Urban prairie

[1] The definition can vary across countries and disciplines, but at its broadest encompasses meadows, lawns, and gardens, as well as public and private parks, vacant land, remnants of rural landscapes, and areas along transportation corridors.

[2] If previously developed, structures occupying the urban lots have been demolished, leaving patchy areas of green space that are usually untended and unmanaged, forming an involuntary park.

In the first case, the value of aging buildings may fall too low to provide financial incentives for their owners to maintain them or seizure by local government as a response to unpaid property taxes.

Additionally, remaining urban landscapes are typically unable to support the complex food webs the previously hosted and become novel habitats home to highly adapted alien species, such as rats, cockroaches, and pigeons.

[10] In Melbourne, Australia at the Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner memorial site just three years after being replanted with a variety of native species and receiving upkeep, the green space had increased the number and diversity of insects in the vicinity.