‘This is a wonderful book that should be on the desk of every architect and planner. It shows how

Box 45 Decision Trees – Terminal and Reversible
1. Traditional decision tree: Choosing ‘best’ practice or technologies
Pruning process to eliminate risks and achieve maximum industrial growth
Towards 
one single 
future with 
less and less 
opportunity 
to diversify 
or reverse 
direction
2. Proposed decision tree: Designing wider options for natural security and 
social choice through a rhizomatic approach
Diversity of social choice and decentralized re
-
source production
Increased natural security by diversifying pathways, 
sources of urban food and energy, habitats, etc 
Public Estate
Ecological Base
Positive Development transforms 
negative space into reversible, 
healthy diverse environments that 
increase both the public estate and 
ecological base

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Positive Development
Box 46 Community Management of Ecosystems
David Eastburn
Members of many rural communities have a rich knowledge of their landscapes, are highly 
sensitive to climatic, environmental, market and policy changes, and have a strong interest in 
a sustainable future. However, only a fraction of their potential to contribute to a sustainable 
future is realized, as the following case studies demonstrate. 
Lower Murrumbidgee flood country
The Lower Murrumbidgee floodplain, between the towns of Hay and Balranald in southwestern 
New South Wales, is the largest area of floodplain wetland remaining in the Murrumbidgee Valley 
(at 217,000ha). It includes the second largest red gum forest in Australia. Layers of alluvium, 
deposited by silt-laden floodwaters over much of the past 50 million years, allow large-scale 
organic grain and oilseed production. Floodplain farmers mimic natural flooding by ponding 
water in spring to store it in the soil profile, minimizing evaporation loss over the hot summer.
More than 40 species of waterbird breed on the floodplain. Farmers have set aside habitat 
areas, and self-imposed rules ensure that environmentally sensitive areas receive first access 
to any water that flows onto the floodplain.