Urban Ecological Design

The YardWorks Project, a studio-based participatory action research project conducted in partnership with the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology’s Habitat Network program and Cornell Cooperative Extension, leverages the collaboration of landowners on dozens of properties to be more strategic about improving urban ecological conditions at the neighborhood-scale in locations that are typically divided into many individual, privately-owned parcels. This research tested a new paradigm for working across scales in urban communities, and developed new urban ecological design techniques that build on the best available science, while working with community and individual social norms.