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Blurring the Boundaries: The Urban-Rural Interface and the Need for Cultural Change in Ecology, Planning, and Management

Reference Type
Conference Proceedings (Chapter)

"The urban-rural interface constitutes not just a boundary between contiguous areas on a map, but a complex web of interactions among places and people, some geographically adjacent, some not defined by geography at all. Traditional geographic boundaries still exist, with urban cores transitioning to suburbs, and suburbs to small towns, farms, ranches, and “natural” places. But global commerce and global environmental impacts mean that beef served in a New York restaurant may have come from Argentina and the tractor on a Nebraska farm may have come from Japan, while carbon dioxide emissions in Los Angeles and China contribute to climate change impacts in the South Pacific and the Canadian Arctic.  Responding to this ineluctable, largely unintentional blurring of geographic and environmental impact boundaries requires a parallel, deliberate blurring of the cultural boundaries among ecologists, planners, and managers. These boundaries need to be blurred by new means and forms of collaboration among disciplines and sectors (academic, government, non-governmental organizations, private) and by fundamental changes within disciplines. That is, we need to change what it means to be an ecologist, a city planner, a natural resource manager. Only by breaking down and blurring human and disciplinary boundaries can we begin to address the global problems associated with the blurring of geographic boundaries. The Ecological Society of America’s Ecological Visions project (www.esa.org/ecovisions) recommends just such a transformation in the ecological science community. This presentation extends that recommendation to all concerned with problems at the urban-rural interface." [Abstract from Conference Program and Book of Abstracts]

[Keynote Address]

[Presented at "Emerging Issues Along Urban/Rural Interfaces: Linking Science and Society", a conference held March 13-16, 2005 in Atlanta, GA (US)]

Authors
C.S. Duke
Date Published
2005
Journal/Conference
Emerging Issues Along Urban/Rural Interfaces: Linking Science and Society
Editor
D. Laband, et. al.
Publisher
Auburn University Center for Forest Sustainability
Publisher Location
Auburn, AL (US)
Sub-Topics
Interface, Education, Arboricultural Profession, Training
State(s)/Region(s)
International
Keywords
Training, Urban-rural, Leaf characteristics, Interface, WUI, Education
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