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Environment and Biodiversity

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Book cover Dimensions of the Sustainable City

Part of the book series: Future City ((FUCI,volume 2))

Abstract

Research over many decades has documented numerous environmental effects of urbanization, ranging from the loss and reconfiguration of green space to dramatic changes in ecosystems and biodiversity. Rather less is known about how urban form, in particular the density of urban development, alters environmental patterns and processes within cities. Investigation of the relationships between urban form and environmental structure and performance is an important issue in the urban sustainability debate and here we use that work to illustrate some of the key ideas in this newly emerging field. After outlining the general effects of urbanization on environment and biodiversity, we then consider in turn the relationships between urban form and patterns of green space, the degree to which urban environments can provide useful ecosystem services to human populations, and finally the responses of biodiversity to urban development

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful for generous assistance, discussion and/or comments from N. Burke, C. Dennis, N. Doar, I. Fishburn, C. Gascoigne, J. Glasscock, K. Irvine, P. Johnson, C. Jones, D. Knight, D. Lewis, and J. Vulliamy. Ordnance Survey kindly provided MasterMap data under license to the CityForm consortium. K.J.G. holds a Royal Society-Wolfson Research Merit Award.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Ecology Centre, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia

    Richard A. Fuller

  2. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Richard A. Fuller

  3. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Jamie Tratalos (Senior Research Consultant, Dr Foster Research)

  4. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Philip H. Warren

  5. School of Biological Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK

    Richard G. Davies

  6. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Richard G. Davies

  7. Institute of Nature Conservation, Krakow, Poland

    Aleksandra Pępkowska

  8. Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Aleksandra Pępkowska

  9. Biodiversity & Macroecology Group, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK

    Kevin J. Gaston (Professor of Biodiversity and Conservation)

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  2. Jamie Tratalos
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  3. Philip H. Warren
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  4. Richard G. Davies
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  5. Aleksandra Pępkowska
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  6. Kevin J. Gaston
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard A. Fuller .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Oxford Inst. Sustainable Development, Oxford Brookes University, Gipsy Lane, Oxford, OX3 0BP, United Kingdom

    Mike Jenks

  2. School of the Built Environment, Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh, EH14 4AS, United Kingdom

    Colin Jones

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Fuller, R.A., Tratalos, J., Warren, P.H., Davies, R.G., Pępkowska, A., Gaston, K.J. (2010). Environment and Biodiversity. In: Jenks, M., Jones, C. (eds) Dimensions of the Sustainable City. Future City, vol 2. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8647-2_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8647-2_4

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