Re-imagining the Australian suburb: Biodiversity planning in urban fringe landscapes

Landscape Futures Alliance

How do we balance the growth of cities and towns with the preservation of our unique biodiversity? Over 40% of nationally listed threatened ecological communities occur in urban areas. Accelerating urbanisation in Australia is considered one of the greatest threats to biodiversity. This threat will increase without a more strategic approach to conservation planning in urban environments. This project addresses the critical question of how to balance the growth of our cities and towns with the preservation of our unique biodiversity. At present, planning and decision-making in urban fringe areas is largely conducted in the absence of ecological information. We need to include the best available knowledge to maximise the biodiversity outcomes of decisions while achieving social and economic goals. This project represents the first attempt to apply and test modern systematic planning tools in the context of urban biodiversity planning.
Project home: RMIT University (external link) Key personnel Chief Investigators Dr Sarah Bekessy Social Science and Planning, RMIT University Email: sarah.bekessy@rmit.edu.au Dr Brendan Wintle School of Botany, University of Melbourne Email: brendanw@unimelb.edu.au Dr Mick McCarthy Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology Email: mamcca@unimelb.edu.au Dr Josh Dorrough Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research, DSE Email: Josh.Dorrough@csiro.au	Urban sprawl in Melbourne's northern growth corridor. Photo: Ascelin Gordon
Project Team Dr Ascelin Gordon (Post Doc) Dr Bill Langford (Post Doc) Georgia Garrard (PhD) Lisa Cheong (Masters) Alex Lechner (Masters) Contact For any questions or clarification please don’t hestitate to contact David Duncan, LFA coordinator (03 9450 8750)

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