| Natural areas in urban river corridors are increasingly becoming fragmented which leads to isolation of plant community remnants. A conceptual framework is developed in this thesis to provide a systematic procedure that would facilitate the protection, ecological enhancement and linkage of present and potential natural areas in urban river corridors. The framework incorporates ecological knowledge that relates to the planning and design process, design of natural areas, and theory and methodology from landscape ecology. The development of a comprehensive framework will facilitate the integration of isolated conservation activities into the land-use planning and design process, and establish an ecological network to link remnants of natural communities along the river valley corridor and its urban context.;To illustrate the utility of the conceptual framework, the study includes a detailed application of the evaluation components of the framework to a selected case study site. A method for evaluation is described based on an ecological value concept. (Abstract shortened by UMI.). |
