By 2050 the global population is predicted to reach 9.2 billion with 70% of the earth’s population living in cities and urban areas. This is leading to increased pressure on the earth’s resources and increased carbon emissions from built up and urban areas. Sustaining a balanced ecology is an important part of global sustainability, climate change mitigation and adaptation and healthy environments. 

By considering cities as interconnected systems of grey infrastructure (the built environment and hard asset infrastructure), green infrastructure (green recreational spaces, agricultural, biodiversity and natural ecosystems) and blue infrastructure (river, estuary or marine water resource) and incorporating this into city policy and planning and land development, opportunities can be created for diverse and vibrant ecosystems which hold numerous benefits to city occupants. It is also now recognised that city resilience to climate change and other environmental factors can be increased by integrating natural ecosystems into the built infrastructure. 

There is a growing emphasis on providing a monetary value of these benefits, or assessments of human interaction and dependence with ecosystems. These benefits can include increased public amenities, carbon sequestration, increasing biodiversity, improved pollination strategies and food production, flood management, improved air quality, as well as increasing city occupant well-being and happiness. Some of these features are more easily quantified than others, and it often remains difficult to illustrate the full value of green infrastructure and protecting urban ecosystems.

This event will bring together industry experts to discuss the role of urban ecology in future cities, challenges of valuing urban ecosystems and natural capital, the opportunities for improving and strengthening green infrastructure in the UK and hear a number of case studies which will examine innovative approaches to valuing urban ecology.