Manual of Urban Ecology maps the current state of knowledge on how nature functions within cities — treating urban environments not as backdrops for biodiversity but as dynamic, mutable ecosystems that simultaneously generate and destroy it.
About This Book
Cities are not hostile to nature — they are nature in a radically altered form. This book makes that case with ecological precision, examining how the fragmented, heterogeneous conditions of urban environments shape biodiversity at every scale. Audrey Muratet and François Chiron analyse the composition and dynamics of urban flora and fauna, from the opportunistic plant communities colonising neglected infrastructure to the birds and mammals navigating landscapes most transformed by human activity. The ambition is corrective: to dismantle the ecological blindness that allows city dwellers to remain oblivious to the ecosystems they inhabit, and to articulate principles for more ecologically literate urban thinking. Essential reading for urban designers, landscape architects, and ecologists working at the intersection of the built and natural.
Key Features
- 120 pages of ecological analysis, case studies, and illustrated documentation of urban biodiversity
- Authored by ecologist and botanist Audrey Muratet and bird and mammal specialist François Chiron, alongside M. Muratet
- Published by Les Presses Du Reel
What You'll Discover
- How cities function as complex ecological structures with highly variable living conditions — capable of both sustaining and eliminating biodiversity pools
- The composition and dynamics of urban plant communities, examined through an ecologist-botanist lens attuned to spontaneous and colonising vegetation
- How bird and mammal populations adapt to — or are excluded from — landscapes heavily transformed by human development
- Principles for overcoming ecological blindness in urban contexts and avoiding destructive collisions with the ecosystems embedded in city fabric
About the Author
Audrey Muratet is an ecologist and botanist whose research focuses on the composition and dynamics of urban biodiversity. François Chiron is a specialist in birds and mammals, with particular focus on the landscapes most altered by human intervention. Together they bring complementary scientific disciplines to bear on the ecological complexity of the contemporary city.
Specifications
- Format: Paperback
- Pages: 120
- Dimensions: 210 x 300 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9782378962432
- Publisher: Les Presses Du Reel
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Urban designers, landscape architects, ecologists, urban planners, and design academics engaged with biodiversity, ecological urbanism, and the relationship between built environments and natural systems.