Urbanization is a global phenomenon and the book emphasizes that this is not just a social-technological process. It is also a social-ecological process where cities are places for nature, and where cities also are dependent on, and have impacts on, the biosphere at different scales from local to global. The book is a global assessment and delivers four main conclusions:
- Urban areas are expanding faster than urban populations. Half the increase in urban land across the world over the next 20 years will occur in Asia, with the most extensive change expected to take place in India and China
- Urban areas modify their local and regional climate through the urban heat island effect and by altering precipitation patterns, which together will have significant impacts on net primary production, ecosystem health, and biodiversity
- Urban expansion will heavily draw on natural resources, including water, on a global scale, and will often consume prime agricultural land, with knock-on effects on biodiversity and ecosystem services elsewhere
- Future urban expansion will often occur in areas where the capacity for formal governance is restricted, which will constrain the protection of biodiversity and management of ecosystem services
Foreword
Pavan Sukhdev
Preface
List of Contributors
List of Reviewers
1. A global outlook on urbanization
Karen C. Seto, Susan Parnell, and Thomas Elmqvist
2. History of urbanization and the missing ecology
Thomas Elmqvist, Charles L. Redman, Stephan Barthel, and Robert Costanza
3. Urbanization and global trends in biodiversity and ecosystem services
Robert I. McDonald, Peter J. Marcotullio, and Burak Güneralp
4. Regional assessment of Asia
Karen C. Seto
5. Sub-regional assessment of China: Urbanization in biodiversity hotspots
Burak Güneralp and Karen C. Seto
6. Sub-regional assessment of India: Effects of urbanization effects on land use, biodiversity and ecosystems
Harini Nagendra, H.S. Sudhira, Madhusudan Katti, and Maria Schewenius
7. Local assessment of Bangalore: Graying and Greening in Bangalore - Impacts of Urbanization on Ecosystems, Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity
H.S. Sudhira and Harini Nagendra
8. Local assessment of Tokyo: Satoyama and Satoumi: Traditional landscapes and management practices in a contemporary urban environment
Ryo Kohsaka, Wanyu Shih, Osamu Saito, and Satoru Sadohara
9. Local assessment of Shanghai: Effects of urbanization on the diversity of macrobenthic invertebrates in Shanghai, China
Wenliang Liu, Xiaohua Chen, and Qiang Wang
10. Patterns and trends in urban biodiversity and landscape design
Norbert Müller, Maria Ignatieva, Charles H. Nilon, Peter Werner, and Wayne C. Zipperer
11. Urban ecosystem services
Erik Gómez-Baggethun, Åsa Gren, David N. Barton, Johannes Langemeyer, Timon McPhearson, Patrick O’Farrell, Erik Andersson, Zoé Hamstead, and Peleg Kremer
12. Shrinking cities, biodiversity and ecosystem services
Dagmar Haase
13. Regional assessment of Europe
Jakub Kronenberg, Azime Tezer, Dagmar Haase, and Johan Colding
14. Regional assessment of North America - Urbanization trends, biodiversity patterns, and ecosystem services
Timon McPhearson, Roger Auch, and Marina Alberti
15. Regional assessment of Oceania
Robert Dyball, Christopher D. Ives, and Ian White
16. Local assessment of Istanbul: Biodiversity and ecosystem services
Burak Güneralp, Azime Tezer, and Ilke Albayrak
17. Local assessment of Stockholm: Revisiting the Stockholm Urban Assessment
Johan Colding
18. Local assessment: From wild Chicago to Chicago Wilderness - Chicago’s ecological setting and recent efforts to protect and restore nature in the region
Liam Heneghan, Christopher Mulvaney, Kristen Ross, Susan Stewart, Lauren Umek, Cristy Watkins, Alaka Wali, Lynne M. Westphal, and David H. Wise
19. Local assessment of New York City: Biodiversity, Green Space, and Ecosystem Services
