This special session pairs practitioners and researchers to consider difficult questions about how ecosystem services can be delivered at the scale of the region/watershed, the city, and the site throughout coastal Louisiana. These two groups often talk past one another due to the different goals, timeframes, and terminology across practice and research. This session, is designed to cross these divides and provide space for researchers and practitioners to compare and contrast their experiences working on urban development projects and discuss potential integration. Examples from coastal Louisiana not only serve as focal points of conversation but also demonstrate the national relevance of key challenges in this region.   

Speakers will have met multiple times throughout 2018 to discuss the tough questions about interdisciplinary work. At the regional scale, Danica Adams and Alyssa Dausman will consider “How can regions thrive within ecological constraints?” At the city scale, Traci Birch, Colleen McHugh, Timon McPherson, and Steward Pickett will contemplate the intersection of affordability, equity, sustainability, and ecology. And, at the site scale Bryan Lee and Kristina Hopkins will consider how sustainable sites are culturally relevant and how culturally important sites can be more resilient? Speakers will spend the first 15 minutes of this session contextually framing the themes from those discussions. Speaker-facilitated breakout sessions with the audience will take a deeper diver into the key themes uncovered in preliminary conversations. The session will close with a panel discussion aimed at identifying key next steps and action items necessary to promote interdisciplinary work across scales.