Temple Sustainability will explore the topic of urban ecology and sustainability in the city with this 3-part event series, Birds, Bees and Trees.
This is a story of urban sustainability research from Geography and Urban Studies Phd candidate and 2020 GRASP award winner, Austin Martin.
The distribution of pollen-producing flora around the city of Philadelphia is a question immediately relevant to both beekeepers and entomologists. Research tells us that cities can act as havens for declining bee populations, yet the interplay of these social and natural systems, as well as their relevance for neighborhoods and communities, are understudied. But what can a transdisciplinary spatial analysis tell us about how urban development and planning affect urban pollinator systems? Austin uses GIS techniques to analyze the urban built environment, demographics, and how these factors affect the flow of pollen in one of the United States' biggest cities.