Wildlife-Friendly Cities
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Wildlife-Friendly Cities: Designing Urban Spaces for People and Nature
Cities are often viewed primarily as human environments, but they are also ecosystems inhabited by birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, insects, plants, fungi, and countless other organisms. Research on urban biodiversity increasingly shows that cities do not have to function only as forces of habitat destruction. With deliberate planning and management, urban areas can retain, restore, and create habitat while continuing to serve the needs of people.
A wildlife-friendly city goes beyond simply maintaining a collection of parks. It treats buildings, streets, gardens, waterways, vacant lots, rooftops, transportation corridors, schoolyards, cemeteries, wetlands, urban forests, and other pieces of the city as parts of a larger ecological system. The goal is not to eliminate the distinction between cities and wild landscapes, but to make urban development more permeable and survivable for other species.
Research across many cities suggests that successful urban biodiversity conservation depends on several principles: protecting existing habitat, connecting fragmented habitat, designing new development with wildlife needs in mind, reducing avoidable hazards, creating diverse vegetation and water resources, monitoring ecological outcomes, and building cooperation among governments, scientists, residents, developers, and land managers.
What Makes a City Wildlife-Friendly?
Wildlife-inclusive planning begins with the idea that habitat requirements should be considered during ordinary urban development rather than addressed only after construction is complete. Biodiversity-sensitive urban design attempts to incorporate the needs of plants and animals into decisions concerning streets, buildings, drainage systems, landscaping, parks, transportation, and neighborhood development.
This approach recognizes that different species require different combinations of food, water, shelter, nesting or breeding sites, vegetation, soil, darkness, and safe movement routes. A city designed around a few ornamental trees or expanses of lawn may technically contain green space while supporting relatively little ecological diversity.
Habitat quality therefore matters alongside habitat quantity. Vegetation structure, plant diversity, native species, water availability, tree age, dead wood, soil conditions, mowing practices, artificial lighting, surrounding development, and connections with other habitat patches can all influence which species are able to persist.
Even intensely developed locations such as public squares, building façades, rooftops, road verges, schoolyards, and small gardens can become meaningful components of an urban habitat network when ecological considerations are incorporated into their design.
Habitat Connectivity and Biodiversity-Sensitive Design
One of the greatest ecological effects of urbanization is fragmentation. Development can divide formerly continuous habitat into isolated parks, wetlands, forest remnants, gardens, vacant parcels, and other small patches. Animals may then have difficulty moving between feeding, breeding, nesting, and seasonal habitat.
Wildlife corridors and ecological networks attempt to reconnect these fragments. Rivers, ravines, street trees, greenways, railway corridors, vegetated road verges, connected gardens, wetlands, urban forests, and other linear or stepping-stone habitats can help wildlife move through otherwise developed landscapes.
Connectivity does not necessarily require one uninterrupted strip of wilderness running across an entire city. Networks of smaller habitat patches can also provide stepping stones, particularly when distances between them are short enough for the species being protected.
Blue-green infrastructure can play an important role. Rain gardens, stormwater ponds, restored streams, wetlands, vegetated drainage systems, green roofs, and urban forests can simultaneously manage water, reduce heat, provide recreation, and create wildlife habitat.
Effective connectivity requires more than ecological mapping. The institutions responsible for individual properties, roads, waterways, parks, buildings, and neighborhoods must also cooperate. Wildlife networks frequently cross administrative and property boundaries, making urban biodiversity both an ecological and a governance challenge.
Birds, Bats, Pollinators, and Other Urban Wildlife
Birds are among the most visible forms of urban wildlife and have become an important focus of wildlife-friendly city planning. Tree abundance, tree diversity, native vegetation, mature trees, shrubs, gardens, forest remnants, green roofs, and connected habitat can all influence urban bird communities.
Street trees can function as important food and shelter resources rather than merely decorative infrastructure. Large trees and diverse tree communities can provide insects, fruits, seeds, nesting sites, shade, and protective cover. Retaining old trees, cavities, standing dead trees, and dead branches where safety permits can further increase habitat for woodpeckers and other cavity-dependent species.
Bats also respond strongly to the structure of cities. Water, tree canopy, dark corridors, green roofs, woodland remnants, and suitable roosting locations can improve habitat, while excessive noise and artificial lighting can reduce habitat quality for some species. Bat boxes and other artificial roosts can sometimes provide alternatives when building renovation removes traditional roosting spaces.
Pollinators benefit from flower-rich landscapes distributed throughout cities. Native plants, gardens, road verges, green roofs, living walls, cemeteries, vacant lots, and informal green spaces can provide nectar, pollen, nesting material, and shelter for bees, butterflies, hoverflies, beetles, and other insects.
Urban wetlands and ponds can support amphibians, dragonflies, aquatic insects, birds, and other freshwater organisms. Reptiles and terrestrial mammals likewise depend on combinations of vegetation, water, shelter, connected habitat, and protection from roads and other hazards.
The research demonstrates that there is no single design capable of supporting every species. Wildlife-friendly cities require habitat diversity because organisms differ greatly in their ecological requirements.
Green Roofs, Living Walls, and Buildings as Habitat
Buildings occupy a large portion of urban landscapes, making them an important frontier for biodiversity-sensitive design.
Green roofs can support plants, insects, spiders, birds, ants, and bats. Their ecological value depends on factors such as vegetation diversity, native plant use, floral resources, substrate depth, roof size, age, surrounding habitat, shade, and management. A roof designed primarily for appearance may support less wildlife than one intentionally designed as habitat.
