Local communities, ecology, and planning
Figure 11.2Twovegetation-covered overpasses across a multilane highway. Only
12 km from center city Barcelona, these provide connectivity for local residents,
hikers, and wildlife, and were built when the Ministry of Environment concluded
that a new highway should not disrupt connectivity of the landscape. Carretera de
los tuneles. R. Forman photo courtesy of Josep Acebillo and Marc Montlleo.urban region will have created these in a unique manner, and in synergy with
thedistinctive features of that region.
Local communities, ecology, and planning
Bats in the bedroom are not much fun. They brush into our hair, carry
diseases, and leave messes. How odd it would be if we didn’t notice them, or just
continued brushing our hair, dusting a spot here, and walking carefully there,
as if nothing were amiss. Local communities, especially residential or bedroom-
commuter places, have largely been ignored in this book on urban regions. Much
of a region’s population lives in and takes much interest in these communities,
while giant forces of urbanization, traffic flow, water degradation, and much
more swirl across the region, seemingly unseen.
Yetlocal communities are important building blocks of an urban region, and
understanding the blocks is useful to grasp the big picture. Three types of local