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Faculty Mentor

David Jaffee, PhD

Faculty Mentor Department

Interdisciplinary Studies Program

Abstract

Urban rewilding offers a nature-based approach to restoring ecological processes in cities while advancing climate resilience, biodiversity, and public well-being. Unlike conventional green infrastructure, rewilding allows ecosystems to develop with minimal intervention, emphasizing succession, complexity, and long-term adaptability. This paper examines the political, economic, and social factors that frame how rewilding is understood and implemented in urban planning. Governmental frameworks often prioritize order, predictability, and short-term results, making it difficult to accommodate the uncertainty and ecological complexity that rewilding requires. Economic models struggle to capture its long-term value, frequently overlooking ecosystem services or reconciling competing land uses. Social perceptions of rewilded spaces of wilderness are mixed, shaped by aesthetic expectations, safety concerns, and broader inequities in access to green spaces. These challenges limit rewilding’s potential to function as a meaningful planning strategy. However, when cities create space for ecological processes, invest in long-term environmental stewardship, and design with communities in mind, rewilding can cool urban heat islands, improve air and water quality, manage stormwater, increase biodiversity, and strengthen connections between people and the natural world. This paper argues that realizing these benefits depends on shifting governance norms, embedding environmental justice in decision-making, and developing funding frameworks that support adaptive, long-term strategies. Rewilding should not be treated as just a decorative add-on or luxury amenity, but as a sustained commitment to restoring ecological relations, enhancing resilience, and reimagining what cities can become.

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