Cities and urban areas are the epicenter for global environmental impacts that ripple to distant corners of the word.  Resources from around the globe are continuously harvested and transported into urban areas to meet the consumer demands of growing populations.  Industrialized nations are already highly urbanized and the remainder of the world's population is also rapidly becoming centered in larger and larger urban areas.  Consequently, urbanization now affects all of the earth's ecosystems in one way or another. 

 

The study of urban ecology and design is critical to achieving greater sustainability, both for humanity and the natural world.  The environmental challenges faced by university campuses are the same as for cities, but are magnified manifold in surrounding urban areas.  Institutions of higher learning cannot achieve greater sustainability without considering their operations in the full context of urban, regional, and global perspectives.

 

 

The Campus & Community Ecology Project seeks to advance both the science of urban ecology and the future design and management of urban communities.  The study of campus ecology cannot be successful without emphasizing building and landscape architecture, ecological design, and urban planning and urban-rural development processes.  The urban-to-rural land use gradient is crucial to conserving habitats and reducing environmental impacts, as well as making cities and communities more or less livable for people.

 

Some of the design and ecology topics to be addressed through community dialogue, research, education, and conservation efforts of the Campus & Community Ecology Project include: