This book is intended to provide a broad overview of the field of urban ecology, particularly for those wanting to find out what it is essentially about, either as part of their general ecological education or perhaps with a view to begin working in this area. Some of the chapter topics could be equally relevant to almost any ecosystem (although the chapter contents would vary), others particularly reflect the intimate links between people and ecological pattern and process in urban areas. The book opens with chapters addressing what urban ecology is and some of the essentials of the urbanisation process and of ecosystem function in urban areas. It moves on to consider how individual species, species richness and alien species respond to urbanisation. The next chapters tackle various facets of human-ecology interactions in urban environments, respectively those between people and wildlife, between human social organisation and ecology, and between human health and wellbeing and ecology. Two chapters then follow that focus on urban green spaces and urban planning. The book concludes with consideration of the future of urban systems and urban ecology. This book covers the key environmental issues of urban ecosystems as well as the human-centric issues, particularly those of governance, economics, sociology and human health. The goal is to challenge readers' thinking around urban ecology from a resource-based approach to a holistic and applied field for sustainable development. The major themes of the book: emerging urban concepts and urbanization, land use/land cover change, urban social-ecological systems, urban environment, urban material balance, smart, healthy and sustainable cities and sustainable urban design. Within each section, key concepts such as monitoring the urbanization phenomena, land use cover, urban soil fluxes, urban metabolism, pollution and human health and sustainable cities are covered. This book serves as a comprehensive and advanced book for students, researchers, practitioners and policymakers in urban ecology and urban environmental research, planning and practice.
$280.00