Applied Urban Ecology: A Global Framework edited by Matthias Richter and Ulrike Weiland (review)

In the past 15 years urban ecology has made a dramatic resurgence in North America and grown markedly around the world. Today there are Long Term Ecological Research stations focused on urban ecosystems, journals devoted to urban ecology, and a plethora of novel and insightful papers that have greatly advanced our knowledge of urban systems. Thus, as the world grows ever more urban, we see ecology hot on its heels in seeking to understand the interactions and processes that occur in these urban systems.

As common with the growth of any field of study, the rise of urban ecology has led to a large number of books being published on the topic. Ranging from specialized books, such as Urban Carnivores (Gehrt et al. 2010) and Urban Bird Ecology and Conservation (Lepczyk and Warren 2012) to more wide ranging titles, such as Urban Ecology (Gaston 2010), the past several years has seen a regular progression of important books. Joining the crowded mix of recent urban ecology texts is Applied Urban Ecology: A Global Framework. The book’s subtitle calls to mind a textbook or perhaps a handbook, but neither is particularly accurate. In fact the book is an edited volume containing 16 disparate chapters grouped into four parts (Introduction, Urban Ecology: Related Disciplines and Methods, Selected Fields of Urban Ecology, and Synthesis). The bulk of the book lies in the third part, which contains 75% of the book and covers six areas of study. As a result the book is a bit of a mishmash of introductory material, background information, and case studies written in the guise of broader topics.

The book’s Foreword, written by Jürgen Breuste, notes that the focus of the volume is to present a global viewpoint using a variety of approaches as a means to solve problems of cities through design and management. In other words, the book is focused on the application of urban ecological knowledge as a means to improving cities specifically. Improving cities is indeed important and something to which urban ecology can greatly aid. However, the themes in the book were decidedly more on urban planning, landscape architecture, disaster management, horticulture, and waste management then ecological relationships. Such a focus on these themes demonstrates one of the notable differences between urban ecology as practiced and studied in Europe compared to North America. Specifically, in North America the study of urban ecology typically focuses on the ecology of a city (interdisciplinary studies of ecological processes within or across cities; Grimm et al. 2000) or ecology in the city (studies of local-scale ecological interactions within cities; Grimm et al. 2000), whereas Europeans focus more on the aesthetic, planning, and design components of cities. Thus, a reader looking for a more humanities based urban ecology book will find useful the chapters in this text that discuss planning, risk assessment, and sociological aspects. On the other hand a reader looking for more basic urban ecology would be encouraged to look elsewhere for many details on the subject.

In terms of restoration ecology, Applied Urban Ecology offers a handful of useful chapters. Foremost among the chapters is “Plant Material for Urban Landscapes in the Era of Globalization: Roots, Challenges, and Innovative Solutions” by Maria Ignatieva, which nicely summarizes the history of urban plant communities, how they have been tied to different historical periods and cultures, and how can we move forward in considering plant communities in contemporary urban design. Although the chapter is perhaps more horticultural than ecological, it does give a useful background on urban plant communities that would benefit a restoration practitioner. Similarly, the chapter “From Wasteland to Wilderness: Aspects of a New Form of Urban Nature” by Dieter Rink and Harriet Herbst provides a nice overview of brownfield restoration that would be of benefit to many restoration ecologists. Although other chapters provide elements that may be of interest to restoration...