Vertical greening provides another opportunity. Living walls, climbing vegetation, ivy, mixed plantings, and vegetated façades can provide food, shelter, nesting opportunities, and microhabitats for insects and other organisms. Studies of living walls suggest that greater plant diversity and floral resources can increase their biodiversity value.
Buildings can also include artificial habitat features such as bird nest boxes, bat boxes, bee nesting structures, cavities, ledges, and other species-specific installations.
These approaches illustrate an important principle of wildlife-friendly urbanism: habitat does not always require additional land. Ecological functions can sometimes be incorporated directly into structures that cities already need.
Parks, Forests, Wetlands, Gardens, and Informal Nature
Large parks and protected natural areas remain important, but research increasingly highlights the ecological importance of less obvious urban spaces.
Vacant lots, brownfields, railway corridors, utility corridors, cemeteries, sacred sites, road verges, schoolyards, gardens, abandoned land, and spontaneously vegetated spaces can contain substantial biological diversity. Some support native plants, pollinators, birds, mammals, and other organisms that are poorly represented in intensively landscaped parks.
Urban forests are particularly important where they retain large trees, structural diversity, native vegetation, fallen wood, standing dead trees, and connections with other habitat. Forest fragmentation, however, can reduce the ability of sensitive native mammals and birds to persist.
Lawns can also be managed differently. Research repeatedly finds ecological benefits from reducing mowing frequency or mowing areas in a mosaic rather than maintaining uniformly short turf. Taller vegetation can increase flowers, insect abundance, shelter, and habitat complexity.
Water is equally important. Garden ponds, restored rivers, daylighted streams, rain gardens, stormwater ponds, and wetlands can provide habitat while also performing practical urban functions such as stormwater management and flood reduction.
Wildlife-friendly planning therefore expands the definition of valuable urban nature. Ecological importance is not determined solely by whether a place has formally been designated as a park.
Roads, Buildings, Lighting, and Other Urban Hazards
Creating habitat is only part of wildlife conservation. Cities must also reduce the hazards that make otherwise suitable habitat dangerous.
Roads fragment habitat and kill wildlife through vehicle collisions. Wildlife overpasses, underpasses, culverts, rope bridges, fencing, traffic-calming measures, and targeted crossing structures can help restore movement across transportation corridors. Their effectiveness varies among species, making monitoring important.
Roadkill data can identify collision hotspots where mitigation is most urgently needed. Landscape characteristics and animal behavior can also be used to predict where crossings are likely to occur.
Buildings create another major hazard, particularly for birds. Transparent and reflective glass can be difficult for birds to perceive, causing collisions. Bird-safe building standards attempt to reduce these deaths through safer glazing, façade treatments, architectural design, and attention to vegetation surrounding buildings.
Artificial light at night affects birds, bats, insects, and other wildlife. Bright lighting can attract and disorient migratory birds, alter animal activity, disrupt sleep and reproduction, affect insect behavior, and reduce the ecological quality of otherwise suitable habitat.
Reducing unnecessary illumination, dimming lights, controlling their direction, protecting dark corridors, and considering wildlife during lighting design can reduce these impacts.
Noise, pesticides, rodenticides, pollution, domestic and free-ranging cats, electrical infrastructure, and other urban pressures further illustrate why habitat creation must be combined with hazard reduction.
Human-Wildlife Coexistence
Wildlife-friendly cities inevitably bring people and animals into closer contact. Coyotes, foxes, raccoons, deer, bats, raptors, reptiles, and other species may live surprisingly close to homes, businesses, and transportation systems.
Research on urban mammals shows that many species alter their activity patterns in response to human density, development, temperature, vegetation, and other features of urban life. Some become more nocturnal or change where and when they move through the landscape.
Human-wildlife conflict therefore cannot be understood only by asking how many animals live in a city. The design of neighborhoods, availability of food, road networks, habitat configuration, waste management, public behavior, wildlife feeding, and public perceptions can all influence encounters.
Coexistence approaches emphasize prevention, education, habitat management, nonlethal conflict reduction, and greater understanding of wildlife behavior rather than automatically treating the presence of wild animals as a problem requiring removal.
Cities must nevertheless recognize that not every wildlife interaction is harmless. Management may be necessary when animals threaten people, pets, infrastructure, or vulnerable native species. Wildlife-friendly management seeks to distinguish genuine risks from simple discomfort with the presence of wild animals.
Nature-Positive Municipal Planning
Urban biodiversity conservation increasingly extends from individual projects to citywide policy.
Municipal governments around the world are adopting biodiversity strategies, nature-recovery plans, urban greening standards, ecological action plans, pollinator strategies, bird-friendly development requirements, blue-green infrastructure programs, and habitat-restoration initiatives.
Cities such as Toronto, Vancouver, London, Sydney, Cape Town, Singapore, San Francisco, Durban, and others provide examples of different approaches. These programs may protect ravines and wetlands, expand native vegetation, reconnect habitat, restore waterways, improve ecological monitoring, increase green space, establish development standards, or incorporate biodiversity into infrastructure planning.
Nature-positive urban planning attempts to move beyond simply reducing environmental damage. Its broader objective is to leave urban ecosystems in better ecological condition through protection, restoration, improved connectivity, and creation of new habitat.
International initiatives are also encouraging cities to measure their progress. Biodiversity indexes and ecological indicators can track native species, habitat connectivity, ecosystem services, environmental pressures, governance, conservation efforts, and other measures.
Monitoring is essential because installing green infrastructure does not guarantee ecological success. Wildlife-friendly policies are most effective when cities measure outcomes and adapt management according to evidence.
