10th Anniversary Workshop of Society for Urban Ecology – The Challenging Urban Nature and Nature’S Role in URban ChallEnges in Bucharest, 5-8 September, 2019 was successful!

The workshop aimed to cover topics related to the use of nature in facing urban challenges, including the application of nature-based solutions, planning for eco, smart, resilient and sustainable cities and environmental conflicts involving green and protected areas.

28 researcher and students participated from 8 countries (Romania, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, Turkey, Bosnia-Hercegovina, Russia, Poland). …Read more

SURE President Prof. Jürgen Breuste in Bucharest

New SURE Chapter Iran founded

The SURE Chapter Iran was founded on 11^th June 2019 with the aim of expanding international cooperation on urban ecology in Iran and at University of Tabriz. The main purpose of SURE Chapter Iran is to encourage for participation of young and active researchers in urban ecosystem management, urban sustainable development, landscape architecture, urban and regional planning, urban ecology, and geography. …Read more

Prof. Mohammadreza Pourmohammadi

7^th SURE 10 Years Anniversary Summer School URBAN + MOUNTAINS in Salzburg, Austria, successfully finished!

The SURE Summer School was one of the events, celebrating in the 10th year of anniversary of the Society for Urban Ecology (SURE). It took place 7-21 July 2019 in Salzburg, Austria under the leadership of SURE president Prof. Dr. Jürgen Breuste.

The summer school was organized by Society for Urban Ecology (SURE) in cooperation with the University of Salzburg (Austria) and with the Erasmus+ CBHE project Sustainable Natural Resource Use in Arctic and High Mountainous Areas and regional (Austrian UNESCO Geopark Ore of the Alps, and the only German alpine National Park Berchtesgaden) and international partners.

54 students from 8 countries (Austria, China, Germany, India, Iran, Russia, Turkey) participated successfuly. …Read more

Next meeting of Working Group Ecocities on 5th September 2019

The Working Group Ecocities will have its next meeting during the SURE Workshop – The challenging urban nature and nature’S role in URban challEnges – in Bucharest, Romania.

Interested SURE members are requested to contact Jürgen Breuste

City of Tabriz in Iran becomes SURE member

on 11^th June 2019 SURE President Prof. Jürgen Breuste and SURE Treasuer Prof. Cristian Ioja had a meeting with the Tabriz/Iran Municipal Government. Tabriz is one of the bigger cities in Iran (1.8 Mio inhabitants). The Municipality Tabriz is interested to develop the city Tabriz by ecological targets and to cooperate in this subject with the SURE. The mayor of Tabriz Dr. Iraj Shahin Baher explained the green policy of the city and expressed the willingness of Tabriz to join SURE for long-lasting cooperation.

Fig. 1 Members of SURE EC, SURE Iran and Tabriz City administration (from left to right: Prof. Ioja, Bucharest University, Romania, SURE Treasuer, Dr. Babaie, City Council Tabriz, Dr. Iraj Shahin Baher, Mayor of Tabriz, Prof. Rahimi, University Tabris, Prof. Breuste, SURE president)

Fig. 2 Tabriz City from Enali Park

Climate Change Adaptation by Green Revision – Cooperation with Turkey

The project was conducted  by Landscape Research Society (IALE-TR) and Izmir Metropolitan Municipality. The municipality processed successfuly in the EU Action Capacity Building in the Field of Climate Change in Turkey 2017 – 2019 the research and application project ‘Green Re-vision: A framework for the Resilient Cities’ in Izmir, Turkey. SURE-Society for Urban Ecology was associate partner.

The objective of the project is to create a framework that includes climate change model projection, green infrastructure mapping, ecosystem services mapping and spatial and temporal recommendations for climate change adaptation for resilient cities. It was included to transfer the knowledge and enhance capacity building for climate change adaptation through green infrastructure. The public awareness for the climate change was increased.

