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Contents:

1 - Introduction; 2 - Why is understanding urban ecosystems an important frontier for education and educators?; 3 - The role of understanding urban ecosystems in community development; 4 - Why is understanding urban ecosystems important to people concerned about environmental justice?; 5 - Why is developing a broad understanding of urban ecosystems important to science and scientists?; 6 - Natural ecosystems in cities; 7 - An ecosystem approach to understanding cities; 8 - Understanding urban ecosystems; 9 - Social science concepts and frameworks for understanding urban ecosystems; 10 - The future of urban ecosystem education from a social scientist's perspective; 11- A social ecology view to understanding urban ecosystems and landscapes; 12 - The historical dimension of urban ecology; 13 - A human ecology model for the Tianjin urban ecosystem; 15 - Psychological and ecological perspectives on the development of systems thinking; 16 - Towards ecological literacy; 17 - An interdisciplinary approach to urban ecosystems; 18 - Children for cities and cities for children; 19 - Ecological thinking as a tool for understanding urban ecosystems; 20 - Systems thinking and urban ecosystem education; 21 - Approaches to urban ecosystem education in Chicago; 22 - Campus ecology curriculum as a means to teach urban environmental literacy; 23 - Ecosystem management education; 24 - Using the development of an environmental management system to develop and promote a more holistic understanding of urban ecosystems in Durban, South Africa; 25 - Urban ecosystems and the 21st century; 26 - Out the door and down the street; 27 - Integrating urban ecosystem education into educational reform; 28 - The contribution of urban ecosystem education to the development of sustainable communities and cities; 29 - Perspectives on the future of urban ecosystem education; 30 - Urban ecosystem education in the coming decade.

Review:

There is a vast range of ecological texts published every year and an equally large number of educational ones. What is less common is something linking the two. Even more rare is the text which focusses on one specific aspect and tries to provide a complete overview of the subject with all its nuances. This book, which grew out of a 1999 conference, is one attempt to provide us with the ecological and pedagogical tools to study urban areas in such a way as to increase so-called 'environmental literacy'.

The text is divided into four sections. Firstly though, we have an introduction which outlines the value of considering urban areas as ecosystems. The focus is not purely ecological because one of the key themes of the text is that it seeks to provide ways of influencing people: this is science as a normative rather than positive pursuit. The editors are saying 'here is our science' now how can we use it to change the ways in which cities are perceived and developed. Next we move to section 1 a set of four chapters (two to five) where the theme is the importance of understanding urban ecosystems. Although the authors come from a range of backgrounds the common theme is that it is important to understand how and why urban ecosystems work because through understanding it is possible to consider changes. If we are going to promote change then we need to start at the beginning. Chapter two locates urban ecosystem education within the broader education scene: ecosystem education is just part of a broader reform package. Chapter three considers the place of ecosystem education in the context of the environmental education scene. Here, we see that urban ecosystem work is one aspect of a shifting environmental education scene which is moving increasingly towards human ecology and urban areas. The final two chapters in this section seek to place urban ecosystem education in the midst of the debate for sustainability (chapter four) and multidisciplinary scientific effort (chapter five). Section two is titled 'foundations and frontiers from the natural and social sciences'. As with the other sections we start with a brief review by the editors who start by quoting BES research! The research was about what people felt was important in ecology. This section mirrors that by asking what is needed to have sufficient urban ecosystem 'knowledge'. The nine chapters in this section provide a range of ideas from which we can draw. Three (chapters 6, 12 and 13) describe early work in identifying those key environmental concepts that are needed to understand urban ecosystems. Work in this area is not restricted to education organisations. We are told (in chapters 7 and 11) about some of the research that has been done constructing key concepts and testing them on a range of urban systems. Finally, the remaining chapters take a social science perspective on urban ecosystems. Since the focus of this text is of the production and use of knowledge it follows that such social perspectives are vital. Reference is made to the research of science not getting into public consciousness. If we are to stop this in urban ecosystem education then it is vital that we know what we need to do. Section three takes this science/public dichotomy and tackles it directly: how are we to bridge the gap and provide effective knowledge to create the sustainable city of the 21st century? The authors in this section tackle this theme from a number of directions. Some take the notion that almost 4 times more time is spent out of school than in it and if we are to promote environmental awareness we need to do so by engaging the student's out-of-school experiences. Others focus on how we can show ecological knowledge and social sciences are interrelated, with the objective of creating a more holistic perspective. Still others look at skills acquisition and attitudes whilst often relating this to specific case studies where these approaches have been researched. The final section tackles the idea of actually getting all this to work. How can the vision be created? Authors in this section do more than put forward abstract ideas. They take previous themes and ideas and suggest how, in concrete terms, we could move towards the goal of an effective urban ecosystem education programme.

This text covers a huge amount of ground in its 30 chapters. The range and quality of ideas is very impressive. Unlike many edited works there is not one chapter that fails to stimulate the reader and demand that s/he engage with the material and question their own practices. The editors should be congratulated for producing such a fine text. It should be considered required reading for all environmental educators, ecologists, and those concerned about the way in which we could promote sustainability and equity in our cities.