Urban Ecological and Social-Ecological Research in the City of Cape Town: Insights Emerging from an Urban Ecology CityLab

History of Urbanization and the Missing Ecology

“…McGranahan et al 2005 ;Grimm et al 2008 ;Pickett et al 2011 ;McDonald and Marcotullio 2011 ;Folke et al 2011 ;Anderson and Elmqvist 2012 ;Wu 2013 ). Urbanization affects ecosystems both within and outside of urban areas, and as stated in Chaps.…”

Urban Systems: A Socio-Ecological System Perspective

“…18 Cities and their extended hinterland are ideal settings to research the linkages between people and nature, to better understand socioecological dynamics and responses to environmental modifications, and to identify what is needed to enhance both local and global resiliency and sustainability. 6,[11][12][13][14][15]19 Research on urban areas can provide a critical understanding of the direct or indirect influence of human built environments on societies, policy, and environmental practices. Nevertheless, studies on urbanities and global environmental change have not always been capable of capturing the coupled socioecological nature of cities and their surroundings.…”

“…11 The growing awareness that people and their living environments are an integral component of ecosystems as well as drivers of environmental change has led to the rise of research on urban areas and environmental interactions. 19,15 Research in this domain has largely focused on biogeochemical cycles, ecological processes, and dynamic system frameworks. 15,[20][21][22][23][24][25] Questions about changes in morphology, distribution and abundance of ecosystems and organisms in and around cities, and on how these are affected by and have an effect on the human populations and the structure of cities have driven discourses on human-ecological systems interactions.…”

“…Interest in urban SES is also demonstrated by the rise of interdisciplinary networks and teams (e.g., Urban Biosphere Network-URBIS), blogs (i.e., the nature of cities), tools (i.e., urban planet), atlas (and project proposals (i.e., San Juan Ultra). 19,6 This diversification in urban SES research further emphasizes the unique momentum this field is experiencing.…”

“…As researchers have recognized that cities are dynamic, integrated and multi-scalar systems, a more widespread understanding of urban areas as human-driven ecosystems or socioecological systems has become common. 19,20,83 Such an understanding has propelled a transition from focusing on the biophysical features of cities (i.e., ecology in the cities) to including the complex socioecological relationships of cities (i.e., ecology of cities) in urban studies. 12,27,40,29 The ecology of cities, indeed, builds upon the city as a mosaic of land uses and management practices, subjected to biophysical (i.e., nutrients cycles, climate pattern, diversity distribution) and human (i.e., households, municipalities, agencies) driven influences and feedback loops.…”