The results were presented in the International Conference on Climate Change Adaptation: Green Revision for Resilient Cities 07 – 08 March, 2019 Izmir, Turkey, in the sessions Climate Change, Turkey and Local Governments, Urban Ecosystems and Ecosystem Services and Natural Resource Management. Around 200 particiipants from research and practice for whole Turkey discussed the subjects.

From SURE Prof. Dr. Jürgen Breuste, SURE president and Prof. Dr. Cristian Ioja, SURE chapter South East Europe president, were invited as keynote speakers.

Foto: Mrs. Doç. Dr. Çiğdem Coşkun Hepcan, conference organizer and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Breuste, SURE president.

The successful project and conference is a start of SURE cooperation with Turkey’s research and planning institutions. We will have several new SURE members, also institutional members who will joint the SURe chapter Souith East Europe.  Mrs. Doç. Dr. Çiğdem Coşkun Hepcan was appinted as new Advisiory Board member to support the strategy, targets and action of SURE.

Jürgen Breuste, SURE president

10th Anniversary Workshop of Society for Urban Ecology 5-6 September 2019 in Bucharest

The challenging urban nature and nature’S role in URban challEnges

Registration is open now! The workshop is open ONLY for members of the SURE. There are no fees for participation at the workshop. …READ MORE

Welcome to our new Member of the SURE Advisory Board: Cigdem Coskund Hepcan

Ass. Prof. Dr. Cigdem Coskun Hepcan, Department of Landscape Architecture, Ege University Izmir, Turkey was appointed a new SURE Advisory Board Member. Welcome!

Cigdem Coskun Hepcan received her Ph.D. in landscape architecture from Ege University (Turkey) in 2008. She has been working as associated professor at the Department of Landscape Architecture, Ege University since 2013. Her current research interests are: landscape ecology, urban ecology, ecosystem services, ecological networks, greenways and green infrastructure planning, and nature-based solutions. She has been a visiting scholar in the field of ecological networks in Wageningen University – Alterra Research Center for three months in 2004, in the field of ecological planning and design and urban ecological networks in Arizona State University the School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture for six months in 2010, and in the field of urban landscape ecology and ecosystem services in University of Oregon Department of Landscape Architecture for three months in 2014, 2017 and 2018. She has been the member of Society for Urban Ecology, International Association of Landscape Ecology, and Landscape Research Society – IALE Turkey. She is also an execute committee member of Landscape Research Society – IALE Turkey since 2015.

Special session on “Sustainable cities by biodiversity and ecosystem services” in  12/2018 in Sri Lanka

Dr.Lalitha Dissanayake (University of Peradeniya) and Prof. Dr. Jürgen Breuste (Salzburg University) organized on the 9th International Conference on Sustainable Built Environment 2018 (ICSBE 2018) 13th to 16th December 2018 in Kandy, Sri Lanka a special session

“Sustainable cities by biodiversity and ecosystem services”

The special session brought together leading academics, scientists, researchers and practicing engineering to share their experience and research outcomes in the area of urban landscape and ecological planning that includes a board of applications to engineering practice.  This event also provided an excellent opportunity for researchers and practicing engineering to discuss new developments and engineering challenges encountered in the planning, construction and life cycle maintenance in urban landscape and ecology.

Special attention was given so several presentations on typical urban environmental and development problems of tropical countries, especially of Sri Lanka. This was depend and discussed during a session excursion in Kandy on inner city urban restructuring including urban nature and on urban forest on the example Udawattekele Forest Reserve in Kandy.

Prof. Breuste, SURE president, was additional invited keynote speaker on the conference on Innovative Transforming of ”Urban Waters in Built Environment  Ecosystem Services, Design and People’s Perception”

The session was also a contribution to regional activities of SURE South Asia chapter.

!!! 10th anniversary of SURE !!!

This year is a very special year for SURE. SURE was founded January 18^th 2009 and thus we celebrate in 2019 our 10^th anniversary. It developed to a worldwide organization of nearly 400 members, about one third students.

