the rapid deployment of so-called nature-based solutions (NbS). Coined in 2008, NbS have become exceedingly popular, with many calling to upscale these works. However, many large-scale ecological restoration and construction endeavors already exist. To capture these projects, this paper coins and defines a new term, the “mega-eco project” and identifies roughly 250 examples worldwide as material evidence. This paper explains what constitutes a mega-eco project and organizes the examples into four typological categories: connectivity, anti-desertification, watershed, and metropolitan projects. Although our primary concern is with contemporary and emerging mega-eco projects, we also show that mega-eco projects have a history and not all of it is good. It is important to consider mega-eco projects in this light because one of their distinguishing characteristics is that when set against the backdrop of environmental crises, many view these projects as virtuous, benevolent undertakings. While we agree with this sentiment and believe mega-eco projects have the potential for a profound shift in how industrialized humans treat the environment, this introductory analysis is part of a more extensive study aimed at identifying best practices to distinguish them from cases of greenwashing and exploitation.
PubDate: 2023-08-09
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00157-7
- Advancing the scholarship and practice of stakeholder engagement in
working landscapes: identifying and responding to six key research gaps-
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PubDate: 2023-07-31
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00162-w
- An assessment of tangible community benefits from exclosures
in Tigray, northern Ethiopia-
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Abstract: Abstract In Tigray, northern Ethiopia, land degradation has generally undermined the environmental goods and services (EGS) those local communities depend on for their livelihoods. Massive sustainable land management programs (SLMP) to restore degraded land have temporarily ceased to be accessible free of charge to communities because human and animal interference were seen as the main drivers of the problem. The SLMP deals with agricultural productivity and land degradation through integrated watershed and landscape management where exclosures are key components. As a result, the expected translation of restoration outcomes into meaningful economic benefits for local communities is critical to the sustainability of the program. The current research deviated from previous studies by focusing on tangible benefits extracted by local communities from exclosures. A survey to understand the actual economic impacts of exclosures on the local communities was conducted in five villages of Tanqua-Abergele district of Tigray. We interviewed 331 households, 43 key informants and five focus groups each composed of 12–16 participants. Regression analysis revealed that the role of household heads in the village, governance and distance to the nearest exclosure were significantly associated with higher contribution of exclosure to household (CEHH) income. While gender showed positive but no significant effect on CEHH income, level of education was significantly against. A binary logistic regression showed that role of household heads in the village, governance system and gender had statistically significant association with higher benefit–cost ratio (BCR). While exposure to several sustainable land management training has positive but no significant effect, education levels were significantly against BCR. Discussions revealed that exclosures brought benefits to the local communities with increased water, enhancement of plant biodiversity and recovery of degraded lands. However, local communities are not making maximum tangible benefits and the contribution to household income is minimal which could counter exclosure expansion and sustainability. Maximizing benefits through designing of new irrigation sites to utilize the increment of water, planned harvest of grass for construction and animal feed, deployment of modern bee hives inside and near exclosures and creation of opportunities to collect wild fruits remain to be crucial.
PubDate: 2023-07-19
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00160-y
- Improving land-use-based urbanism through award-winning planning practice
and scholarship: a North American case study-
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Abstract: Abstract Metropolises in the Sunbelt region of the USA are in need of sensitive land-use-based urbanism comprised of more compact development, sustainable transportation, efficient infrastructure, low-carbon energy, and greenway and environmental planning. Sustainable urbanity can be partially accomplished via co-creative planning pedagogies, which in turn can lead to place-and evidence-based planning practice and scholarship. However, student work is often underappreciated because academia does not create the visibility that it requires. Planning studios and other applied disciplines are invaluable opportunities to conduct in loco research and to produce professional or near-professional documents. Town-gown collaborative projects offer many rewards. This article showcases how various undergraduate and graduate disciplines offered at Arizona State University resulted in state-level professional planning awards. It is stated that students ought to go beyond the delivery of planning documents to their instructors and clients to also seek recognition from their professional associations. More encompassing recognition of award-winning work is sure to receive further visibility not only from professionals but also from the community at large. The methodology comprised mostly qualitative policy evaluation of plan making processes. A set of lessons learned and implications is offered for those who wish to venture out in this type of academic collaborations, namely instructors, students, stakeholders, university administrators, elected officials, and professional planners. The key finding is that the land-use-based urbanism strategies discussed in the paper can encourage land preservation in arid cities and above all increase the quality of urban life in desert environments.
