Social Sustainability
Urban Ecology
The study of ecosystems in and of cities — from urban wildlife to the city itself as an ecosystem.
Definition
Urban ecology has two meanings, both active: ecology in cities — the study of organisms, populations and communities in urban environments, which has overturned assumptions (cities as biological deserts) by documenting rich and distinctive urban ecosystems — and ecology of cities — treating the entire city as an ecosystem of interacting human and natural components, flows and feedbacks. Long-term research programmes (Baltimore and Phoenix LTER sites) established the field's empirical base.
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