Current Green City Studio Projects

Coarse-scale landscape planning has drawn upon a wealth of landscape ecological research to develop strategies to preserve, restore and re-establish habitat for a variety of large predator species. While serving the needs of these species is vitally important work, these planning activities often leave out heavily urbanized communities, which may be devoid of large patches of natural vegetation, As a result, habitat concerns are often given little attention in community planning efforts in these urban environments. This reality is striking, considering the growing body of research highlighting the role of systemic racism and exclusionary practices that have disconnected low-income communities of color from the natural environment. This document explores the potential for re-establishing small-patch habitats for Arthropod species, including moths, butterflies, ants, bees, spiders, flies and other insects within a heavily urban matrix. As foundations of natural ecosystems, Arthropods have the potential to attract many other species, and these habitats have the opportunity to re-introduce small bits of nature into urban environments.

The report includes a compendium of target Arthropod Species for the Pomona Valley, CA, a model for prioritizing the establishment of small-patch habitat based on ecological and social characteristics, a proposed certification program for consideration by our partner, Clean & Green Pomona, and a number of residential and public garden designs to illustrate the potential for certified Arthropod habitats.

You can learn about past projects on our reports page. If you would like to learn more about how your community or organization might partner with the Green City Studio contact us.