geodesign-in-practice

Geodesign and Wildlife Corridors
By Ryan Perkl, Assistant Professor, School of Landscape Architecture and Planning, University of Arizona
Over the last decade, wildlife corridors have become a
cornerstone for promoting species persistence within
conservation planning. While corridors have become an
increasingly viable conservation strategy, issues still remain in
translating modeled corridors beyond plans into implementable
designs. Although modeled corridors result in the delineation
of boundaries, they lack planning and design guidance for
programming the appropriate vegetative types and patterns
that may be desirable throughout the corridor. This represents
a considerable implementation gap for practitioners interested
in employing corridors as part of a conservation or land-use
planning strategy.
This University of Arizona team proposes that a modeled
corridor by itself is not a design but rather a first step toward
design. Design requires attention to site-specific characteristics;
functions; and even more qualitative variables, such as aesthetics,
as a means of informing the fine-grained decisions necessary
for implementation. Further, the team believes that the growing
field of geodesign holds promise in moving toward this end, as it
strikes the needed balance between developing the analytically
based methods required in conservation planning and the
graphic and communicative language necessary for design
Saguaro and mesquite are among the many plants that should populate
the corridors through the Sonoran Desert.
implementation. As a result, this article illustrates and discusses
the development of a new tool while showcasing the marriage of
geodesign with real-world applications in conservation planning
and design.
A New Tool—ADM
The Automated Design Module (ADM) described here was used
to inform the design of wildlife corridors within the Sonoran
Desert, an incredibly biologically diverse region that spans
Geodesign in Practice: Designing a Better World
J10221
Geodesign and Wildlife Corridors
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