Urban Ecology and

Sustainability
By Atif Nauman(University of Gujrat)
 Contents
• Introduction
• Methods to study Urban Ecology
• Urban Biodiversity
• Ecosystem Services
• Urban Effects on Environment
• Human Effects on biogeochemical pathways
• Urban sustainability
• Strategies to make urban sustainable
• References
 Introduction
• Urban ecology is the study of ecosystems that include human
living in cities and urbanizing landscapes.
• The urban environment refers to environments dominated
by high-density residential and commercial buildings, paved
surfaces.
• Interdisciplinary field that aims to understand how human
and Ecological processes can coexist in human-dominated
systems and help societies with their efforts to become more
sustainable.
 Methods to study Urban Ecology
• Chemical and biochemical techniques

• Temperature data and heat mapping

• Remote sensing

• Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER)

 Methods to study Urban Ecology
 Chemical and biochemical techniques:

• Used to determine pollutant concentrations and their effects.

• Tests can be as simple as dipping a manufactured test strip, as in

the case of pH testing.

• Heavy metal contamination due to industrial runoff.

• Tests for nitrates, phosphates, sulfates etc. which are commonly

associated with urban pollutants.
 Methods to study Urban Ecology
 Temperature data and heat mapping:
• Temperature data is the ability to correlate temperature with
various factors that may be affecting or occurring in the
environment.

• Data can be overlaid with maps of land, urban features, and other
factors which effect areas to create the heat maps.

• These heat maps can be used to view trends and distribution over
time and space.
 Methods to study Urban Ecology
 Remote Sensing:

• Remote sensing allows collection of data using satellites.

• Remote is the technique in which data is collected from distant

locations through the use of satellite imaging, radar, and aerial
photographs.

• In urban ecology, remote sensing is used to collect data about

land, weather patterns, light, and vegetation.
 Methods to study Urban Ecology
 Long-term ecological research (LTER):

• Long-term ecological research (LTER) sites are research sites

funded by the government that have collected reliable long-term
data over an extended period of time.

• These sites provide long-term temporal and spatial data such as

average temperature, rainfall and other ecological processes.

• These long-term data sets can then be analyzed to find trends

relating to the effects of the urban environment.
 Urban Biodiversity
• Biodiversity is a term used to describe all living things and
the variation within and between them.

• It includes plants, animals, fungi, and micro-organisms.

• Nature in cities is not only a matter of cultivated and

managed biodiversity such as urban parks, gardens and
lawns.

• For Example: Urban wetlands, Abandoned industrial sites,

Roadside verges, Vacant lots, Derelict lands.
 Ecosystem services
• Biodiversity provides a wide range of ‘ecosystem services’ to
human populations which underpin human health and well-being.

• Within cities biodiversity can help to:

• Regulate urban climate and microclimate

• Improve air quality

• Purify water

• Control storm water runoff

• Improve soil fertility

• Recycle wastes`
 Urban Effects on Environment
• Urban people change their environment through their
consumption of food, energy, water, and land.

• Humans are the driving force behind urban ecology and

influence the environment in a variety of ways.

• Such as modifying land surfaces and waterways, introducing

foreign species, and altering biogeochemical cycles.

• Other effects can be more gradual such as the change in

global climate due to urbanization.
 Urban Effects on Environment
 Modification of land and waterways:
• Humans place high demand on land not only to build urban
centers, but also to build surrounding suburban areas for
housing.
• Expanding cities and sub-urban areas necessitate
corresponding deforestation to meet the land-use and
resource requirements of urbanization.
• Modification can come in the form of dams, artificial canals,
and even the reversal of rivers.
 Urban Effects on Environment
 Trade, shipping, and spread of invasive species:
• Both local shipping and long-distance trade are required to
meet the resource demands important in maintaining urban
areas.
• Carbon dioxide emissions from the transport of goods also
contribute to accumulating greenhouse gases and nutrient
deposits in the soil and air of urban environment.
• Increased transportation between urban centers furthers the
incidental movement of animal and plant species.
 Urban Effects on Environment
• Introduced or Invasive Alien species are populations of
organisms living in a range in which they did not naturally
evolve due to intentional or inadvertent human activity.

• Invasive Alien species often have no natural predators and

pose a substantial threat to the dynamics of existing
ecological populations in the new environment where they
are introduced.

• For example: Dengue comes to Pakistan.

 Human Effects on biogeochemical
pathways
• Urbanization results in a large demand for chemical use by
industry, construction, agriculture, and energy providing services.

• Such demands have a substantial impact on biogeochemical cycles,

resulting in phenomena such as acid rain, eutrophication,
and global warming.

• Prevent nutrients from returning to the soil, water, and

atmosphere.
 Urban sustainability
• Most people worldwide live in cities and towns and their
numbers continue to increase.
• Cities and towns offer an attractive living environment for
the majority of people.
• Needed to understand human-nature interactions to
improve research, design, planning, and management of
cities, towns and urban regions.
 Strategies to make urban sustainable
 Urban Gardening:
• Instead of depending wholly on grocery stores (and the high
prices of organic fruits and veggies), urbanites are resorting
to their own methods of producing local food.
• whether it’s a restaurant growing vegetables in its backyard
or a neighbourhood taking over vacant lots for a community
garden.
• Through urban gardening, locals get fresh produce and
access to high-quality fruits and vegetables at an affordable
price.
 Strategies to make urban sustainable
 Food Forests:
• forests that are created specifically to produce food called
Food Forests.
• Food forests are an effective way of turning under-used land
into self-sufficient, sustainable ecosystems.
• For Example: Communities in cities from Los Angeles to
London have created food forests to help achieve their
agricultural needs.
 Strategies to make urban sustainable
 Investment in Downtowns:
• Encouraging businesses, non-profits, governments, and
cultural institutions to locate their offices and other facilities
within the urban core.
• Needed to encourage the preservation or rehabilitation of
historic properties or green spaces within the urban core.
 Strategies to make urban sustainable
 Sustainable landscapes and Buildings:
• Decrease impervious pavement areas.
• Implementing sustainable storm water techniques.
• Planting or preserving vegetation will all help
mitigate greenhouse gas emissions from urban areas.
• Energy-efficient building technologies including green or cool
roofs can help mitigate building emissions.
• Buildings to maximize passive heating / cooling
 Strategies to make urban sustainable
• Communities should also move toward energy conservation.
• Non-oil and coal based alternatives, such as solar, wind,
thermal, and biomass, which can reduce dependency on
non-renewable resources.
• Minimize air, water, and thermal pollution.
 References
• Jianguo Wua,b,∗, Urban ecology and sustainability: The
state-of-the-science and future Directions, USA
• Jürgen Breuste & Salman Qureshi, Urban sustainability,
urban ecology and the Society for Urban Ecology (SURE),
Austria,2011
• Seen 24 December,2017
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urban_ecology
• Seen 24 December,2017
https://www.asla.org/sustainableurbandevelopment.aspx