New post on the Nature of Cities about "vacant land"

Having worked on marginal nature for twenty years, I have grown used to the seemingly semiannual "discovery" by a new crop of academics and professionals of marginal nature and wasteland in cities. Below is a link to a recent example of a post on the Nature of Cities blog "Vacant Land in Cities Could Provide Important Social and Ecological Benefits" which is a reprise of a 2012 post. I am glad to see the interest in the topic, but better research on work done over the last 40 years would save time and energy on this kind of rediscovery of the reality of urban space and nonhuman habitat in cities. And, of course, the presumption that we must improve these "degraded" sites frustrates me...

Okay, enough curmudgeon grumbles, it is well worth reading and seeing enthusiastic engagement with vacant land.

http://www.thenatureofcities.com/2014/07/28/tnoc-encore-vacant-land-in-cities-could-provide-important-social-and-ecological-benefits/#comment-12854