Urban greening increases vegetation and can restore ecological functions to urban systems. It has ties to restoration ecology, which aims to return degraded land to diverse, functional ecosystems. Both practices can be applied to maximizing ecosystem services and habitat in vacant lots, which are abundant in post-industrial cities, including Chicago, Illinois (USA), where our study took place. We tested four methods for increasing native plant diversity in vacant lots, ranging from low input to resource-intensive: seed bombing, broadcast seeding, planting plugs, and gardening. After three growing seasons, we assessed the growth of eight target native species and all non-target species. We expected that intensive treatments would have more target species stems and flowers and fewer non-target species, but we found that less-intensive options often produce equal or better results. From this, we recommend broadcast seeding as a viable, low-cost method for improving habitat and biodiversity in vacant lots.

城市绿化增加植被，可以恢复城市系统的生态功能。它与恢复生态有关，旨在使退化的土地恢复到多样化的功能生态系统。这两种做法都可以应用于最大化生态系统服务和空地中的栖息地，这些空地在后工业城市中很丰富，包括我们进行研究的伊利诺伊州芝加哥（美国）。我们测试了四种增加空地原生植物多样性的方法，从低投入到资源密集型：种子轰炸、播种、种植插头和园艺。经过三个生长季节，我们评估了八种目标本地物种和所有非目标物种的生长。我们预计强化处理会有更多的目标物种茎和花和更少的非目标物种，但我们发现，强度较低的选择通常会产生相同或更好的结果。因此，我们建议将播种作为一种可行的低成本方法来改善空地的栖息地和生物多样性。