Well-designed wildlife corridors in urban and suburban environments enable safe movement for wildlife, reducing roadkill, habitat fragmentation, and the chronic stress of isolated populations.
Urban wildlife corridors address a form of chronic welfare harm that is rarely considered: the stress and health consequences of living in isolated habitat patches surrounded by impermeable urban infrastructure. Small populations of urban wildlife cut off from genetic exchange experience inbreeding, disease vulnerability, and the chronic stress of territory pressure without the option of dispersal. Corridors that enable safe movement reduce both the acute welfare harm of vehicle collisions and the chronic harm of isolation. Designing cities with wildlife movement in mind — using parks, green rooftops, riparian corridors, and targeted crossing infrastructure — creates urban environments where wildlife can genuinely thrive rather than merely persist.