Residential Gardens and Citizen Conservation
Private land represents a large portion of many cities, making residents important participants in urban biodiversity conservation.
Wildlife-friendly gardening can include planting diverse vegetation, increasing native plants, reducing pesticides, providing water, retaining shelter, creating nesting opportunities, reducing excessive mowing, allowing some areas to remain less manicured, and connecting gardens with surrounding habitat.
Research shows that birds, frogs, reptiles, mammals, bees, butterflies, and other wildlife use structures and resources deliberately provided in residential gardens. At the same time, simply adding a small number of native plants or artificial structures does not automatically create high-quality habitat. Habitat quantity, plant diversity, surrounding landscape, food resources, maintenance, and connectivity all influence results.
Urban agriculture and rooftop farms can also contribute to biodiversity. Food-growing spaces can support plants, arthropods, birds, and other organisms, although management choices determine how much ecological value they provide.
Citizen participation extends beyond gardening. Residents can contribute wildlife observations, participate in monitoring projects, support habitat restoration, report roadkill and collisions, maintain pollinator gardens, advocate for wildlife-friendly policies, and help transform networks of private parcels into meaningful urban habitat.
This decentralized approach is important because no municipal parks department controls enough land to create a wildlife-friendly city by itself.
From Isolated Green Spaces to an Urban Habitat Network
Perhaps the most important shift in wildlife-friendly urban planning is the movement from thinking about individual green spaces to thinking about ecological networks.
A park, garden, wetland, green roof, vacant lot, schoolyard, street-tree corridor, or restored stream may have limited ecological value when isolated. The same spaces can become considerably more useful when they form part of a connected system allowing wildlife to move, feed, reproduce, and respond to changing environmental conditions.
This means biodiversity can become a consideration across almost every area of city planning: housing, transportation, architecture, water management, landscaping, parks, climate adaptation, public health, redevelopment, infrastructure, and neighborhood design.
The concept also changes how the city itself is understood. Wildlife habitat does not necessarily begin where urban development ends. Habitat can be woven through the city.
Conclusion
Wildlife-friendly cities represent a different model of urban development—one in which nature is not restricted to isolated parks while the remainder of the city is designed without regard for other species.
The research summarized here shows that wildlife can benefit from connected habitats, native and diverse vegetation, mature trees, wetlands, restored waterways, green roofs, living walls, informal green spaces, quieter and darker refuges, wildlife crossings, safer buildings, residential gardens, and many other relatively small interventions distributed throughout the urban landscape.
No single intervention is sufficient. Green roofs cannot compensate for the destruction of every natural area, wildlife crossings cannot protect species if suitable habitat disappears, and native gardens cannot maintain biodiversity if ecological connections are severed. Effective urban conservation requires a combination of habitat protection, restoration, connectivity, hazard reduction, species-sensitive design, monitoring, public participation, and long-term governance.
The broader lesson is that cities do not have to choose between functioning for people and functioning for nature. Thoughtful design can allow urban areas to provide housing, transportation, infrastructure, recreation, climate resilience, and economic activity while also preserving space for other forms of life.
As urbanization continues around the world, the question is increasingly not whether wildlife will encounter cities, but what kind of cities wildlife will encounter. Wildlife-friendly planning offers a framework for making those cities safer, more connected, more biologically diverse, and more capable of supporting both human and non-human communities.
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Wildlife-Inclusive Planning, Research and Policy
1. Singapore Index on Cities' Biodiversity
| National Parks Board Singapore | NParks | 2026-08-21
Describes a 28-indicator system allowing cities to quantify native biodiversity, ecosystem services, ecological connectivity, governance, and progress toward conservation objectives.
2. Celebrating the Critical Role of Cities This International Day for Biodiversity
| ICLEI Oceania | ICLEI | 2026-05-22
Highlights biodiversity initiatives in Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney, and other Oceanian cities involving native planting, wetlands, urban forests, habitat restoration, and threatened wildlife.
3. Eco-Evolutionary Dynamics Shaping Biodiversity in the Urban Mosaic
| Valentina Alaasam et al. | Nature Reviews Biodiversity | 2026-02-18
Examines cities as complex ecological mosaics where urban habitats, infrastructure, fragmentation, and environmental pressures influence wildlife populations and evolutionary processes.
4. The Effects of Urbanization on Species Interactions
| Pablo Moreno-García et al. | Nature Cities | 2025-07-29
Explores how cities alter interactions among animals, plants, predators, prey, competitors, and mutualists and discusses how understanding these relationships can improve urban conservation.
5. Promoting Urban Biodiversity for the Benefit of People and Nature
| Ingo Kowarik et al. | Nature Reviews Biodiversity | 2025-03-25
Reviews ways cities can conserve biodiversity through interconnected blue-green infrastructure, biodiversity-sensitive planning, ecological management, and governance that treats cities as shared habitats for humans and other species.
6. Urban Biodiversity in the Anthropocene
| Mark C. Mainwaring, Guobao Song and Shuping Zhang | Scientific Reports | 2024-11-13
Surveys research into how urbanization affects biodiversity and highlights green roofs, pollution reduction, habitat management, and other measures capable of making cities more hospitable to wildlife.
7. CitiesWithNature: Best Practices in Urban Biodiversity Conservation by Chinese Cities
| ICLEI East Asia | ICLEI | 2024-11-11
Profiles biodiversity conservation programs in Chinese cities and demonstrates how local governments can translate international biodiversity targets into urban planning and restoration programs.
