title: The ecological future of cities.
abstract: The discipline of urban ecology arose in the 1990s, primarily motivated by a widespread interest in documenting the distribution and abundance of animals and plants in cities. Today, urban ecologists have greatly expanded their scope of study to include ecological and socioeconomic processes, urban management, planning, and design, with the goal of addressing issues of sustainability, environmental quality, and human well-being within cities and towns. As the global pace of urbanization continues to intensify, urban ecology provides the ecological and social data, as well as the principles, concepts and tools, to create livable cities.
authors.affiliation: Australian Research Centre for Urban Ecology, Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria and School of BioSciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia. markmc@unimelb.edu.au ian.macgregor@inecol.mx.
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: McDonnell
authors.affiliation: Red de Ambiente y Sustentabilidad, Instituto de Ecología, A.C. (INECOL), Carretera Antigua a Coatepec 351, El Haya, Xalapa 91070, Veracruz, Mexico. markmc@unimelb.edu.au ian.macgregor@inecol.mx.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: MacGregor-Fors
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002947:Cities; D017753:Ecosystem; D006801:Humans; D014506:Urban Renewal