Chevonne Reynolds; University of the Witwatersrand (RSA)
Section 3: Ecosystem services
8
Urban provisioning ecosystem services
Charlie Shackleton; Rhodes University (RSA)
9
Urban regulating ecosystem services
Francisco Escobedo; University of Florida (USA)
10
Urban cultural ecosystem services
Cynnamon Dobbs; Mayor University (Chile)
11
Urban ecosystem disservices
Elandrie Davoren; Rhodes University (RSA)
12
Urban agriculture (incl. livestock)
Axel Drescher; Frederick Alexander University (Germany)
Section 4: Planning and management
13
Promoting urban resilience and seeking sustainability
Nadia Sitas; University Stellenbosch (RSA)
14
Social and ecological connectivity
Kristi Maciejewski; University of Stellenbosch (RSA)
15
Ecological planning and design
Sarel Cilliers; Northwest University (RSA)
16
Urban governance of and for urban green and blue infrastructure (both formal and informal governance approaches, public participation)
David Simon; Royal Holloway University of London (UK)
Concluding remarks
17
(Re)imagining towns and cities of the future Global South
Editors
Against the background of unprecedented rates of urbanisation in the Global South, leading to massive social, economic and environmental transformations, this book engages with the dire need to understand the ecology of such settings as the foundation for fostering sustainable and resilient human settlements in contexts that are very different to the Global North. It does so by bringing together scholars from around the world, drawing together research and case studies from across the Global South to illustrate, in an interdisciplinary and comprehensive fashion, the ecology of towns and cities in the Global South. Framed using a social-ecological systems lens, it provides the reader with an in-depth analysis and understanding of the ecological dynamics and ecosystem services and disservices within the complex and rapidly changing towns and cities of the Global South, a region with currently scarce representation in most of the urban ecology literature. As such the book makes a call for greater geographical balance in urban ecology research leading towards a more global understanding and frameworks. The book embraces the complexity of these rapid transformations for ecological and environmental management and how the ecosystems and the benefits they provide shape local ecologies, livelihood opportunities and human wellbeing, and how such knowledge can be mobilised towards improved urban design and management and thus urban sustainability.