The middle of a busy road in metro Paris is a street community park (see Figure below). A small part of this park transforms into a community market during certain days of the week. The vendor stalls spring forth very early in the morning but gone before the end of the day.


Urban Ecosystems

When we think of Ecosystems, the first images that come to mind are wildlife scenery, flora and fauna, and the like. We forget sometimes that as "Homo sapiens" were are part of the "fauna" and undoubtedly the most dominant in the world ecosystems.

Global warming, pollution, monocultures (modern commercial agriculture), introduction of foreign organisms, and consequence like species extinction, etc., etc. are a few of our negative contributions to any ecosystem we become a part of. We dominate and aim to change the ecosystem to shape it to our own convenience (or sadly for the convenience of corporations, especially multination entities) -- without regard of the consequences, or without any attempt of finding better ways to become part of the ecosystem.

If you follow the history of mankind, what you will find is that many great civiilizations vanished or reduced from their former glory -- because of the lack of attention of "Homo sapiens" to become integral part of the ecosystem.

This image shows how in urban ecosystem, a small piece of land can be used for multiple purposes -- a park, a market, a busy thoroughfare, and more -- to minimize wastage of land that characterize many urban areas, especially those created solely to achieve profit for developers. Not only does this multiple usage limit the impact of the use of limited resources, it also enriches an urban ecosystem -- making it more livable.