ABSTRACT
In the U.S., more than 80% of the population resides, works, and plays in environments intentionally created and managed by humans (United Nations 2007). These human-dominated urbanized environments are characterized by horizontal and vertical impervious surfaces surrounded by lawns, scattered trees, and other ornamental vegetation. Management of urbanized landscapes is mostly aimed at maintaining roads, plants, and other structures in desired forms and spatial patterns. Although these points may be self evident, probably few of us reflect on them critically; instead, for most people, continued urbanization and typical landscape management practices are unquestioned social norms, to be accepted at face value rather than critiqued. It is only when something out of the
“norm” occurs-a new type of residential development appears or a suburban lawn is replaced with a prairie-that people tend to reflect on their expectations about how urbanized landscapes should look and function, both socioculturally and ecologically.
