“The Nature of Cities” is a collective of contributors — an essay site devoted to cities as ecological spaces.

Founded and edited by Dr. David Maddox (Sound Science LLC, New York City, david.maddox@thenatureofcities.com. (With thanks to Mike Houck of Portland, OR.)

Cities are fundamentally ecological spaces. They are ecosystems packed with trees and vegetation that comprise an urban forest. They house birds, insects, small mammals, diverse ecological habitats, and more. People live in them. They are connected to suburban and rural areas along ecological gradients. Human well being, social justice and effective urban design is intimately connected to the health of urban ecosystems.

We believe that nature in cities — by which we mean ecosystems, ecosystem function, biodiversity, ecological communities, and the habitats of species — needs more voices, more perspectives and expanded conversation about its critical importance for people and how it can be promoted, conserved, managed, and in some cases designed for the good of all.

We are a collaborative of almost 50 writers from many disciplines and from many places around the world. New pieces are published twice weekly, on Sundays and Wednesdays, and rotate among our roster.

We are, by design, a diverse group, and our ideas about nature in cities emerge from wide-ranging perspectives. Our members include biologists, ecologists, sociologists, economists, architects, landscape architects, designers, nature writers, leaders of community organizations, public space managers, lawyers, and leaders in international organizations. We live and work in 15 countries and six continents. The study, understanding, and management of urban nature is fundamentally multidisciplinary, and the diversity in our collective honors this fact.

Our intended audience is professionals and practitioners from all these fields who care about nature in cities and it importance to people. In our brief existence so far we have had over 50,000 visits, from over 1000 cities and 110 countries.

We crave dialogue and comments from our readers. So please keep in touch.

Each of the opinions expressed in publications on our site are the author’s own and emerge from the vantage point of his or her discipline, but the core themes of our writing are nature, ecosystems and biodiversity in urban settings, especially as they relate to sustainability, resilience, livability, and human well-being.

Rights to each essay and its images are held by the authors and designers/photographers of the particular piece and The Nature of Cities. Rights to the site as a whole are held by The Nature of Cities.

The Nature of Cities is a 501(c)3 organization and a registered trademark.

Our site launched on 12 June 2012 and was designed by Pure+Applied.

©2012-2013 The Nature of Cities. All rights reserved.