8. Nature Positive: Guidelines for the Transition in Cities
| World Economic Forum and Oliver Wyman | World Economic Forum | 2024-05-22
Provides a policy framework for cities seeking to halt biodiversity loss, restore ecosystems, reduce ecological impacts, and embed nature into planning, investment, and infrastructure.
9. Urban Nature Indexes Tool Offers Comprehensive and Flexible Approach to Monitoring Urban Ecological Performance
| Jennifer Rae Pierce et al. | npj Urban Sustainability | 2024-04-03
Introduces a standardized but flexible framework cities can use to measure habitat condition, species status, ecological pressures, ecosystem benefits, governance, and progress toward nature-positive goals.
10. Urban Biodiversity Is Affected by Human-Designed Features of Public Squares
| Jana Jokisch et al. | Nature Cities | 2024
Finds that the physical and vegetative design of urban public squares strongly influences which plants and animals can occupy them, demonstrating that even highly built spaces can be designed for biodiversity.
11. Cities in Nature
| Lena Chan | Proceedings of the Royal Society B | 2024
Reviews biodiversity conservation experiences in eleven cities and explains how municipalities can conserve, restore, monitor, and enhance wildlife habitat within heavily urbanized landscapes.
12. Urban Biodiversity, Ecosystems and the City: Insights from 50 Years of the Berlin School of Urban Ecology
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2023-12
Reviews five decades of urban ecology research and shows how ecological science can help reconcile dense urban land use with biodiversity conservation.
13. A Trait-Based Conceptual Framework to Examine Urban Biodiversity, Socio-Ecological Filters, and Ecosystem Services Linkages
| Various authors | npj Urban Sustainability | 2022
Develops a framework connecting species traits, urban environmental pressures, human management, biodiversity, and the ecosystem services supplied by urban nature.
14. Barriers to Building Wildlife-Inclusive Cities: Insights from Urban Ecologists, Urban Planners and Landscape Designers
| Cria A. M. Kay et al. | People and Nature | 2021-12-03
Identifies disciplinary silos, funding limitations, institutional incentives, infrastructure constraints, and differing professional values as barriers to creating genuinely wildlife-inclusive cities.
15. 31 Mayors Introduce More Trees, Parks and Green Space in Cities
| C40 Cities | C40 Cities | 2021-07-13
Details the Urban Nature Declaration through which dozens of cities committed to expanding and restoring parks, gardens, trees, ponds, lakes, and other components of urban ecosystems.
16. Designing Wildlife-Inclusive Cities That Support Human-Animal Co-existence
| Beate Apfelbeck et al. | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2020-08
Introduces wildlife-inclusive urban design, arguing that habitat requirements for animals should be integrated into ordinary buildings, streets, neighborhoods, and development projects rather than confined to parks and reserves.
17. Implementing the Connectivity of Natural Areas in Cities as an Indicator in the City Biodiversity Index
| Various authors | Ecological Indicators | 2018-11
Develops an improved method for measuring connections among urban natural areas and demonstrates how even relatively small habitat patches can contribute importantly to a citywide ecological network.
18. Urban Planning and Design: Wildlife Data and Research for Planners, Architects and Developers
| Urban Wildlife Information Network | UWIN | n.d.
Explains how standardized urban wildlife data can be translated into practical guidance for architects, developers, planners, and landscape designers creating cities where wildlife can persist and move.
19. CitiesWithNature
| ICLEI, The Nature Conservancy and IUCN | CitiesWithNature | n.d.
Provides an international platform through which cities share biodiversity commitments, conservation strategies, ecological restoration projects, and tools for integrating nature into urban planning.
20. C40 Urban Nature Accelerator
| C40 Cities | C40 Cities | n.d.
Describes commitments by major cities to expand green and permeable surfaces, restore ecosystems, improve ecological connectivity, and provide residents with equitable access to urban nature.
Municipal Biodiversity Strategies, Monitoring and Nature-Positive Cities
21. Mayor Launches First Ever Clean Rivers and Waterways Plan to Transform London's Blue Spaces Over Next Decade
| London City Hall | Greater London Authority | 2026-07-29
Describes a ten-year program to reduce pollution, restore river habitats, improve ecological condition, and make London's waterways more capable of supporting wildlife.
22. London Local Nature Recovery Strategy — Statement of Biodiversity Priorities
| Greater London Authority | London City Hall | 2026-03
Sets detailed priorities for restoring and connecting urban nature, including wildlife-friendly buildings, green roofs, bat and bird features, nature-sensitive lighting, green corridors, soils, trees, wetlands, and waterways.
23. Finding the Real Urban Flock
| Nature Cities Editors | Nature Cities | 2026-02-20
Argues that bird-friendly city planning should look beyond raw species counts and consider ecological functions, evolutionary diversity, migration, behavior, and the different roles birds perform within urban ecosystems.
24. Biodiversity in the City
| City of Toronto | City of Toronto | 2026
Describes Toronto's biodiversity program, including ravines, bird-friendly development, pollinator habitat, invasive-species management, public education, and its citywide biodiversity strategy.
25. Ravine Strategy
| City of Toronto | City of Toronto | 2026
Coordinates protection, restoration, stewardship, and management of Toronto's extensive ravine network, which functions as a major wildlife and habitat system through the city.
26. Local Nature Recovery Strategy
| Greater London Authority | London City Hall | 2026
Maps priorities for nature recovery throughout London, including urban wildlife habitat, green corridors, soil conservation, buildings for wildlife, and ecological restoration.
