Control & minimise threats and disturbances

Urban environments can pose significant threats to biodiversity through introduced species, habitat degradation, pollution, and disturbance [1]. This category focuses on reducing these pressures by proactively identifying and managing risks to ecological systems. Through careful design, planning, management, and stewardship, we may be able to create urban conditions that minimise harm, build resilience, and allow nature to persist and recover within cities [2].

This section includes four interconnected sub-categories, each offering a strategy to reduce ecological threats and build resilience:

  1. Manage invasive species
  2. Protect biodiversity from urban hazards
  3. Design for resilience to urban stressors
  4. Increase resilience to disturbance events

Design Implications
Designers can help reduce biodiversity loss by making intentional choices about materials, species, forms, and functions [3]. This includes specifying eco-sourced native plants, designing pest- and predator-aware landscapes, and reducing the impacts of hazards such as reflective glass, artificial lighting, or impermeable surfaces [4, 5]. Design should also support buffering against stressors for biodiversity through soil health, microclimate regulation, and adaptable infrastructure that responds to flood, the urban heat island effect, or disturbance [6-8] . 

Planning Implications
Planners have a critical role in reducing urban ecological threats at scale, such as integrating invasive species control into urban policy, embedding biodiversity-sensitive development rules, and incentivising resilience-building strategies. Statutory and non statutory plans and strategies can provide strong mechanisms for both reducing negative impacts and supporting the implementation of biodiversity positive policies. Planning frameworks should support community-based management efforts and include tools for monitoring, managing, and mitigating urban hazards and stressors over time, particularly as climate and urban conditions change. 

References:

  1. Elmqvist, T., Fragkias, M., Goodness, J., Güneralp, B., Marcotullio, P. J., McDonald, R. I., … & Wilkinson, C. (2013). Urbanization, biodiversity and ecosystem services: challenges and opportunities: a global assessment (p. 755). Springer Nature.
  2. Mell, I., & Lemes de Oliveira, F. (2019). Re-naturing our future cities. In Planning Cities with Nature: Theories, Strategies and Methods (pp. 281-285). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
  3. Visintin, C., Garrard, G. E., Weisser, W. W., Baracco, M., Hobbs, R. J., & Bekessy, S. A. (2025). Designing cities for everyday nature. Conservation Biology, 39(1), e14328.
  1. Perez Vega, C., Zielinska-Dabkowska, K. M., Schroer, S., Jechow, A., & Hoelker, F. (2022). A systematic review for establishing relevant environmental parameters for urban lighting: translating research into practice. Sustainability, 14(3), 1107.
  2. Klem, D., Farmer, C. J., Delacretaz, N., Gelb, Y., & Saenger, P. G. (2009). Architectural and landscape risk factors associated with bird–glass collisions in an urban environment. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 121(1), 126-134.
  3. Nowak, D. J. (2010). Urban biodiversity and climate change. Urban biodiversity and design, 101-117.
  4. Rastandeh, A., Pedersen Zari, M, Brown, D., & Vale, R. (2019). Analysis of landform and land cover: Potentials for urban biodiversity conservation against rising temperatures. Urban Policy and Research.
  5. Vannucchi, F., Bretzel, F., Pini, R., & Rumble, H. (2021). Less is more: soil and substrate quality as an opportunity for urban greening and biodiversity conservation. In Urban Services to Ecosystems: Green Infrastructure Benefits from the Landscape to the Urban Scale (pp. 207-224). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

1. Manage invasive species

Invasive species are a leading cause of native biodiversity loss in Aotearoa and globally [1]. Design and management strategies should actively prevent the introduction, spread, or dominance of non-native species,  including weedy plants, introduced mammals, and aquatic invaders, by specifying appropriate species, integrating pest control infrastructure, and enabling community-based weed and predator management [2, 3]. Landscape and planting decisions should align with eco-sourcing principles [4] as well as regional guidelines for avoiding the spread of invasive species (e.g. the plague skink or plant pathogens), and support native species resilience.

References:

  1. Clout, M. N., & Lowe, S. J. (2000). Invasive species and environmental changes in New Zealand. Invasive species in a changing world, 369-383.
  2. Russell, J. C., & Stanley, M. C. (2018). An overview of introduced predator management in inhabited landscapes. Pacific Conservation Biology, 24(4), 371-378.
  3. Sinnett, D. (2015). Green infrastructure and biodiversity in the city: Principles and design, in Handbook on green infrastructure, 87–102. Edward Elgar Publishing Limited.
  4. Butt, J. (2017). Ecological restoration and the role of ecosourcing. Canterbury Botanical Society Journal, 48, 21-23.

