From Canopy to Community: Managing Urban Ecosystems for People and Planet

About this event

GundXChange

In these weekly talks, hosted by the Gund Institute for Environment , scholars and leaders exchange ("xChange") new research and solutions for people and planet.

Speakers: Drs, Karen Seto (moderator), Marlyse Duguid, Morgan Grove and Brianna Castro.

This week, a panel of Yale environmental scientists explores how urban landscapes can be designed, managed, and governed to advance environmental sustainability, climate resilience, and community well-being. Featuring Drs. Brianna Castro, Marlyse Duguid, and Morgan Grove of the Yale School of the Environment and The Forest School, the panel brings together perspectives from urban social-ecological systems, forest ecology, and community-centered environmental stewardship. Dr. Castro will foreground the importance of community knowledge, equitable access to nature, and inclusive participation in environmental decision-making. Dr. Duguid’s research in forest ecology and management illuminates how biodiversity, species composition, disturbance, and climate change influence the long-term resilience of forested landscapes, including the urban and peri-urban forests on which communities depend. Dr. Grove’s work examines how patterns of land use, governance, history, and social inequality shape urban ecosystems and the distribution of benefits—from tree canopy and green infrastructure to public health and climate protection. Together, the speakers will consider how cities can move beyond treating green space as an amenity and instead steward it as essential infrastructure for healthier, more biodiverse, resilient, and just communities.