PubDate: 2023-07-19
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00161-x
- Unearthing the hidden treasures: a socio-ecological assessment of the
social values of ecosystem services in Ghana-
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Abstract: Abstract The identification and valuation of ecosystem services (ES) have been widely demonstrated to play an important role in ensuring ecological sustainability as human impact on ecosystems keep increasing. However, understanding local knowledge and perceptions of ES value is frequently ignored in the conventional literature. In this study, a socio-ecological systems approach was utilised in Atebubu, Ghana, to characterize the use and perceptions on available ES, focusing on three main research questions: (1) What are the most important ecosystem services' (2) What is the spatial distribution of the key ES provisioning areas' (3) Are the people willing to pay for the maintenance of the existing ecosystems' In total, 272 community members were interviewed. The data were collected using Participatory GIS, face-to-face interviews, observation, and supported by a literature review. Based on the descriptive analysis, binary regression, and GIS spatial analysis, it was revealed that 87% of the respondents consider provisioning and regulating services to be the most important types of ES. The majority of respondents, for example, chose raw materials as the most important provisioning ES, followed by air quality and temperature regulation for regulating services. The findings further indicate that overexploitation was perceived as a major threat to the available ecosystems and the lack of community participation in ecosystem management has weakened the socio-ecological system in the community. The study, therefore recommends extensive community engagement and the need for practitioners to understand and incorporate community perspectives into ES planning and management.
PubDate: 2023-07-17
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00159-5
- From trash to treasure: advancing the socio-ecological practice of rag
picking for sustainable development in the Chandannagar town of Hooghly,
West Bengal, India-
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Abstract: The ragpickers play an instrumental role in retrieving the remnants of household materials, street wastes, etc., contribute to circular economy, and address larger questions of sustainability in solid waste management, especially within the context of the developing nations. In countries like India and more specifically for peripheral towns that lack access to appropriate technologies in managing waste, ragpicking becomes extremely significant for the waste sector. However, despite their critical and positive role in the Life Cycle Assessment of wastes within areas demarcated under urban local bodies, ragpickers encounter marginalization, health and financial insecurities, and social taboos, shrouding the dark alleys of the waste sector. This study offers an in-depth analysis of the ragpicking scenario by empirically exploring one of the peripheral towns of West Bengal by compiling first-hand knowledge and experience from fieldwork. First, the authors have identified typologies in ragpicking along an array of practices conducted by this social community, followed by scoping exercises conducted on literature to specify functions performed by ragpickers in the circular flow of life cycle of wastes. Second, the research lays out the justification for site selection by contextualizing the narrative within larger challenges of waste management in peripheral towns and the crucial roles played by ragpickers in handling biodegradable wastes. The study area—the town of Chandannagar, has the biggest rag market in the Hooghly District, West Bengal. Third, it discusses ethnography as the methodology, fleshing out qualitative methods such as key informant interviews, focus group discussions, and in-depth interviews with multiple stakeholders such as government officials (mayor, dump yard supervisors, and sanitation officers of Chandannagar Municipal Corporation) and inhabitants of the town (spread across different wards) to trace their perceptions and in-depth subjective narratives on ragpicking. Apart from this, the research compiles findings from 112 ragpickers interviewed randomly to explore their participation and practices in managing waste and functions in the waste market value chain. It further deploys the SWOT (strengths–weaknesses–opportunities–threats) framework to demarcate ragpicking mechanisms that are running effectively against areas awaiting critical interventions. Findings demonstrate that though ragpickers play a crucial function in waste management and there is an availability of a wholesale scrap market, a constructive roadmap needs to be designed toward the inclusion of ragpickers as formal waste collectors in the study area. The research also discusses the knowledge to action framework, depicting the axiological significance of this study in wider ragpicking settings and scenarios. Graphical abstract 
PubDate: 2023-07-11
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00158-6
- Searching for socio-ecological approaches to increase Balanites trees
through local small-scale conservation in the conservancies adjoining the
Maasai Mara, Kenya-
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Abstract: Abstract On the edges of the Maasai Mara in western Kenya there are 15 conservancies, where herds of wildlife, cattle, sheep, goats, and predators are found with Balanites aegyptiaca, an iconic and much-photographed tree known by many names, such as desert date, or more simply, Balanites. Most individuals are 80–90 years old, yet the tree has a life-expectancy of about 120 years. Lack of young trees is due to grazing and browsing impacts from sheep and goat herding that began about eighty years ago. Protecting young naturally regenerated trees is difficult as they are also grazed by large herbivores such as elephants and giraffe. In this perspective essay we describe botanical and social approaches to enable small-scale conservation in a remote area where no work on Balanites revegetation has been done previously. There are two core approaches. First, collecting seed from both superior mother trees and more widely to achieve a source of genetic diversity and second, to work with landowners and other locals on methods to protect new saplings from sheep and goats. These avenues of action in this poor rural area will set the stage for further practical research and assessment of methods to improve the regional survival of Balanites.