2. Protect biodiversity from urban hazards

Built structures, lighting, noise, pets, and traffic can all endanger wildlife and degrade habitats. Design should aim to avoid or minimise these risks by incorporating features such as bird-safe façades, cat containment or exclusion policies, quiet zones, wildlife-friendly fencing, reduced and well-managed water run-off, and context-sensitive lighting where appropriate [1-4] . Protecting biodiversity from these hazards not only reduces mortality but helps species persist in urban areas.

References:

  1. Klem, D., Farmer, C. J., Delacretaz, N., Gelb, Y., & Saenger, P. G. (2009). Architectural and landscape risk factors associated with bird–glass collisions in an urban environment. The Wilson Journal of Ornithology, 121(1), 126-134.
  2. Burns, B., Innes, J., & Day, T. (2011). The use and potential of pest-proof fencing for ecosystem restoration and fauna conservation in New Zealand. Fencing for conservation: restriction of evolutionary potential or a riposte to threatening processes?, 65-90.
  3. Cieraad, E., & Farnworth, B. (2023). Lighting trends reveal state of the dark sky cloak: light at night and its ecological impacts in Aotearoa New Zealand. New Zealand Journal of Ecology, 47(1), 3559.
  4. Chamberlain, S. A., McLeod, L. J., & Hine, D. W. (2024). Audience segmentation of New Zealand cat owners: Understanding the barriers and drivers of cat containment behavior. Plos one, 19(1), e0296805.

3. Design for resilience to urban stressors

Urban ecosystems are exposed to persistent stress from pollution, heat, noise, fragmentation, and physical disturbance [1]. Resilient design involves creating conditions that avoid, buffer or absorb these impacts,  through green infrastructure, nature-based solutions, soil-sensitive construction, minimising impactful features such as light pollution or impervious surfaces, microclimate management, and pollution filtration [2-4]. Designing for resilience supports the long-term viability of habitats and species, particularly in areas of high density or ongoing urban development [5].

References:

  1. Isaksson, C., Bonier, F., Szulkin, M., Munshi-South, J., & Charmantier, A. (2020). Urban evolutionary physiology. Urban evolutionary biology, 215-231.
  2. Filazzola, A., Shrestha, N., & MacIvor, J. S. (2019). The contribution of constructed green infrastructure to urban biodiversity: A synthesis and meta‐analysis. Journal of Applied Ecology, 56(9), 2131-2143.
  3. Pedersen Zari, M. (2018). The importance of urban biodiversity–an ecosystem services approach. Biodiversity International Journal, 2(4), 357-360.
  4. Sachan, K., Saxena, A., Kumar, S., Mishra, A., Verma, A., Tiwari, D. D., & Kumar, A. (2024). Urban Soil Health Check and Strategies for Monitoring and Improvement. Journal of Diversity Studies.
  5. Wu, J., & Wu, T. (2012). Ecological resilience as a foundation for urban design and sustainability. In Resilience in ecology and urban design: Linking theory and practice for sustainable cities (pp. 211-229). Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands.

4. Increase resilience to disturbance events

A resilient ecosystem is one that is robust  to various pressures [1]. These can be slow-moving changes, like climatic shifts, or major shocks, such as floods, storms, droughts, or fire. Fundamental to resilience is high species diversity,  and connectivity between good-sized habitats [2]. Urban design can increase resilience by integrating disturbance-responsive elements such as flood disaster management, green space, smart monitoring tools, and adaptive management frameworks [3, 4]. Enabling recovery and regeneration after disturbance is key to maintaining ecosystem function in the face of climate uncertainty.

References:

  1. Gunderson, L. H. (2000). Ecological resilience—in theory and application. Annual review of ecology and systematics, 31(1), 425-439.
  2. Rastandeh, A., Brown, D. K., & Pedersen Zari, M. (2017). Biodiversity conservation in urban environments: A review on the importance of spatial patterning of landscapes. Proceedings of the Ecocity World Summit, Melbourne, Australia, 12-14.
  3. Liu, N., & Zhang, F. (2025). Urban green spaces and flood disaster management: toward sustainable urban design. Frontiers in Public Health, 13, 1583978.
  4. Teixeira, C. P., Fernandes, C. O., & Ahern, J. (2022). Adaptive planting design and management framework for urban climate change adaptation and mitigation. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 70, 127548.