Exotic plants and plantings in the sustainable, designed urban landscape

This essay provides a perspective on non-invasive exotic plant species in relation to sustainable designed urban plantings. It considers the reasons why, despite their ubiquitous presence in most towns and cities, non-invasive exotic plants are increasingly believed to be either hazardous or at the very least incompatible with urban sustainability notions. Exotic species are reviewed in relation to key measures of what sustainable planting might entail, for example the capacity to minimise carbon expenditure,support biodiversity, and how these species play a positive role in human perception of designed landscapes. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.