Members of the BWG 10 have been involved in the publication of the open access book ‘Urban Planet’ published by Cambridge University Press (2018). Global urbanization promises better services, stronger economies, and more connections; it also carries risks and unforeseeable consequences. To deepen our understanding of this complex process and its importance for global sustainability, we need to build interdisciplinary knowledge around a systems approach. Urban Planet takes an integrative look at our urban environment, bringing together scholars from a diverse range of disciplines: from sociology and political science to evolutionary biology, geography, economics and engineering. It includes the perspectives of often neglected voices: architects, journalists, artists and activists. The book provides a much needed cross-scale perspective, connecting challenges and solutions on a local scale with drivers and policy frameworks on a regional and global scale. The authors argue that to overcome the major challenges we are facing, we must embark on a large-scale reinvention of how we live together, grounded in inclusiveness and sustainability.
Moreover, several publications related to the Urban systems BWG (10) of the ESP have been recently published in various Journals:
Elmqvist, Thomas, José Siri, Erik Andersson, Pippin Anderson, Xuemei Bai, Pranab Kishore Das, Tatu Gatere, Andrew Gonzalez, Julie Goodness, Steven N. Handel, Ellika Hermansson Török, Jessica Kavonic, Jakub Kronenberg, Elisabet Lindgren, David Maddox, Raymond Maher, Cheikh Mbow, Timon McPhearson, Joe Mulligan, Guy Nordenson, Meggan Spires, Ulrika Stenkula, Kazuhiko Takeuchi, Coleen Vogel. 2018. “Urban tinkering.” Sustainability Science, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0611-0
Locke, Dexter H., and Timon McPhearson. 2018. “Urban areas do provide ecosystem services.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment 16: 203-205, https://doi.org/10.1002/fee.1796
Andersson, Erik and Timon McPhearson. “Making sense of biodiversity: affordances and functional ecology.” Frontiers in Psychology, DOI: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00594
Donahue, Marie, Bonnie L. Keeler, Spencer A. Wood, David Fisher, Zoé A. Hamstead, and Timon McPhearson. 2018. “Using social media to understand drivers of urban park visitation in the Twin Cities, MN.” Landscape and Urban Planning 175:1-10,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2018.02.006
Hara, Yuji, Timon McPhearson, Yuki Sampei, and Brian McGrath. 2018. “Assessing urban agriculture potential: A comparative study of Osaka, Japan and New York City, United States.” Sustainability Science 1-16,https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-018-0535-8
Hamstead, Zoé, David Fisher, Rositsa Illeva, Spencer A. Wood, Timon McPhearson, and Peleg Kremer. 2018. “Geolocated social media as a rapid indicator of park visitation and equitable park access,” Computers, Environment and Urban Systems,https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compenvurbsys.2018.01.007