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Technology is transforming societies worldwide. A major innovation is the emergence of robotics and autonomous systems (RAS), which have the potential to revolutionize cities for both people and nature. Nonetheless, the opportunities and challenges associated with RAS for urban ecosystems have yet to be considered systematically. Here, we report the findings of an online horizon scan involving 170 expert participants from 35 countries. We conclude that RAS are likely to transform land use, transport systems and human–nature interactions. The prioritized opportunities were primarily centred on the deployment of RAS for the monitoring and management of biodiversity and ecosystems. Fewer challenges were prioritized. Those that were emphasized concerns surrounding waste from unrecovered RAS, and the quality and interpretation of RAS-collected data. Although the future impacts of RAS for urban ecosystems are difficult to predict, examining potentially important developments early is essential if we are to avoid detrimental consequences but fully realize the benefits. The future challenges and potential opportunities of robotics and autonomous systems in urban ecosystems, and how they may impact biodiversity, are explored and prioritized via a global horizon scan of 170 experts.
Mark A. Goddard; Zoe G. Davies; Solène Guenat; Mark J. Ferguson; Jessica C. Fisher; Adeniran Akanni; Teija Ahjokoski; Pippin M. L. Anderson; Fabio Angeoletto; Constantinos Antoniou; Adam J. Bates; Andrew Barkwith; Adam Berland; Christopher J. Bouch; Christine C. Rega-Brodsky; Loren B. Byrne; David Cameron; Rory Canavan; Tim Chapman; Stuart Connop; Steve Crossland; Marie C. Dade; David A. Dawson; Cynnamon Dobbs; Colleen T. Downs; Erle C. Ellis; Francisco J. Escobedo; Paul Gobster; Natalie Marie Gulsrud; Burak Guneralp; Amy K. Hahs; James D. Hale; Christopher Hassall; Marcus Hedblom; Dieter F. Hochuli; Tommi Inkinen; Ioan-Cristian Ioja; Dave Kendal; Tom Knowland; Ingo Kowarik; Simon J. Langdale; Susannah B. Lerman; Ian MacGregor-Fors; Peter Manning; Peter Massini; Stacey McLean; David D. Mkwambisi; Alessandro Ossola; Gabriel Pérez Luque; Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu; Katia Perini; Gad Perry; Tristan J. Pett; Kate E. Plummer; Raoufou A. Radji; Uri Roll; Simon G. Potts; Heather Rumble; Jon P. Sadler; Stevienna de Saille; Sebastian Sautter; Catherine E. Scott; Assaf Shwartz; Tracy Smith; Robbert P. H. Snep; Carl D. Soulsbury; Margaret C. Stanley; Tim Van de Voorde; Stephen J. Venn; Philip H. Warren; Carla-Leanne Washbourne; Mark Whitling; Nicholas S. G. Williams; Jun Yang; Kumelachew Yeshitela; Ken P. Yocom; Martin Dallimer. A global horizon scan of the future impacts of robotics and autonomous systems on urban ecosystems. Nature Ecology & Evolution 2021, 5, 219 -230.
AMA StyleMark A. Goddard, Zoe G. Davies, Solène Guenat, Mark J. Ferguson, Jessica C. Fisher, Adeniran Akanni, Teija Ahjokoski, Pippin M. L. Anderson, Fabio Angeoletto, Constantinos Antoniou, Adam J. Bates, Andrew Barkwith, Adam Berland, Christopher J. Bouch, Christine C. Rega-Brodsky, Loren B. Byrne, David Cameron, Rory Canavan, Tim Chapman, Stuart Connop, Steve Crossland, Marie C. Dade, David A. Dawson, Cynnamon Dobbs, Colleen T. Downs, Erle C. Ellis, Francisco J. Escobedo, Paul Gobster, Natalie Marie Gulsrud, Burak Guneralp, Amy K. Hahs, James D. Hale, Christopher Hassall, Marcus Hedblom, Dieter F. Hochuli, Tommi Inkinen, Ioan-Cristian Ioja, Dave Kendal, Tom Knowland, Ingo Kowarik, Simon J. Langdale, Susannah B. Lerman, Ian MacGregor-Fors, Peter Manning, Peter Massini, Stacey McLean, David D. Mkwambisi, Alessandro Ossola, Gabriel Pérez Luque, Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu, Katia Perini, Gad Perry, Tristan J. Pett, Kate E. Plummer, Raoufou A. Radji, Uri Roll, Simon G. Potts, Heather Rumble, Jon P. Sadler, Stevienna de Saille, Sebastian Sautter, Catherine E. Scott, Assaf Shwartz, Tracy Smith, Robbert P. H. Snep, Carl D. Soulsbury, Margaret C. Stanley, Tim Van de Voorde, Stephen J. Venn, Philip H. Warren, Carla-Leanne Washbourne, Mark Whitling, Nicholas S. G. Williams, Jun Yang, Kumelachew Yeshitela, Ken P. Yocom, Martin Dallimer. A global horizon scan of the future impacts of robotics and autonomous systems on urban ecosystems. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 2021; 5 (2):219-230.