Timon McPhearson, David Maddox, Bram Gunther, and David Bragdon
20. Local assessment of Melbourne - The Biodiversity and Social-Ecological Dynamics of Melbourne, Australia
Christopher D. Ives, Ruth Beilin, Ascelin Gordon, Dave Kendal, Amy K. Hahs, and Mark J. McDonnell
21. A synthesis of global urbanization projections
Michail Fragkias, Burak Güneralp, Karen Seto, and Julie Goodness
22. Urbanization forecasts, effects on land use, biodiversity, and ecosystem services
Burak Güneralp, Robert I. McDonald, Michail Fragkias, Julie Goodness, Peter J. Marcotullio, and Karen C. Seto
23. Regional assessment of Africa
Pippin Anderson, Chukwumerije Okereke, Andrew Rudd, and Susan Parnell
24, Local assessment of Cape Town: A ‘Rainbow Nation’s’ social-ecological landscape - Navigating management complexities of urbanization, biodiversity, and ecosystem services in the Cape Floristic Region
Julie Goodness and Pippin M.L. Anderson
25. Climate change and urban biodiversity vulnerability
William Solecki and Peter J. Marcotullio
26. Feeding cities: food security and ecosystem support in an urbanizing world
Lisa Deutsch, Rob Dyball, and Will Steffen
27. Urban governance of biodiversity and ecosystem services
Cathy Wilkinson, Marte Sendstad, Susan Parnell, and Maria Schewenius
28. Regional assessment of Latin America: Rapid urban development and social-economic inequity threaten biodiversity hotspots
Aníbal Pauchard, Olga Barbosa, Javiera Maira, Carolina Rojas, Paula Villagra, Ana Faggi, Fabio Márquez, Gloria Aponte, and Ian MacGregor-Fors
29. Local assessment of Rio de Janeiro City: Two case studies on urbanization trends and ecological impacts
Cecilia P. Herzog and Ricardo Finotti
30. Urban landscapes as learning arenas for biodiversity and ecosystem services management
Marianne E. Krasny Cecilia Lundholm, Soul Shava, Eunju Lee, and Hiromi Kobori
31. Restoration ecology in an urbanizing world
Steven N. Handel, Osamu Saito, and Kazuhiko Takeuchi
32. Indicators for management of urban biodiversity and ecosystem services: City Biodiversity Index
Ryo Kohsaka, Henrique M. Pereira, Thomas Elmqvist, Lena Chan, Raquel Moreno-Peñaranda, Yukihiro Morimoto, Takashi Inoue, Mari Iwata, Maiko Nishi, Maria da Luz Mathias, Carlos Souto Cruz, Mariana Cabral, Minna Brunfeldt, Anni Parkkinen, Jari Niemelä, Yashada Kulkarni-Kawli, and Grant Pearsall
33. Stewardship of the Biosphere in the Urban Era
Thomas Elmqvist, Michail Fragkias, Julie Goodness, Burak Güneralp, Peter J. Marcotullio, Robert I. McDonald, Susan Parnell, Maria Schewenius, Marte Sendstad, Karen C. Seto, Cathy Wilkinson, Marina Alberti, Carl Folke, Niki Frantzeskaki, Dagmar Haase, Madhusudan Katti, Harini Nagendra, Jari Niemelä, Steward T.A. Pickett, Charles L. Redman, and Keith Tidball
Appendix
Glossary
"To understand how the world’s ecosystems are changing we need to understand cities, and to create better cities we need to understand the ecosystems they depend on. The failure of most markets, government policies and even urban studies to take these relations into account has put cities, and increasingly the whole world, in a difficult position. Studies like Urbanization, Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services can help us to extricate ourselves, provided we act on the knowledge they provide."
- Gordon McGranahan, International Institute for Environment and Development
"The challenges of urbanization are profound, but so too are the opportunities. Cities can reconcile human society and biodiversity by creating environments that are ecologically sustainable, economically productive, socially just, politically participatory and culturally vibrant. I commend this study to all who have a stake in creating ecologically sustainable urbanization for the benefit of humanity and the planet."
- Ban Ki-moon, Secretary-General, United Nations