Positive resource dependency in urban systems: applying urgent biophilia and restorative topophilia

In this seminar Richard Stedman and Keith Tidball from Cornell University unpacked the traditional conception of "dependence" and argued that it can take on much more positive tones depending on how it is conceived and measured. They engaged the notions of urgent biophilia and restorative topophilia as sources of positive dependence.

Their talk emphasized on the dependency and resilience of urban systems, but as the resource dependency literature has emerged from a rural context, crucial comparisons across system types was also made.

About the speakers
Richard Stedman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Natural Resources and Associate Director of the Human Dimensions Research Unit at Cornell University. His research has focused on the well-being of resource dependent communities and the challenges associated with community transitions. Individual and collective perceptions and responses to social and ecological change underpin this focus. He has engaged much of this work through a sense-of-place framework, and is one of the leading scholars in this area. He has especially emphasized on the integration of ecological factors in underpinning place meanings and attachment, and empirical measurement of key constructs.

Keith Tidball is a Senior Extension Associate in the Department of Natural Resources where he serves as Associate Director of the Civic Ecology Lab and Program Leader for the Nature & Human Security Program. He is also the New York State Coordinator for the NY Extension Disaster Education Network. Tidball's research is focused on the interactions between humans and nature in the context of disasters and war. He is particularly interested in how these interactions relate to social-ecological system resilience, or in other words, how humans and their interactions with nature are related to a system's ability to bounce back after being disturbed.