Landscape and Urban Planning 127 (2014) 104–113 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Landscape and Urban Planning j o ur na l ho me pag e: www.elsevier.com/locate/landurbplan Research Paper Ecological outcomes of civic and expert-led urban greening projects using indigenous plant species in Cape Town, South Africa P.M.L. Anderson a,b,∗ , G. Avlonitis a , H. Ernstson b,c,d a Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701 Cape, South Africa b African Centre for Cities, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701 Cape, South Africa c KTH Environmental Humanities, Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden d Department of History, Stanford University, California, United States h i g h l i g h t s • Measures of plant and insect diversity show the role of civic-led greening in linking conservation to the ‘good and just city’. • Civic-led interventions can contribute towards urban conservation agendas with the acknowledged exclusion of fire. • How to integrate civic-led interventions into urban biodiversity planning remains an open question. a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 21 May 2013 Received in revised form 30 March 2014 Accepted 31 March 2014 Available online 4 May 2014 Keywords: Civic-led Greening Urban ecology a b s t r a c t Parks and private and public gardens do not exist in isolation, but form part of the urban fabric, contribut- ing to ecological functioning. There is growing interest in how civil society shapes urban ecologies and vegetation patterns. This paper explores the ecological outcomes of a series of indigenous plant greening interventions in Cape Town. The six different sites were sampled: two civic-led intervention sites, one expert-led rehabilitation site, two conservation sites and one abandoned site. These sites are compared in terms of their plant and insect diversity and then discussed in relation to their contingent management arrangements and in relation to conservation and abandoned land. Plant and insect diversity measured at the civic-led greening intervention sites suggest these sites are similar to adjacent conservation sites, while floristic composition differs. The inclusion of a vacant lot with poor species and growth form diver- sity shows the significant role of intervention in the ecological reformation of urban green space. By emphasizing the ecological outcomes, this study highlights the importance of civil society in linking con- servation goals to more broad-based notions of quality of life and the ‘good and just city’. Our results indicate that civic-led efforts warrant attention in keeping with those of experts, both in relation to meeting indigenous conservation targets, as well as supporting functional groups and wider ecological processes, with the acknowledged exception of fire. How to integrate such civic-led interventions into urban biodiversity management planning is still an open question. © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction 1.1. Forging urban ecologies Urban ecology is neither natural nor social, but rather a “recom- binant ecology” (Barker, 2000). It has arisen from historical climatic and vegetation conditions and shaped by multifaceted urbanization ∗ Corresponding author at: Department of Environmental and Geographical Sci- ence, University of Cape Town, Private Bag X3, Rondebosch, 7701 Cape, South Africa. Tel.: +27 21 650 5386. E-mail address: pippin.anderson@uct.ac.za (P.M.L. Anderson). processes of housing, transport, energy and telecommunication infrastructure, but also the allocation of ‘green spaces’ (Niemelä et al., 2011). Among the many heterogeneous urban land uses that support ecological functions, the broad category of ‘green spaces’ are crucial in several ways. For example, urban forests, park areas, sports fields, and water bodies and wetlands, have the capacity to support biodiversity often restricted to these areas, mitigate climate extremes, sequester carbon, provide educational oppor- tunities, and facilitate the infiltration of storm water (Cadenasso & Pickett, 2008; O’Farrell, Anderson, Le Maitre, & Holmes, 2012). Studies have shown how such green spaces support critical func- tions and services, in particular when services cannot be acquired http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2014.03.007 0169-2046/© 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.