27. These Global Cities Are Working to Protect Nature and Biodiversity
| Simon Torkington and David Elliott | World Economic Forum | 2025-11-27
Compares approaches in San Francisco, Durban, Incheon, and other cities that are expanding protected habitat, restoring ecosystems, improving waterways, and setting measurable urban biodiversity goals.
28. Nature Positive: Cities' Efforts to Advance the Transition – Barranquilla
| World Economic Forum | World Economic Forum | 2025-11-24
Examines Barranquilla's investment in wetland restoration, green infrastructure, water management, and public space as a model for integrating ecosystem recovery into rapidly growing cities.
29. Schoolyard Greening to Improve Functional Connectivity in the City and Support Biodiversity
| Various authors | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2025-10
Models schoolyards in Barcelona, Brussels, Paris, and Rotterdam and shows how greening school grounds can strengthen ecological networks in vegetation-deficient neighborhoods.
30. How to Create Nature-Positive Urbanism Beyond Green Spaces
| Anurit Kanti | World Economic Forum | 2025-09-01
Argues that wildlife-friendly cities require more than large parks and should integrate habitat into facades, rooftops, transportation infrastructure, waterways, and everyday urban design.
31. Schoolyards Greening for Connecting People and Nature
| Nathalie Blanc et al. | npj Urban Sustainability | 2025-08-08
Finds diverse arthropod communities in vegetated schoolyards and argues that schools can function simultaneously as educational spaces, biodiversity habitat, and ecological stepping-stones.
32. Nature Positive: Cities' Efforts to Advance the Transition – San Francisco
| World Economic Forum and Oliver Wyman | World Economic Forum | 2025-04-22
Examines San Francisco's opportunities to integrate ecosystem restoration, biodiversity monitoring, nature-based solutions, financing, and community participation into urban policy.
33. How the World Bank Is Unlocking Nature-Based Solutions in 100 Cities
Describes a global effort to identify opportunities for urban forests, wetlands, parks, and other nature-based infrastructure that simultaneously improve resilience and biodiversity.
34. Nature Positive: Financing the Transition in Cities
| World Economic Forum and Oliver Wyman | World Economic Forum | 2025-01-16
Examines the financing gap for urban nature and proposes investment and governance mechanisms for scaling biodiversity protection and nature-based infrastructure.
35. How Nature-Positive Cities Are Helping to Create a More Sustainable and Resilient World
| Arjun Dhawan and Nollaig Forrest | World Economic Forum | 2024-12-09
Discusses how government and private-sector decisions about construction, infrastructure, materials, and land use can shift urban development toward biodiversity restoration.
36. Nature Positive: Cities' Efforts to Advance the Transition – Durban
| World Economic Forum and Oliver Wyman | World Economic Forum | 2024-12-05
Profiles Durban's extensive protected open-space network, river management programs, and efforts to conserve exceptional plant, bird, reptile, amphibian, and mammal diversity within a major city.
37. Nature Positive: Leaders' Insights for the Transition in Cities
| Global Commission on Nature-Positive Cities | World Economic Forum | 2024-09-25
Collects practical strategies from city leaders for incorporating biodiversity, ecosystem restoration, resilience, finance, and nature-based infrastructure into urban decision-making.
38. Why Nature-Positive Cities Can Help Transform the Planet
| Carlos Correa | World Economic Forum | 2024-05-24
Argues that municipal policy and urban development will be crucial to reversing biodiversity loss and profiles emerging nature-positive approaches in Latin American cities.
39. These 4 Cities Are Encouraging People to Protect Biodiversity
| Stefan Ellerbeck | World Economic Forum | 2022-11-29
Profiles city programs involving citizen biodiversity monitoring, wildlife trees, habitat improvement, and other approaches that enlist residents directly in urban conservation.
40. Biodiversity in Urban Green Space: A Bibliometric Review on the Current Research Field and Its Prospects
| Various authors | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | 2022-10-01
Analyzes thousands of studies to identify major themes in urban biodiversity research, including species patterns, ecosystem services, conservation, green-space management, and urban sustainability.
41. Ecology for Low-Rise Residential Development
| City of Toronto | Toronto Green Standard | 2022
Requires or encourages measures such as native vegetation, pollinator-supportive planting, invasive-species avoidance, buffers, and protection of natural heritage during residential development.
42. 2021 Singapore Index on Cities' Biodiversity Out Now
| Convention on Biological Diversity | CBD | 2021-09-23
Describes the updated international biodiversity index used by cities to measure native species, ecosystem services, governance capacity, and conservation progress.
43. Urban Greening Factor
| Greater London Authority | London City Hall | 2021
Establishes a planning mechanism for increasing vegetation and ecological function in new developments and encourages habitat creation that contributes to local biodiversity priorities.
44. Biodiversity Functions of Urban Cemeteries
| Sascha Buchholz et al. | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2016-09
Documents more than 600 species in a large Berlin cemetery and demonstrates that differentiated management can reconcile cultural heritage protection with biodiversity conservation.
45. Green Infrastructure and Urban Biodiversity: Overview and City Level Examples
| McKenna Davis et al. | European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity | 2015-08-01
Reviews urban biodiversity evidence and examples showing how green infrastructure planning can protect species, connect habitats, and strengthen ecological functions within cities.
46. Informal Urban Green Space: A Trilingual Systematic Review of Its Role for Biodiversity
| Various authors | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2015
Reviews 174 studies and finds that vacant lots, railway verges, brownfields, and other spontaneously vegetated spaces can make substantial contributions to urban biodiversity.
47. Urban Ecology Strategic Action Plan
| City of Sydney | City of Sydney | 2014-12-30
Establishes a long-term municipal framework for conserving indigenous plants and animals, improving habitat, engaging residents, and restoring functioning ecosystems throughout Sydney.
48. Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan
| City of Cape Town | City of Cape Town | 2008
Documents Cape Town's exceptionally rich urban biodiversity and establishes conservation priorities addressing urbanization, invasive species, habitat fragmentation, pollution, and threatened endemic species.
49. Biodiversity Strategy
| City of Vancouver | City of Vancouver | n.d.
Sets out Vancouver's strategy for increasing the quality and quantity of natural habitat through forest, wetland, shoreline, park, and neighborhood restoration.
50. Biodiversity in Los Angeles
| City of Los Angeles | City of Los Angeles Sustainable Development Goals | n.d.
Explores how municipal departments can coordinate biodiversity monitoring, governance, conservation programs, and a citywide Local Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan.
Habitat Connectivity, Corridors, Roads and Crossings
51. Linking Species Distributions and Urban Governance Through Social Ecological Fit in Blue Green Infrastructure
| Giulia Francesca Azzurra Donati et al. | npj Urban Sustainability | 2026-07-02
Uses amphibian habitat and governance networks in Zürich to show that successful biodiversity infrastructure depends on matching ecological needs with the institutions capable of managing particular locations.
52. The Potential of Social-Ecological Networks for Urban Ecology
| T. M. Straka et al. | npj Urban Sustainability | 2026-04-22
Explains how social-ecological network analysis can connect wildlife habitat, ecological processes, land managers, communities, and institutions when planning biodiversity-friendly cities.
53. Wildlife Road Crossings: A Mechanistic Trait- and Landscape-Based Model
| Various authors | Ecological Modelling | 2026
Models how species traits and surrounding landscape structure influence locations where animals are likely to cross roads, helping prioritize mitigation investments.
54. Spatial Determinants of Animal Roadkill Occurrence and Hotspots Along the Nairobi-Mombasa Highway
| Peter Kibobi et al. | African Journal of Ecology | 2025-07-22
Identifies wildlife-vehicle collision hotspots and environmental characteristics that can guide fencing, crossings, warning systems, and other mitigation measures near expanding settlements.
55. The Contribution of Informal Green Space to Urban Biodiversity: A City-Scale Assessment Using Crowdsourced Survey Data
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2024-11-05
Finds that brownfields, utility corridors, vacant spaces, and other informal greenery can contribute substantially to native plant and bird diversity and should be incorporated into citywide habitat networks.
56. Engineering Blue-Green Infrastructure for and with Biodiversity in Cities
| Kilian Perrelet et al. | npj Urban Sustainability | 2024-04-24
Argues that stormwater ponds, rain gardens, vegetated basins, green roofs, and related infrastructure should be engineered for ecological function and biodiversity as well as drainage and climate resilience.
57. Where Do Wildlife Cross the Road? Experimental Evaluation of Multiple Crossing Structures
| Various authors | Global Ecology and Conservation | 2023-10
Compares drainage culverts, dedicated wildlife underpasses, and a viaduct and finds strong species-specific differences in whether animals approach and use crossing structures.
58. Ecological Connectivity as a Planning Tool for the Conservation of Wildlife in Cities
| Various authors | MethodsX | 2023
Shows how ecological connectivity modeling can help planners determine where green infrastructure should be protected, restored, or constructed so wildlife can move through fragmented urban landscapes.
59. Urban Wildlife Corridors: Building Bridges for Wildlife and People
| Amanda J. Zellmer and Barbara S. Goto | Frontiers in Sustainable Cities | 2022-10-14
Examines the ecological and social challenges involved in creating wildlife corridors through densely developed landscapes and emphasizes collaboration among landowners, communities, planners, and conservationists.
60. Building Biodiversity into the Urban Fabric: A Case Study in Applying Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design
| Garrard et al. | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2021-07
Demonstrates Biodiversity Sensitive Urban Design as a method for incorporating the habitat and resource requirements of native species from the beginning of the development process.
61. biodiverCITIES: A Primer on Nature in Cities
| ICLEI | ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability | 2019-07-01
Provides municipal governments with practical approaches for mainstreaming biodiversity into city policies, services, planning programs, and development decisions.
62. Vacant Lots: An Underexplored Resource for Ecological and Social Benefits in Cities
| Various authors | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2017-01
Reviews the potential for restoring vacant urban land as inexpensive wildlife habitat while simultaneously expanding access to green space in underserved neighborhoods.
63. Wildlife Crossing Structures: An Effective Strategy to Restore Wildlife Connectivity Across Roads
| Daniel J. Smith and Rodney van der Ree | Handbook of Road Ecology | 2015-04-01
Reviews wildlife overpasses and underpasses as tools for reducing road mortality, restoring movement between habitat patches, maintaining gene flow, and improving population viability.
64. Nature in Cities
| United Nations Environment Programme | UNEP | n.d.
Describes cities as ecosystems and highlights urban forests, wetlands, waterways, parks, and other nature-based systems as important infrastructure for biodiversity, climate resilience, and human well-being.
65. Wildlife Crossing Manuals and Wildlife-Vehicle Conflict Data Collection
| Road Ecology Center | University of California, Davis | n.d.
Collects guidance on designing culverts, underpasses, overpasses, fencing, monitoring systems, and other measures that allow wildlife to move safely across transportation infrastructure.
66. Road Ecology Center Research Programs and Projects
| Road Ecology Center | University of California, Davis | n.d.
Summarizes research into roads as barriers to wildlife movement and examines roadkill hotspots, fencing, crossings, traffic noise, artificial lighting, and landscape-scale connectivity.
67. Urban Ecology
| University of Iowa | Iowa Initiative for Sustainable Communities | n.d.
Describes municipal projects examining how native roadside vegetation and habitat connectivity can improve urban ecosystems and support wildlife such as raptors.
68. Wildlife Crossing Structures and Urban Connectivity
| Road Ecology Center | University of California, Davis | n.d.
Provides research and data on roadkill, movement corridors, wildlife crossings, barrier effects, and transportation planning intended to reduce habitat fragmentation.
69. Urban Predator Ecology and Behavior
| California State University Long Beach | Mammal Lab | n.d.
Uses camera traps throughout Orange County to investigate how development, habitat structure, and human activity affect coyotes and other urban predators.
Birds and Bird-Friendly Urban Design
70. Context-Dependent Responses of Bats to Artificial Light at Night in Urban and Natural Woodlands
| Various authors | Science of the Total Environment | 2026-06-10
Finds that bat responses to artificial lighting vary with ecological context and reinforces the value of protecting dark habitat within and around urban green spaces.
71. Dimming Streetlights in Urban Areas Reduces Insect Attraction but Pipistrelle Bats Forage More in Darkness
| Various authors | Biological Conservation | 2026-02
Shows that preserving darker urban spaces and reducing lighting intensity can benefit nocturnal insects and bats.
72. A Global Review of Urban Bird Conservation from Ecological and Planning Perspectives Under the Kunming-Montreal Biodiversity Framework Target 12
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2026
Reviews global urban bird conservation and identifies the need for closer collaboration between ecologists and planners when designing biodiversity-inclusive cities.
73. Designing the Biodiversity-Friendly City of the Future: An Avian Community Perspective on Land Sharing and Land Sparing
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2025-11
Examines strategies for accommodating urban growth while maintaining bird diversity, emphasizing high-quality forest remnants, reforestation, and expanded green infrastructure.
74. Scale-Dependent Effects of Urban Vegetation and Artificial Lights at Night on Bird-Building Collisions in China
| Various authors | Biological Conservation | 2025-10
Uses thousands of monitored buildings to examine how glass, building height, vegetation, and nighttime lighting influence bird-collision risk and how safer designs can be targeted.
75. Building Bird-Friendly Cities with Tim Beatley
| U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service | 2025-07-24
Discusses how urban planning can provide birds with habitat, food, safe movement, and nesting opportunities while making cities greener and more engaging for residents.
76. Urban Tree Diversity Fosters Bird Insectivory Despite a Loss in Bird Diversity with Urbanization
| Laura Schillé et al. | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2025-04
Finds that greater tree diversity can strengthen insect predation by birds, highlighting functional reasons to plant diverse urban forests rather than monocultures.
77. Are the Same Factors Determining Biodiversity in Cities Across Different Regions? Comparing Drivers of Urban Bird Richness Patterns in Southern Asia vs. Western Europe
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2023-07-12
Compares bird diversity across cities in Southern Asia and Western Europe, helping determine whether commonly recommended urban biodiversity strategies apply across different geographic and ecological settings.
78. Micro-Scale Patterns and Drivers of Bird Visitation on Street Fig Trees in Delhi, India
| Prakhar Rawal, Deepali Chatrath and Ghazala Shahabuddin | Acta Oecologica | 2023-05
Demonstrates that individual street trees can function as important urban food resources, with large-canopy fig trees attracting numerous bird species even within heavily developed neighborhoods.
79. Retrofitting Streetlights with LEDs Has Limited Impacts on Urban Wildlife
| Various authors | Biological Conservation | 2021-02
Examines wildlife before and after conversion of residential streetlights to LEDs, emphasizing the importance of evaluating lighting technology as part of urban ecological planning.
80. Bird-Friendly City: Creating Safe Urban Habitats
| Various authors | Ornithological Applications | 2021
Reviews Timothy Beatley’s bird-friendly city framework and the many ways urban planning, architecture, vegetation, and public policy can reduce threats while improving bird habitat.
81. Urban Bat Occupancy Is Highly Influenced by Noise and the Location of Water: Considerations for Nature-Based Urban Planning
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2021
Shows that water, canopy cover, and noise strongly affect where bats occur in Chicago, suggesting that quiet habitat near water should be considered in green-infrastructure planning.
82. The Importance of Street Trees to Urban Avifauna
| Eric M. Wood and Sevan Esaian | Ecological Applications | 2020-06-11
Shows that street-tree abundance, size, and species composition influence bird feeding activity in Los Angeles and that several native trees are especially valuable resources.
83. Urban Green Roofs Provide Habitat for Migrating and Breeding Birds and Their Arthropod Prey
| Dustin R. Partridge and J. Alan Clark | PLOS ONE | 2018-08-29
Finds that New York green roofs support more birds and arthropods than conventional roofs and can provide stopover and foraging habitat within highly developed landscapes.
84. Street Trees Reduce the Negative Effects of Urbanization on Birds
| João Carlos de Castro Pena et al. | PLOS ONE | 2017-03-23
Finds that larger, more diverse, and more native street trees can reduce some impacts of urban noise and development on bird richness and functional diversity.
85. Composition and Diversity of Avian Communities Using a New Urban Habitat: Green Roofs
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2016
Studies bird use of green roofs at Chicago O'Hare International Airport and shows how roof vegetation can be evaluated both for habitat value and potential wildlife-management conflicts.