Looking back on the last ten years we can proudly say that we could establish an international network of young and experienced researchers and practitioners being passionate to develop and secure sustainable cities of high living quality such as also recently recommended in the 11^th Sustainable Development Goal by the United Nations.

The anniversary will be celebrated in the course of the SUNRAISE – SURE Summer School, 7-14 July 2019 Salzburg, Austria.  … READ MORE

The SURE Annual Review 2018 is online

…READ MORE

Call for Paper for Special Issue in SURE partner Journal Sustainability: “A Systemic Perspective on Urban Food Supply: Assessing Different Types of Urban Agriculture” guest edited by Martina Artmann, Kathrin Specht, Jan Vávra, Marius Rommel

… READ MORE

Symposium in cooperation with SURE, 10 – 11 June 2019 in Tabriz University, Iran: Urban Green and Climate Change – Challenges for Design and Management … READ MORE

Special Issue of Ecological Indicators (Volume 96, Part 2, Pages 1-120 (January 2019)) now published:

From urban sprawl to compact green cities – indicators for multi-scale and multi-dimensional analysis

edited by Martina Artmann, Luis Inostroza, Peilei Fan

This special issue was initiated in the course of the eponymous symposium organized by the guest editors in the course of the second World Congress of the Society for Urban Ecology.

The guest editors want to express their sincere gratitude to all authors and reviewers who have contributed their time and effort to make this special issue possible. We hope that this special issue helps current research dealing with urban sprawl, compact and green cities. In particular, we believe that this special issue can contribute to the much demanded holistic science of cities. …READ MORE

SURE Chapter Reports for 2017/2018 online

The five SURE chapters are happy to present their Chapter Reports for 2017/2018:

Report SURE Chapter South East Europe

Report SURE Chapter South Asia

Report SURE Chapter Latin America

Report SURE Chapter China

Report SURE Chapter Central Europe

Cooperation with Tabriz University Iran in Urban Ecosystem Management

SURE is supporting research and education in urban ecology and urban ecosystem management and its application in practice together with interested universities and research partners worldwide.

To promote this SURE president Prof Dr Jürgen Breuste, University Salzburg, Austria, and SURE treasurer Prof. Dr. Cristian Ioja, University Bucharest, Romania, were invited to visit University Tabriz, Iran, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Landscape Architecture.

Dr. Akbar Rahimi already visited several SURE events before in Salzburg and in 2018 in Salzburg and the SURE Summer School in Hildesheim, Germany. Salzburg University initiated also an ongoing ERASMUS+ students and staff exchange.

For SURE the idea is supporting Tabriz University, one of the leading universities in Iran, to become the first Iranian university teaching “Urban Ecosystem Management” in special courses. Prof. Breuste and Prof. Ioja gave several lectures in Tabriz University and additionally in Shiraz University on the subject. Special attention was given to the practical implementation of such knowledge in urban green planning of Tabriz municipality. This was discussed in a special workshop in the green department of Tabriz municipality and in site visits of the biggest green project in Tabriz, Enali Park.

Die SURE delegation was especially receipted by the vice-mayor of Tabriz who expressed to develop the cooperation with SURE by an institutional SURE membership of Tabriz municipality.

As first step “Urban Agriculture” was identified as common research subject with Tabriz University. For spring 2019 a common workshop in Tabriz/Resht on Urban Agriculture is foreseen.

All SURE members who are interested are invited to join the cooperation. They can contact SURE president Prof. Breuste (juergen.breuste@sbg.ac.at).

Fig. 1 Announcement of Ecology & Urban Landscape Workshop in Tabriz University

Fig. 2 Workshop on Urban Ecosystem Management in Tabriz Municipality

Fig. 3 Visit of urban green project Enali Park in Tabriz

Fig. 4 SURE President Prof. Breuste receiving a present in the municipality of Tabriz

Report about the SURE Summer School 13 to 20 July 2018 in Hildesheim (Germany): Urban Ecosystem Services and Management – European Approach … READ MORE

Internships for students to offer? One SURE Trainee position in Salzburg available!

To secure our successful internship programme we would like to invite all SURE members to offer future internships for students. If you have the possibility to offer an SURE internship, please fill the form which we will place at the SURE webpage.

Currently there is one internship open in Salzburg (Urban development in mountain areas). Terms and conditions for the Salzburg-internship and for SURE internships in general you find here.

Workshop of SURE South-East Europe Chapter 25 May in Bucharest, Romania: Nature-Based Solutions for sustainable Romanian cities

No fee is required to attend the workshop. Registration is open until 20 May 2018. … READ MORE

Sustainable cities by biodiversity and ecosystem services – Symposium of SURE South Asia Chapter 13- 16 December 2018 in Kandy, Sri Lanka

Participants to apply for an oral or poster presentation with a abstract of maximum 250 words are invited! Deadline 31^st May 2018.  … READ MORE

SUNRAISE – SURE Summer School 7-14 July 2019 in Salzburg, Austria

The title of the Conference organized by Prof. Jürgen Breuste in collaboration with SURE, UNESCO Geopark Ore of the Alps, ERASMUS +, University Salzburg and National Park Berchtesgaden is:

URBAN + MOUNTAINS – Sustainable Natural Resource Use in Arctic and High Mountainous Areas … READ MORE

New SURE book “Making Green Cities” published in 2019

The SURE board is starting to work on a SURE book to be published for the Springer Cities and Nature Books series. The book “Breuste, J.; M. Artmann; C. Ioja; S. Qureshi (eds.). “Making Green Cities – Concepts, Challenges and Practice” will reflect the broad research and geographical background of SURE and its members. Therefore, a range of SURE members will contribute to the book and present challenges and practices related to:

1. Urban Parks
2. Urban Gardening
3. Urban Agriculture
4. Urban Forests
5. Urban waters and wetlands
6. Urban Protected Areas
7. Urban Biodiversity
8. Multi-functional urban green spaces
9. Conflicting nature in cities

The SURE book will be no classic textbook, but will showcase international examples how to approach green cities. The structured case studies presented by world-leading researchers in the field of urban ecology will provide an interdisciplinary overview about best practices and challenges for making green cities around the globe. The SURE book can be considered a comprehensive compilation for researchers but also for urban planning, policy and students dealing with green cities. The publication is expected in 2019.

SURE 2020 in planning!

SURE president Prof. Dr. Jürgen Breuste visited the venue of the 3rd SURE Congress 2020 in Poznan, Poland, the newly built complex of Collegium Iuridicum Novum of Adam Mickiewicz University Poznan.  Together with the orgaizers, Prof. Dr. Andrzej Mizgajski and Dr. Katarzyna Fagiewicz they discussed organizational aspects of the preparation of the conference and visited the different special options. …READ MORE

SURE Annual Review 2017

The year 2017 is coming to an end and Christmas is just some days ago. On behalf of the SURE Executive Committee we would like to thank all members for their commitment to SURE. To offer an overview about the SURE year 2017 we prepared a small annual review including also an outlook for 2018 and forthcoming SURE events and activities. …READ MORE

New associated journals with benefits

SURE just set up a collaboration with MDPI (a publisher of peer-reviewed, open access journals) and its journals Sustainability, Environments and Urban Science. Through the collaboration SURE members benefit among other things from discounts for open access articles and books. …READ MORE

Call for papers: Special Issue “Urban Landscape Degradation and Restoration”

SURE members are welcome to submit their paper to the Special Issue “Urban Landscape Degradation and Restoration” on Urban Sciences. The special issue is organized by Prof. Buyantuev, Dr. Xu, Dr. Huang, Dr. Huang and Prof. Li. The good news is that the journal will waive any publication cost charges for manuscripts submitted to this special issue with the deadline being July 31, 2018.

