Urban Ecology and the Evolution of the City

"Cities may strike us as the opposite of 'the environment': As we pave streets and erect buildings, nature comes to feel like the thing you find somewhere else. But scientists working in the growing field of urban ecology argue that we’re missing something," writes Courtney Humphries for The Boston Globe. In fact, according to the article, "the city is a distinct form of 'environment,' and an important one. Truly understanding how it works—and how it affects the millions of people who may live and work there—will mean studying the whole city as a living system, both its organisms and its pipes, roads, and landfills."

Humphries goes on to cite a number of research activities around Boston and other cities that research the implications our emerging understanding of urban ecology: "Living systems don’t just exist: They evolve, responding to changes in the rules that govern their existence. And as we try to design more sustainable cities for the future, understanding the full picture of urban ecosystems just might give us a smarter way to shape them."