Biodiversity and Ecosystems of Urban Open Space
The environment of an urban open space significantly influences how that space is perceived and used. Some green spaces maintain a natural environment with a native and self-sustaining ecosystem. Depending on factors such as the location of the city and the location of the space within the city, this natural open space may be a grassy field, woodland, or something aquatic such as a stream, swamp, pond or lake. Other areas may be more heavily influenced by its purpose and use. Examples of open space that would match this description are playing fields, gardens, or imposed ecosystems.
Species of flora and fauna commonly found in urban open space may include species that have adapted to city life as well as species not typical in the conventional urban environment because of significantly different ecosystems that comprise urban open spaces. Species most often able to co-exist with man in an urban setting are usually those that "are able to reproduce rapidly and to take advantage of transitory conditions or to evolve varieties suited to the urban situation". Therefore, larger urban open spaces, especially those with various types of environments, are more likely to support a diverse ecosystem. Depending on the type of open space, species may be either exotic and native producing a corresponding ecosystem. Often, large urban open spaces that rely on a natural local ecosystem experience greater success in terms of maintaining a balanced biodiversity, so long as the areas are "established and managed primarily to benefit natural wildlife populations in order that they may function as regional reservoirs."
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Famous quotes containing the words urban, open and/or space:
“A peasant becomes fond of his pig and is glad to salt away its pork. What is significant, and is so difficult for the urban stranger to understand, is that the two statements are connected by an and and not by a but.”
—John Berger (b. 1926)
“One merit in Carlyle, let the subject be what it may, is the freedom of prospect he allows, the entire absence of cant and dogma. He removes many cartloads of rubbish, and leaves open a broad highway. His writings are all unfenced on the side of the future and the possible. Though he does but inadvertently direct our eyes to the open heavens, nevertheless he lets us wander broadly underneath, and shows them to us reflected in innumerable pools and lakes.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“The flattering, if arbitrary, label, First Lady of the Theatre, takes its toll. The demands are great, not only in energy but eventually in dramatic focus. It is difficult, if not impossible, for a star to occupy an inch of space without bursting seams, cramping everyone else’s style and unbalancing a play. No matter how self-effacing a famous player may be, he makes an entrance as a casual neighbor and the audience interest shifts to the house next door.”
—Helen Hayes (1900–1993)