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Edgerton Park Scrapbook - Urban 160

The visit to Edgerton Park highlighted the coexistence of urban community and biodiversity, showcasing community gardens that reflect both ecological diversity and social connection. The park challenges the notion that urban areas are devoid of nature, demonstrating how intentional design can create sanctuaries for wildlife amidst urban settings. Additionally, the author critiques monocultures for limiting ecological complexity and emphasizes the importance of biodiversity for resilience and environmental health.

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ambitions2122
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11 views2 pages

Edgerton Park Scrapbook - Urban 160

The visit to Edgerton Park highlighted the coexistence of urban community and biodiversity, showcasing community gardens that reflect both ecological diversity and social connection. The park challenges the notion that urban areas are devoid of nature, demonstrating how intentional design can create sanctuaries for wildlife amidst urban settings. Additionally, the author critiques monocultures for limiting ecological complexity and emphasizes the importance of biodiversity for resilience and environmental health.

Uploaded by

ambitions2122
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Urban 160: Edgerton Park

Scrapbook
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Reflecting upon the visit to Edgerton Park, I was awed by the harmonious coexistence of
urban community and biodiversity within a urban landscape. To start off, the community
gardens, buzzing with insects and framed by vibrant rows of vegetation was especially
rejuvenating in soaking the warm weather and embrace of the spring season against a contrast
of my day to day life in downtown New Haven - which consists mainly of going to classes in a
very much human-made architectural setting. Upon retrospect, the diversity of plants mirrors the
diversity of people tending to them: each plot unique, cultivated with care, contributing to not just
a shared ecosystem, but also a shared community.

Through out different time points in history and the present, urban spaces are often cast
in a light that portrays it as the complete opposite of nature. This biased and pre-determined
viewpoint oftentimes is left unchallenged, but Edgerton Park stands to challenge that narrative.
Throughout the park, there are many areas that challenges and even offers a vision of
restoration to nature, that connects nature to urban settings. Taking into account an individual’s
preconceptions and prejudice, the urban environment often seems like the antithesis of
biodiversity, with its paved streets, towering buildings, and monocultural lawns. Yet places like
Edgerton Park reveal how the "urban" can interact with and even support ecological diversity.
Amid the concrete and traffic, I found native plants, buzzing bees, and birds flitting between
trees. Cities, when designed with intention, can serve as sanctuaries for nature.

On a separate note concerning monocultures, I also have came to realization of more


different perspectives. Regardless of the exact placement or location of monocultures, I strongly
believe that monocultures severs limits ecological complexity and leaves whole systems more
prone to natural diasters such as a forest fire in a situation where only form of trees dominates.
I thought about this as I passed a section of the park where only one type of tree had been
planted. It stood in contrast to the more vibrant, mixed plantings in the gardens and
conservatory. Biodiversity brings not only beauty but also resilience, and a more diverse planting
strategy could better support both wildlife and environmental health.

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