Designer food webs: from build-it-and-they-will-come to intentionality-in-design

Abstract

Anthropogenic landscapes provide opportunities for ecologists to deliberately and intentionally design urban food webs. Ecologists working as full, collaborative partners with designers can construct functional food webs for urban environments that benefit society. As a first step, ecologists can learn to partner with designers by translating ecological knowledge at scales relevant to design strategies and decision-making. Building relationships at multiple intersections within a designed project is essential for fostering co-generated strategies to achieve functional food webs in a designed and aesthetic urban context. Designing diverse, self-sustaining, urban food webs will require testing, monitoring, and adaptive management. Here, we discuss relevant ecological theory and explore case studies illustrating aspects of the design process and opportunities for designing and constructing food webs.