Conservation on the Urban Fringe

Abstract Suburbs are some of the most land-intensive and fastest-growing forms of urbanization. They are also increasingly socially diverse and are ripe targets for biodiversity conservation. This work synthesizes the policies, tools, and strategies for conserving and managing biodiversity in suburbs and exurbs. It reviews suburban history and policy contexts, including how suburbs have expanded around cities over time to become a dominant land-use type in the US and around the world. It also describes the policies and practices that have shaped the current distribution of open space and biodiversity, human settlement and segregation, and which people have access to environmental benefits. This work synthesizes the science on the relationship between residential development patterns, land management practices, and distributions and persistence of biodiversity. In doing so, it introduces and examines a portfolio of policy tools and strategies for conserving and restoring suburban and exurban biodiversity and reviews the scientific evidence on the implementation of these tools, examines how they have achieved success in sustaining biodiversity, and considers their potential to either alleviate or exacerbate environmental injustices. Finally, it reflects on the ways in which conservation and equity goals (e.g., habitat conservation versus affordable housing construction) are often presented as mutually exclusive or conflicting goals for suburban and exurban communities. It moves beyond these perceived dichotomies to show how housing and open space can both sustain nature and engage people, to the benefit of biodiversity and human communities.