An ecological corridor, with both ecological and cultural functions, is a symbol of urban ecological or green civilization, and has therefore become one of the major topics in the fields of landscape ecology, urban ecology, and ecological planning.
Over the last few decades, the concept of Green Infrastructures (GI) has been studied in several disciplines such as landscape architecture, landscape ecology and planning.
Two emerging ecological planning approaches, landscape ecology and industrial ecology, are applied here to look at alternative ways of planning industrial parks.
The paper briefly reviews the historical role of ecology in planning, and ecological planning and management theories and methodologies.
It is planning an "industrial ecology" project which will use waste products from the brewing process, such as spent grain, to produce methane that could in turn produce electricity.
Examples from landscape ecology and planning are used to describe each aspect.
The metaphor of resilience, and its technical specifications, draw these diverse strands for linking ecology and planning together.
It can also foster research and application in such fields as global change ecology, conservation planning, and landscape management.
Until recently, participation by local actors (decision-makers, lobbyists, farmers or representatives of various interest groups) played little or no role in landscape ecology and planning in Germany.
Therefore, we investigated the possible interface between urban ecology, urban planning, and environmental management, within current policy and legislation frameworks and within practice in South Africa.
