The Society for Urban Ecology (SURE) founded together with eight Chinese universities and the University Salzburg, Austria, on June 13, 2014 in a national workshop in the Capital Normal University Beijing the ‘China Centre for Urban Ecology’ (CCUE).

This new founded institutional network will support the national strengthens in China to develop urban ecology and its planning and management application in research and education and to interlink these strengthens with international activities of SURE. It will also support the SURE China chapter which was founded under the leadership of Prof. Junxiang Li, East China Normal University, Department of Environmental Science, Shanghai,

Actually in two universities, the Capital Normal University, College of Resources, Environment and Tourism, in Beijing and the East China Normal University, Department of Environmental Science, in Shanghai research groups decided to host the Centre and to participate in its activities.

The following institutions are founding members:

•  College of Resources, Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University (Host Institution)
•  East China Normal University, Department of Environmental Science, Shanghai (Host Institution)
•  Div. Urban and Landscape Ecology, Paris-Lodron University Salzburg, Austria (Host Institution)
•  School of Land Science and Technology, China University of Geosciences (Beijing)
•  Tsinghua University, Department of Landscape Architecture, School of Architecture
•  Lab. of Landscape Ecology, Department of Ecology and Engineering, College of Resource and Environments, China Agricultural University
•  CHESS The Center for Human-Environment System Sustainability, Beijing Normal University
•  State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology (ESPRE), Beijing Normal University
•  Beijing Urban Ecosystem Research Station, State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing

Further instructions are invited to participate in CCUE!

We expect to focus our joint next activities in cooperative research on urban ecology, including its application in planning, distribution of knowledge on urban ecology in education for studies but also for planners and decision makers. We plan for 2015 a first CCUE Summer School in Beijing for Chinese university students of different subjects and for planners and decision makers of municipalities. We will early announce this activity.

Please feel free to make further suggestions for activities and to join our CCUE.

Yours Sincerely, Jürgen Breuste

SURE President and Founding-President of CCUE

CCUE members

CCUE Executive Board

News

China Centre of Urban Ecology (CCUE) held the 1^st International

Symposium, 22nd May 2015

PRACTICING URBAN ECOLOGY FOR URBAN DEVELOPMENT

– THE CASE OF BEIJING in Beijing

Organized by University of Geosciences Beijing, Dr. Miaomaio Xie

The management of urban ecosystems is, and will continue to be, a key challenge for Asia and Europe. The conflicts of urban development have intensified due to lack of knowledge and management capacity and because of too little understanding of the complex interactions between the natural, built and socio-economic systems. The existing fragmented knowledge of the relationships between the mega-urban development, its effects like climate changes, and ecosystem services has been insufficient for policy makers and scientific community. Particularly, there isn’t any sort of ‘digest’ of valuation so that hidden values of urban green (particularly in relation to climate regulation) as ecosystem service are properly accounted in urban planning. It had been difficult to realistically instigate long-term plans towards the inclusion of the process of ecosystem services as a meaningful component of sustainable urban development.

The SURE-China Centre of Urban Ecology (CCUE aims to join efforts in the enhancement of higher education (teaching and training) on urban environmental planning and management challenges together with the colleagues from Geoscience University Beijing. Jointly the partners aimed to develop and conduct an International Symposium on ‘Urban Development in Beijing Using Ecosystem Services to Provide Urban Comfort and to Reduce Risks’ that shall reflect Asian and European perspective related to this issue and help to exchange experiences, give inspiration to future oriented teaching and enable the preparation of joint curricula.

Dr. Miaomiao Xie, University of Geosciences, became the local organizer. She was already guest scientist in Salzburg in the team of Prof. Breuste, SURE President and President of CCUE, at Salzburg University, Austria, in 2013-14.

The consortium also agreed to extend the partnership in education on urban ecosystem management in the next year’s SURE Summer School in Shanghai, planned for 11-14 July 2016.

The targeted effect of the symposium, the deepening of the cooperation between researchers and planners was successfully started. More than 50 participants discussed with 10 presenters from research and planning from different Chinese institutions about urban ecological development on the Beijing case. All agreed further to cooperate and to develop the discussion in further meetings, e.g. next year in Shanghai (SURE World Conference).