Chicago/Turabian StyleMark A. Goddard; Zoe G. Davies; Solène Guenat; Mark J. Ferguson; Jessica C. Fisher; Adeniran Akanni; Teija Ahjokoski; Pippin M. L. Anderson; Fabio Angeoletto; Constantinos Antoniou; Adam J. Bates; Andrew Barkwith; Adam Berland; Christopher J. Bouch; Christine C. Rega-Brodsky; Loren B. Byrne; David Cameron; Rory Canavan; Tim Chapman; Stuart Connop; Steve Crossland; Marie C. Dade; David A. Dawson; Cynnamon Dobbs; Colleen T. Downs; Erle C. Ellis; Francisco J. Escobedo; Paul Gobster; Natalie Marie Gulsrud; Burak Guneralp; Amy K. Hahs; James D. Hale; Christopher Hassall; Marcus Hedblom; Dieter F. Hochuli; Tommi Inkinen; Ioan-Cristian Ioja; Dave Kendal; Tom Knowland; Ingo Kowarik; Simon J. Langdale; Susannah B. Lerman; Ian MacGregor-Fors; Peter Manning; Peter Massini; Stacey McLean; David D. Mkwambisi; Alessandro Ossola; Gabriel Pérez Luque; Luis Pérez-Urrestarazu; Katia Perini; Gad Perry; Tristan J. Pett; Kate E. Plummer; Raoufou A. Radji; Uri Roll; Simon G. Potts; Heather Rumble; Jon P. Sadler; Stevienna de Saille; Sebastian Sautter; Catherine E. Scott; Assaf Shwartz; Tracy Smith; Robbert P. H. Snep; Carl D. Soulsbury; Margaret C. Stanley; Tim Van de Voorde; Stephen J. Venn; Philip H. Warren; Carla-Leanne Washbourne; Mark Whitling; Nicholas S. G. Williams; Jun Yang; Kumelachew Yeshitela; Ken P. Yocom; Martin Dallimer. 2021. "A global horizon scan of the future impacts of robotics and autonomous systems on urban ecosystems." Nature Ecology & Evolution 5, no. 2: 219-230.
Urban waterfronts represent hybrid locations of ecological, economic, and social zones of transition and dispersal, spatially reified between land and water. Yet, through advancements in technology and the emergence of globally linked economies, the structure and function of urban waterfronts as economic and industrial drivers is becoming increasingly complex. As cities seek to redevelop their waterfronts in response to these changes, recent research and scholarship has focused on understanding the ecological, social, and economic benefits derived from urban waterfronts. This research reveals that their benefits are unevenly distributed among local and regional populations as sites of accumulated inequity and inaccessibility that are generative for only a relatively small percentage of the people living in a metropolitan area. Set within this paradoxical nexus, this paper frames a call to scientists, planners, academics, and waterfront activists to expand urban waterfront research from an indicator and benefits model to incorporate three conceptual tools for better understanding key dimensions of waterfront reclamation within the context of green infrastructure research: urban hybridity, functional performance and hierarchies of access. We explore these key dimensions in relation to the waterfront redevelopment of Tacoma, Washington, USA. By acknowledging the hybridity of urban waterfronts, we illustrate that their relative performance and accessibility require ongoing empirical study and practical intervention. Our theoretical explorations plot some of the potential areas of investigation for examining the structural and functional transitions of urban waterfronts as critical locations for green infrastructure development for the 21st century.
Anne Taufen; Ken Yocom. Transitions in Urban Waterfronts: Imagining, Contesting, and Sustaining the Aquatic/Terrestrial Interface. Sustainability 2021, 13, 366 .
AMA StyleAnne Taufen, Ken Yocom. Transitions in Urban Waterfronts: Imagining, Contesting, and Sustaining the Aquatic/Terrestrial Interface. Sustainability. 2021; 13 (1):366.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAnne Taufen; Ken Yocom. 2021. "Transitions in Urban Waterfronts: Imagining, Contesting, and Sustaining the Aquatic/Terrestrial Interface." Sustainability 13, no. 1: 366.
Waterfront cities worldwide have begun the process of regenerating and developing their formerly industrial waterfronts into land uses that reflect a post-industrial economic vision of mixed urban uses supporting a diverse economy and wide range of infrastructure. These revitalization projects require distinct planning and management tactics to determine project-defined successes inclusive of economic, ecological, and human well-being perspectives. While empirically developed templates for economic and ecological measures exist, the multi-dimensionality and subjective nature of human well-being is more difficult to assess. Through an extensive review of indicator frameworks and expert interviews, our research proposes an organizational, yet adaptable, human well-being indicators framework for the management and development of urban waterfront revitalization projects. We analyze the framework through the lens of two waterfront projects in the Puget Sound region of the United States and identify several key factors necessary to developing project-specific human well-being indicator frameworks for urban waterfront revitalization projects. These factors include: initially specify goals and objectives of a given project, acknowledge contextual conditions including prospective land uses and projected users, identify the stage of development or management to use appropriate indicators for that stage, and develop and utilize data sources that are at a similar scale to the size of the project
Ken P. Yocom; Leann Andrews; Nicole Faghin; Karen Dyson; Thomas Leschine; Jungho Nam. Revitalizing urban waterfronts: identifying indicators for human well-being. AIMS Environmental Science 2016, 3, 456 -473.
