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Marvin Gaye Park in Washington DC wasn’t always a nice pathway along Watts Branch Creek. Not long ago, it was a “broken place” – strewn with litter and frequented by drug addicts. Still today, trash abounds in the creek, and young people from nearby neighborhoods wade into the water to extract the trash from a weir called a Bandalong trap. The transformation of the Watts Branch to a park and the ongoing stewardship of the creek, illustrate the ten principles of civic ecology The ten principles of civic ecology address four questions. Why do people turn to community environmental stewardship in cities, after disasters, and in other harsh environments? • What are the parts—the communities, the memories, the places, the people, and the ecosystem, health, and learning outcomes—that pieced together become civic ecology practices? • How do civic ecology practices interact with the systems surrounding them, including governance and larger-scale social-ecological systems? • How might policymakers benefit from and support civic ecology practices?

Sense of community is a feeling of belonging, of being able to influence others, of shared history and emotional connections, and that one’s needs are being met within a particular community. Where there is a strong sense of community, people are more likely to cooperate with neighbors to improve their surroundings. Social capital refers to the presence of social networks and trust, along with volunteering or civic participation. When communities have social capital, people are more likely to join together to take action to benefit their community. Collective efficacy is the willingness of people to intervene for the common good. A neighborhood demonstrates collective efficacy when people are willing to pick up litter, call out kids who are skipping school or harassing others, or plant a community garden on a vacant lot. Studies have shown that neighborhoods that demonstrate collective efficacy have lower crime rates. Civic ecology practices demonstrate collective efficacy, or willingness to intervene for the common good. In a feedback process, civic ecology practices also depend on the presence of a sense of community and social capital and may build greater sense of community and social capital.

Biophilia refers to humans’ innate “love” of or affinity for other life. One reason people care for nature after a disaster may be an urgent need to express this love, or an “urgent biophilia.” Topophilia refers to humans’ love for or attachment to a particular place. People who experience an affinity for a place are more likely to act to preserve that place. When a place we love suffers environmental degradation or loss of a sense of community, people may want to bring back the place they have lost. We refer to this desire to restore a place as restorative topophilia. Urgent biophilia and restorative topophilia are two mechanisms that explain why people steward nature in broken places—that is, why people engage in civic ecology practices.