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What Is Urban Ecology and Why Should We Study It?

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Abstract

This chapter introduces urban ecology as an analytical approach to understand how our cities work as ecosystems and to assess trade-offs associated with proposals intended to make our cities more sustainable. We present the concept of social-ecological metabolism and review the fundamentals of systems ecology that we can employ to quantify flows of materials, nutrients, and energy upon which our cities, and thus the majority of the world’s population, depend. We make the case that predicted population growth, climate uncertainties, and natural resource declines will present difficult challenges to urban citizens and their leaders, making the study of urban ecology very important to securing more resilient cities in the years to come.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    “Wild” is used here instead of “natural” systems, since it is the view of the authors that people are part of nature and that what they do is natural.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Studies, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Myrna H. P. Hall

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  1. Myrna H. P. Hall
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Correspondence to Myrna H. P. Hall .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Center for the Urban Environment, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, NY, USA

    Myrna H. P. Hall

  2. Office of Research and Development, Environmental Protection Agency, Narragansett, RI, USA

    Stephen B. Balogh

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Hall, M.H.P. (2019). What Is Urban Ecology and Why Should We Study It?. In: Hall, M., Balogh, S. (eds) Understanding Urban Ecology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11259-2_1

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