The Vegetation in the City. Urban Ecosystem Series No. 2

Sudia TW. 1972. The Vegetation in the City. Urban Ecosystem Series No. 2. National Park Service. Washington, DC

Urban Ecosystem Series No. 2 explores the concept of vegetation in a city environment and the engineering into a city, conditions that allow plants to grow. Dr. Sudia points out that the term "vegetation" is usually reserved for natural plant communities that cover undeveloped landscapes. This, he feels, has contributed to many peoples' idea that only plantings and ornamentals that require human cultivation are nurtured in a city. He argues that the term "vegetation" when used to describe plants in a city environment actually encompasses all of the plants found in a city - private yards, street-side plantings, playgrounds, flower boxes, boulevards, parks, potted trees and flowers, gardens, etc. In sum, the entire vegetable component of the living environment of the city. If humans want the natural vegetation of their cities to thrive, engineering plans for cities must include the needs of plants. Urban Ecosystem Series. Written in the 1970s by Theodore W. Sudia, Chief Scientist of the National Park Service, the short publications in this series explore what was, at the time, an emerging field of study - Urban Ecology. The publications were more academic in nature and explored humans’ interactions with ecology in an urban/city setting. Dr. Sudia examined the relationships between humans, nature, and the urban environment through the concept that every city functions as a biological community intertwined with its ecology. In the series publications he explored how humans and nature interact with each other within these unique human-created environments.

Type
Published Report
Authors
Sudia, Theodore
Date of Issue
1972
Publisher
National Park Service
Keywords
cities, city, communities, cultural landscape, ecology, ecosystem, garden, greenbelt, landscape, park, playground, social organization, sociology, urban, vegetation
Subjects
Ecological Framework: Human Use | Cultural Landscapes | Cultural Landscapes , Ecological Framework: Landscapes | Landscape Dynamics | Land Cover and Use , NPS.gov Subject Site: Cultural Landscapes , NPS.gov Subject Site: Urban Parks and Programs

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