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