AMA StyleKen P. Yocom, Leann Andrews, Nicole Faghin, Karen Dyson, Thomas Leschine, Jungho Nam. Revitalizing urban waterfronts: identifying indicators for human well-being. AIMS Environmental Science. 2016; 3 (3):456-473.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKen P. Yocom; Leann Andrews; Nicole Faghin; Karen Dyson; Thomas Leschine; Jungho Nam. 2016. "Revitalizing urban waterfronts: identifying indicators for human well-being." AIMS Environmental Science 3, no. 3: 456-473.
Ken Yocom. R.I. McDonald: Conservation for cities: how to plan and build natural infrastructure. Landscape Ecology 2015, 30, 2175 -2177.
AMA StyleKen Yocom. R.I. McDonald: Conservation for cities: how to plan and build natural infrastructure. Landscape Ecology. 2015; 30 (10):2175-2177.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKen Yocom. 2015. "R.I. McDonald: Conservation for cities: how to plan and build natural infrastructure." Landscape Ecology 30, no. 10: 2175-2177.
The success of urban stream restoration is often measured through biophysical attributes, or the progress towards restoration of a notionally intact section of landscape. What remains understudied is how success can be defined across social, economic, as well as ecological parameters. This research offers a narrative approach for urban restoration research that serves as a chronotope for untangling the biophysical and sociocultural complexities of the contemporary urban environment. The framework of this approach is presented through a case study of a recent stream restoration project in Seattle, Washington. The findings highlight the need for urban stream restoration processes to be grounded within a sociocultural context that is interdependent with biophysical conditions, and recommends measures of project success to include community, educational and participatory goals.
Ken Yocom. Building Watershed Narratives: An Approach for Broadening the Scope of Success in Urban Stream Restoration. Landscape Research 2014, 39, 698 -714.
AMA StyleKen Yocom. Building Watershed Narratives: An Approach for Broadening the Scope of Success in Urban Stream Restoration. Landscape Research. 2014; 39 (6):698-714.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKen Yocom. 2014. "Building Watershed Narratives: An Approach for Broadening the Scope of Success in Urban Stream Restoration." Landscape Research 39, no. 6: 698-714.
Urban waterfronts are rarely designed to support biodiversity and other ecosystem services, yet have the potential to provide these services. New approaches that integrate ecological research into the design of docks and seawalls provide opportunities to mitigate the environmental impacts of urbanization and recover ecosystem function in urban waterfronts. A review of current examples of ecological design in temperate cities informs suggestions for future action. Conventional infrastructures have significant and diverse impacts on aquatic ecosystems. The impacts of conventional infrastructure are reduced where ecological designs have been implemented, particularly by projects adding microhabitat, creating more shallow water habitat, and reconstructing missing or altered rocky benthic habitats. Opportunities for future research include expanding current research into additional ecosystems, examining ecological processes and emergent properties to better address ecosystem function in ecological design, and addressing the impact of and best practices for continuing maintenance. Planned ecological infrastructure to replace aging and obsolete structures will benefit from design feedback derived from carefully executed in situ pilot studies.
Karen Dyson; Ken Yocom. Ecological design for urban waterfronts. Urban Ecosystems 2014, 18, 189 -208.
AMA StyleKaren Dyson, Ken Yocom. Ecological design for urban waterfronts. Urban Ecosystems. 2014; 18 (1):189-208.
Chicago/Turabian StyleKaren Dyson; Ken Yocom. 2014. "Ecological design for urban waterfronts." Urban Ecosystems 18, no. 1: 189-208.
Urban nature is typically managed through top-down, bureaucratic, and expert-driven approaches that tend to rationalize and simplify the interactions between humans and their surroundings. In the last few decades, there has been a significant push in cultural geography and the design disciplines to develop a relational ontology of urban nature, a perspective that emphasizes the hybrid connections between humans and nonhumans, built and unbuilt, social and natural. This perspective offers new and exciting ways of conceptualizing urban nature but it has not produced alternatives to conventional governance. In other words, thinking differently about urban nature has yet to produce different ways of interacting with it. In this paper we argue that civic environmentalism can enact a relational ontology by engaging urban residents in processes of democratic deliberation and action in the reworking of urban nature. We illustrate this approach with a case study of a community-led project to construct a pedestrian trail along an urban creek in Seattle, Washington. The example demonstrates how the concept of civic environmentalism embraces a relational perspective of urban nature, while also producing generative forms of political action.
Andrew Karvonen; Ken Yocom. The Civics of Urban Nature: Enacting Hybrid Landscapes. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 2011, 43, 1305 -1322.
AMA StyleAndrew Karvonen, Ken Yocom. The Civics of Urban Nature: Enacting Hybrid Landscapes. Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space. 2011; 43 (6):1305-1322.
Chicago/Turabian StyleAndrew Karvonen; Ken Yocom. 2011. "The Civics of Urban Nature: Enacting Hybrid Landscapes." Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space 43, no. 6: 1305-1322.