PubDate: 2023-06-12
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00154-w
- Integrating joint fact finding and ecosystem services valuation in
watershed management planning: the case of Oaxaca, Mexico-
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Abstract: Abstract This article presents a case study analysis that will interest researchers in three fields. In environmental governance, it demonstrates how mediated negotiations can produce agreements on ecosystem service valuation and payment mechanisms against a backdrop of paralyzing conflicts. In environmental economics, it demonstrates how deliberative valuation of ecosystem services and joint fact finding can overcome debilitating transaction costs and produce policy agreements. In urban and regional planning, it demonstrates how a participant-observer—acting as a participatory action researcher—can facilitate multi-stakeholder negotiations to design and institutionalize a landscape-level conservation initiative involving interdependent and, at times, conflicting local, regional, and national authorities. A detailed, practice-centered review of a conservation intervention in Oaxaca, Mexico highlights the value of combining multi-disciplinary theories and practical techniques to advance socioecological coherence.
PubDate: 2023-06-08
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00156-8
- Correction to: The disarming simplicity of wicked problems: the biography
of an idea-
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PubDate: 2023-05-17
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00155-9
- Integrating social and ecological considerations in floodplain relocation
and restoration programs-
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Abstract: Abstract In the United States, most floodplain relocation (or buyout) programs focus on moving homeowners, then deal separately with what happens with the land afterward. These programs typically divide processes for relocation planning, engagement, funding, and implementation from those related to post-buyout land management and restoration. The structural and operational conditions that lead to this separation of roles and responsibilities miss out on opportunities to create more synergistic socio-ecological strategies that may produce healthier outcomes for both people and the environment. In other domains, research shows that healthy people and healthy environments can co-create each other through more virtuous cycles. In this perspective essay, we argue that we can better create such virtuous cycles in floodplain relocation programs by integrally considering social and ecological components. Such efforts can encourage more people to decide to relocate, thereby creating more contiguous places to restore. They can also empower more residents to help steward these sites, an action that in turn helps heal and strengthen flood-affected communities. These arguments, while particular to the United States, have resonance for floodplain management and land use planning worldwide.
PubDate: 2023-05-04
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00152-y
- Green waste to green architecture: optimizing urban tree systems for
renewable construction material supply chains-
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Abstract: Abstract In this article, we share the prospect of using the lifecycle and growth advantages of urban trees as construction materials beyond the existing, more typical green infrastructure uses. Much work has been completed on green infrastructure, but the potential tie to the material and construction industry is completely underdeveloped. It is this symbiosis between our environmental green infrastructure systems, natural and designed, and our social systems, the decision-making, design, materiality and fabrication of our built environment in more sustainable directions which is the goal of this research. Technological advances now allow urban wastes from tree maintenance to be locally processed as viable construction materials in new ways and that if optimized in coordination with other environmental and social systems and efforts, we will see functional and environmental improvements in our urban environments with reductions in both imported materials, and exported wastes and improved energy levels and carbon sequestering.
PubDate: 2023-04-18
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00151-z
- The disarming simplicity of wicked problems: The biography of an idea
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Abstract: Abstract The idea of “wicked problems” indicates the intractability and dilemmatic nature of design and planning. At the same time, it also encourages the development of design methods and information systems. So how do designers, technologists, and administrators reconcile and respond to these competing ideas' Using William James’s “psychology of truth,” the paper answers this question by putting wicked problems in intellectual relief. It also suggests that as long as pluralism, diversity, and interdisciplinary thinking are in good currency, the idea of wicked problems will retain its popularity, appeal, and usefulness.
PubDate: 2023-04-06
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00143-z
- Dwelling drawing: seeking ecological wisdom in situ
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Abstract: Abstract Drawing is an important component of socio-ecological practice, whether for land planning, design, construction, or management. Dwelling drawing is an in situ exploratory method for understanding the qualities and values of places in time and space. While dwelling drawing is practiced in landscape architecture, it is not widely used or understood across socio-ecological practice. This paper argues that dwelling drawing has a broad use: working toward the practical ecological wisdom to shape the world for the greater good. It presents the author’s drawings as evidence of the practice’s transformative value. The drawings focus on experiences while living on Brush Mountain in southwest Virginia and demonstrate six lessons learned. Through dwelling drawing the practitioner (1) forms deep connections to places; (2) notices hidden qualities in the landscape; (3) engages senses other than sight; (4) shifts from a human-centered perspective to an appreciation of the more-than-human world; (5) nurtures a conservation ethic; and (6) cultivates humility and empathy in practice. Dwelling drawing instills a duty of care to landscapes and nurtures ecophronesis (Xiang, Landsc Urban Plan 155:53–60, 2016), the improvisational skill of wise ecological practice par excellence.
PubDate: 2023-04-05
DOI: 10.1007/s42532-023-00150-0
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