AEC 570 Urban Ecology Section: 001

Course Description

Developing design, conservation, and management strategies to serve humans and biodiversity in urban areas is an ongoing challenge. This course examines cities as unique physical environments and as social-ecological systems: How urban factors drive physiology, abundance and distribution of plants and animals, with consequences for biodiversity, ecosystem function, and human well-being. We will discuss the role of ecology in urban design and management, and emphasize the question of whether urban systems, and the role of humans therein, are adequately described by existing ecological principles.