Southern California Wildlife and Biodiversity Landscape Restoration: A Process-Oriented Framework for Designing Landscapes as Evolutionary Systems

Southern California’s coastal landscapes combine exceptional biodiversity potential with severe ecological fragmentation, urban development, invasive pressures, altered fire regimes, and hydrological disruption. In response, this paper proposes a conceptual framework for wildlife and biodiversity landscape restoration that prioritizes ecological performance and long-term resilience over purely aesthetic or temporary objectives. Building on evolutionary landscape thinking (Prominski, 2005) and the author’s thesis methods and principles for designing landscapes as evolutionary systems (Lotonenko, 2013), the framework separates design principles (how we think) from an operational structure (how the work is executed) across three main design pillars: soil, flora, and fauna. The paper also adapts a five-stage project method-site analysis, programming, dynamic implementation, implementation over time, and design evaluation-to support open-ended ecological outcomes, long time horizons, and iterative adjustment. The proposed approach is intended as a transferable structure for restoration projects and as one milestone within a broader theoretical and practical trajectory toward designing resilient, evolving landscapes not only in SoCal but also worldwide. This research is developed and published by Iurii Lotonenko founder of LASD Studio.Project documentation, updates, and related research are available at: https://www.lasdstudio.com