Google Ecology Advising
SFEI collaborates with the Google Ecology Program to advance the science of urban biodiversity and develop guidance for integrated, nature-based sustainability and land-use planning. SFEI has also advised Google on the incorporation of biodiversity and resilience science into campus planning and design, including plans in Mountain View, Sunnyvale, and San Jose.
Dates:
2015 to 2023
Partners:
Funders:
Associated Staff:
Erin Beller
Robin Grossinger
Erica Spotswood
Megan Wheeler
Stephanie Panlasigui
Brandon Herman
Joe Burg
Matt Benjamin
Subproject(s):
Associated Data:
Programs and Focus Areas:
Resilient Landscapes Program
Urban Nature Lab
Related Projects, News, and Events:
Making Nature's City (Project)
Cities will face many challenges over the coming decades, from adapting to a changing climate to accommodating rapid population growth. A related suite of challenges threatens global biodiversity, resulting in many species facing extinction. While urban planners and conservationists have long treated these issues as distinct, there is growing evidence that cities not only harbor a significant fraction of the world’s biodiversity, but also that they can also be made more livable and resilient for people, plants, and animals through nature-friendly urban design.
Integrating Planning with Nature (Project)
Can we gain the benefits of restoring nature while making our cities denser and protecting natural and working lands?
SFEI work on Landscape Resilience and Urban Biodiversity featured in Google Blog and Fast Company Story (News)
Our partnership with Google to enhance the ecological resilience of urban landscapes is featured in a story by Fast Company, a Google Blog post, and an accompanying video.
New publication from the Urban Nature team uncovers local and landscape scale influences on urban bird and pollinator occupancy (News)
SFEI's Resilient Landscapes Program is excited to share a new publication in Ecology and Evolution from our Urban Nature team, Patterns in bird and pollinator occupancy and richness in a mosaic of urban office parks across scales and seasons, led by Kelly Iknayan and Sacha Heath at SFEI with a team of co-authors: Scott Terrill (H. T.
Trees, Hydrology, Urban-Greening, and Nature-Based Solutions (News)
Two key reports support nature-based solutions. Green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) and enhancements to the urban tree canopy offer benefits to stormwater management, urban ecological improvements, and complementary urban greening activities.
On KGO TV, these projects were featured on July 1, 2021.
New article published in Nature Sustainability linking COVID-19 to nature equity, showing communities of color face starkest burden (News)
Erica Spotswood and a team of scientists published pioneering research in Nature Sustainability, finding that COVID-19 tracks neighborhood greenness in the US, exacerbating existing inequity. The study, titled “Nature inequity and higher COVID-19 case rates in less green neighbourhoods in the United States,” demonstrates a fundamental pattern that low-income and majority-minority communities systematically have less access to nature in urban areas across the U.S.