Job opportunity in Paris

The American University of Paris invites applications for a full-time position at the rank of Assistant Professor of Environmental Science beginning August 1, 2018. Review of applications will begin on November 15th, 2017 and continue until the position is filled. …READ MORE

Job opportunity for PhD students

The Centre for Smart Green Cities (Sydney, Australia) is currently recruiting 3 PhD students in a 3 year programm for Green Cities – Which Plant Where Project. This Project (WPW) is a five-year program that brings together a consortium of researchers, government agencies, industry partners and nursery growers to facilitate resilient urban green spaces across Australia. … READ MORE

Prof. Dr. Maria Patroescu appointed SURE Honorary Member

On August 22nd 2017 Prof. Dr. Maria Patroescu, University of Bucharest, Romania, was appointed as new SURE Honorary Member for her extended and valuable contribution in research and education on urban ecology and ecosystem management. SURE president Prof. Dr. Breuste delivered the certificate on behalf of the SURE Executive Committee in Bucharest. …READ MORE

SURE offers a new Student travel support

SURE wants to support the active participation of high qualified students (Bachelor, Master PhD students) in SURE events (SURE conferences, SURE symposia, SURE workshops). This can include a reduction or skipped participation fee or subsidies of travel and accommodation costs.

SURE offers a new Research publication service

To all SURE members we offer the chance to share their current publications dealing with topics of SURE among the network. This should help to exchange knowledge and recent findings in the field of urban ecology between each other and to make the research of the SURE members more visible.

Prof. D.A. Rademacher (New York University) appointed for Advisory Board

On 4th of July 2017 Prof. Rademacher accepted the invitation to become member of the SURE Advisory Board to support SURE in particular in the USA. She is an environmental anthropologist with a focus on urban ecology and political transformation in South Asia. Her current research interests include urban political ecology, ecological resilience and environmental architecture in urban areas, and the cultural dimensions of scientific knowledge.

Using the SURE-Network for teaching exchange

From 3-7 April 2017 SURE Secretary-General Dr. Martina Artmann (IOER Dresden, Germany) visited SURE Treasurer Prof. Cristian Ioja at the Centre for Environmental Research and Impact Studies, University Bucharest, Romania. During her stay she was giving a lecture on “Cities: sealed – compact – green? Challenges and options for urban soil sealing management” for the master study module on “Multicriteria Environmental Assessment”. Since the topic on urban soil sealing management is underrepresented in Romanian research, the students could learn on the demand and best practices for an efficient soil sealing management in general and in particular for approaching compact and green cities. Prof. Ioja arranged also a great geographical excursion to the center of Romania including industrial, medieval, compact and revitalized cities (Bucharest – Sinaia – Brasov – Bran – Sibiu – Sighisoara) providing the chance to deepen discussions on urban ecological issues as well as ongoing and future cooperation.  This visit should motivate also other SURE members to use the network not only to promote student exchange but also to promote teaching exchanges.

SURE Summer School 21 to 26 August 2017 in Bucharest (Romania) : “Urban Climate Change Challenge: Monitoring, Assessment & Adaptation”

The summer school wants to provide structured information, skill development and capacity building related to climate change challenges in urban areas, with a primary focus of creating an active pool of young scientists that tackle the major sustainability challenges facing future generations.

The Summer School will be organized by the SURE Chapter South-East Europe.

Application is open for doctoral and post-doctoral students from now until 15 May 2017.

Natureparif provides a new educational animated video “Urbanism, architecture and biodiversity: when nature inspires cities and buildings”

Natureparif is the regional agency for nature and biodiversity in Paris region. Since 2008, Natureparif works with local actors on biodiversity issues, providing knowledge and tools regarding urban planning, green space management or construction.

Nature as a source of innovation for cities and buildings !

There is a new publication out now: Labor Forces and Landscape Management by Shimizu, Hiroyuki, Takatori, Chika, Kawaguchi, Nobuko. The book:

– proposes a new concept of “landscape management labor accounts”

– presents case studies that provide a balance between theoretical development and actual evidence

– contains contributions by authors from various academic fields including urban planning, landscape planning, agriculture, forestry, sociology, and ecology