Science for the Sustainable City

“A comprehensive account of twenty years of groundbreaking urban ecological research in Baltimore, Maryland, Science for the Sustainable City is refreshingly multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary, bridging the biological and social sciences.”—Frederick Steiner, dean, Paley Professor, and co-executive director for the Ian L. McHarg Center, University of Pennsylvania School of Design

“Twenty years later, the BES team shows it is still essential that scientists challenge disciplinary silos, build diverse teams, and dare to assert that research be useful to the communities in which it is conducted.”—Stephanie Carlisle, University of Pennsylvania

“Ecological science came late to encompassing the ecology of—rather than just in—cities. Science for the Sustainable City tells the pioneering tale of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study: a compelling revelation of intellectual insights into the intricately interwoven sociological, biological, and physical elements of urban ecology. A must read—urban studies will never be the same.”—Thomas E. Lovejoy, George Mason University

“A seminal work synthesizing social patterns and scientific ecology, the essential steppingstone for future researchers. Lucid writing on a structured/functioning/changing urban-mosaic system bulges with insights, hypotheses, feedbacks, and networks.”—Richard T. T. Forman, Harvard University

“The Baltimore Ecosystem Study was a pioneer in many ways—developing long term research on the urban environment based in a single location; integrating social and ecological research to study the city; developing new urban ecological theory. This volume is an exciting synthesis of their twenty-year project. It’s an indispensable and timely resource for anyone interested in the urban challenge of the 21st century. They offer unique insights only possible through more than two decades of study of a single place. It is a must read for all contemporary urban scholars.”—Karen C. Seto, Yale University
 
“Without the seminal work of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study promoting the study of ‘Ecology of the City,’ it is likely that my own organization, The Nature Conservancy, would never had created an urban program dedicated to conserving nature of, by, and for the city. Urban ecology was once seen as radical, and now just seems like commonsense. Much of that transition is due to the exciting intellectual achievements of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study, and I highly recommend this book as an introduction to their decades of work.”—Robert McDonald, author of Conservation for Cities