ABSTRACT
It is ironic that urban ecological thinking is an emerging concept and city making is an old tradition. After all, human settlement has nearly always been sited and planned around ecological services such as fresh water, fertile soils or cooling breezes. Yet urban ecology has only been recognised for its importance in the last 30 years (Dramstad et al., 1996; Makhzoumi and Pungetti, 1999). Its theory links cities with the dynamic tapestry of natural elements, the interrelationships between place, vegetation, ground, animals and the order that supports it. But can urban ecology determine urban form? Or should we shape cities based on human settlement functions, and then retrofit ecology? This chapter discusses these ideas at two urban development sites – one greenfield, one brownfield; one unbuilt, the other built. Both address the potential for urban ecology in urban planning, and both use landscape as the design generator.
