IOER Forum

Urban ecology has evolved into a vast field of work that extends across multiple disciplinary domains spanning the bio-physical sciences, the social sciences, and the humanities. In this presentation I will outline a working typology for urban ecology that highlights four analytical vantage points: systems-based approaches; observational paradigms; urban political ecology; and pluriversal ecologies. I will outline a conceptual synthesis that offers an alternative to the normative and epistemological dominance of systems-based approaches.

Our speaker:

Matthew Gandy is Professor of Geography at the University of Cambridge and an award-winning documentary film maker. His books include Concrete and clay: reworking nature in New York City (MIT Press, 2002), The fabric of space: water, modernity, and the urban imagination (MIT Press, 2014), Moth (Reaktion, 2016), and Natura urbana: ecological constellations in urban space (MIT Press, 2022).

Input from the IOER: More biodiversity in cities and municipalities - a guide for creating municipal biodiversity strategies | Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Wende