Urban Green Construction and Data-Driven Design: Linkages between Construction, Management and Ecology across Multiple Scales

Dear Colleagues,

Construction is a human activity that is changing the biogeophysical environment and expanding urban land at an unprecedented rate. At present, this land use change is largely driven by urbanization, and produces significant social-ecological effects with consequences for nature, biodiversity, and human wellbeing. At one end of the extreme, these include degraded rural ecosystems as a result of land abandonment; structural collapse; and loss of ecological niches, cultural keystones, and agricultural production. At the other end lie critical disturbances to urban-ecosystem functioning and services caused by soil sealing, challenging abiotic conditions, biocultural bias, urban densification, and architectural demarcation. These effects manifest in diverse conditions including land use conflicts and subsequent loss of, for example, urban food production, biocultural diversity, and spatial heterogeneity altered by land use types; and patterns emerging from, e.g., urban gardens and green roofs and facades, separation, replacement, fragmentation, and homogenization of habitats; surface hydrology and climate gradients; and food insecurity, nature deficit, and physiological stress.

This Special Issue foregrounds the social-ecological effects of the built environment across multiple scales. Especially important are those that are generated and mediated by the linkages between construction, management, and ecology. In doing so, it focuses on the role of data, information, and knowledge in their study, design, planning, and management. We are particularly interested in receiving contributions that help better understand, protect, and shape the multifunctionality, adaptability, and resilience of complex social-ecological urban systems.

Dr. Defne Sunguroglu Hensel
Guest Editor

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