"The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery, not over nature but ourselves”
Our Research Areas.
We seek to contribute to the emerging field of sustainability science. Questions of sustainability are wide-ranging, bridge theory and practice, cross scales, and link a multitude of disciplines. Consequently, the questions we are asking are manifold and diverse. The main research areas we are pursuing are: 1) a systems approach to land conservation, and 2) urban ecology and ecosystem services. Instrumental to these pursuits is a sound understanding of natural and man-made environments and the processes that govern these complex social-ecological systems. We believe that empirical research is the basis for acquiring knowledge about these systems. But analytical and simulation models may hold the key to understanding future system states, which is vital for planning and policy development. Our research objectives follow the following three themes.
Land Conservation
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Policy Scenarios
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Urban Ecosystems
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Future research path.
Using the framing questions above, the NRCPM group hopes to move forward from observations of the natural and built environment, as well as human and institutional actors, to the creation of models to project outcomes of these systems. Our goal is to build a knowledge base of actors, uses, policies and decision-making processes with a focus on South-central Ontario as a case study. We are looking for researchers interested in:
- Urban ecological systems
- Ecosystem services valuation
- Blue and green system planning
- Stormwater management
- Biorecreation and outdoor programming
- Regional conservation planning
- Private land stewardship
- Political science and economy
- Complex systems theory
- Sustainability science