86. Urban Bird Conservation: Presenting Stakeholder-Specific Arguments for the Development of Bird-Friendly Cities
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2015
Explains the ecological and social importance of urban birds and develops arguments planners, conservationists, residents, businesses, and governments can use to promote bird-friendly cities.
87. The Effect of Plant Richness and Urban Garden Structure on Bird Species Richness, Diversity and Community Structure
| Yair Paker et al. | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2014-02
Finds that gardens containing diverse trees and shrubs support more bird species and that native birds frequently prefer native vegetation for foraging.
88. Standards for Bird-Safe Buildings
| San Francisco Planning Department | SF Planning | 2011
Provides building-design standards intended to reduce bird collisions with reflective and transparent glass while allowing dense urban development to coexist with migratory and resident birds.
89. Cities, Towns, and Parks
| National Audubon Society | Audubon | n.d.
Outlines bird-friendly community strategies involving native plants, safer buildings, reduced nighttime lighting, habitat creation, and protection of birds from common urban hazards.
Pollinators, Native Plants, Bees and Butterflies
90. Urban Wildlife Gardeners Successfully Support Native Bees in Their Backyards
| Julian Brown et al. | Urban Ecosystems | 2026-04-28
Finds that residential gardens intentionally managed for wildlife can provide significant habitat for native bees when appropriate vegetation and nesting resources are available.
91. Native-Plant Landscaping Enhances Floral Visitation by Insects and Birds in Residential Yards
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2026-04-24
Finds substantially greater abundance, richness, and interaction networks among flower-visiting insects and birds in native-planted Los Angeles yards than in conventional landscaping.
92. The Bees' Knees: A Review and Meta-Analysis of Urban Green-Space Habitats for Insect Pollinators
| Various authors | Biological Conservation | 2026-04
Finds that larger, vegetatively diverse, flower-rich, and connected urban green spaces generally support greater diversity of bees, beetles, and butterflies.
93. Investigating the Value of Citizen-Led Gardens on Road Verges for Insect Biodiversity in the City of Merri-bek, Australia
| Various authors | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2025-06
Finds that citizen-planted verge gardens support greater insect abundance and richness than standard lawn verges and identifies floral richness as an important driver.
94. The Direct and Indirect Effects of Road Verges and Urban Greening on Butterflies in a Tropical City-State
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2025-06
Shows that diverse, structurally complex road verges in Singapore can support butterflies and that selective vegetation cutting could improve their habitat value.
95. Structure of a Metacommunity of Urban Bees
| Various authors | Basic and Applied Ecology | 2024-06
Studies bee communities across metropolitan Aarhus and finds that urban bee diversity varies through both space and season, emphasizing the value of distributed habitat.
96. Native Plants on Experimental Urban Green Roofs Support Higher Community-Level Insect Abundance Than Exotics
| Various authors | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2023-08
Finds that native vegetation on experimental green roofs supported greater overall insect abundance, strengthening the case for biodiversity-focused roof planting.
97. Checking in at Bee Hotels: Trap-Nesting Occupancy and Fitness of Cavity-Nesting Bees
| Kit S. Prendergast | Urban Ecosystems | 2023-06-07
Tests bee hotels in gardens and bushland remnants and demonstrates both their potential conservation value and the importance of proper design, placement, and maintenance.
98. How City Traits Affect Taxonomic and Functional Diversity of Urban Wild Bee Communities
| Andrea Ferrari and Carlo Polidori | Apidologie | 2022-08-09
Compares bee communities across 55 cities worldwide and shows that city size, fragmentation, impervious cover, and climate filter bees according to nesting strategy, diet, body size, and social behavior.
99. Are Street Trees Friendly to Biodiversity?
| Jiajia Liu and Ferry Slik | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2022-02
Examines street-tree inventories from 59 Chinese cities and recommends greater native-tree diversity and more species selected specifically for their value to wildlife.
100. Botanical Gardens Are Local Hotspots for Urban Butterflies in Arid Environments
| Various authors | Insects | 2022
Shows that botanical gardens in southwestern U.S. cities support disproportionately high butterfly richness and can function as important urban pollinator refuges.
101. Local and Landscape Features Constrain the Trait and Taxonomic Diversity of Urban Bees
| Various authors | Landscape Ecology | 2021-12-05
Uses California urban gardens to show that local floral resources and surrounding urban land cover jointly influence bee abundance, richness, and functional diversity.
102. Butterfly Biodiversity in the City Is Driven by the Interaction of the Urban Landscape and Species Traits
| Various authors | Landscape Ecology | 2021
Uses Barcelona gardens to show that urbanization selectively favors mobile generalist butterflies while sedentary habitat specialists are more easily lost.
103. Conservation in Post-Industrial Cities: How Does Vacant Land Management Influence Urban Bees?
| Katherine J. Turo et al. | Journal of Applied Ecology | 2020-09-26
Finds that minimally managed vacant land and spontaneous vegetation can provide valuable bee forage and that proximity to larger green spaces improves urban bee richness.
104. Functional Ecology of Wild Bees in Cities
| Sascha Buchholz and Monika H. Egerer | Biodiversity and Conservation | 2020-06-08
Reviews how traits such as nesting behavior, body size, diet, and sociality determine which wild bees successfully persist within urban environments.
105. The Role of ‘Nativeness’ in Urban Greening to Support Animal Biodiversity
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2020
Reviews evidence connecting native vegetation with urban animal diversity and concludes that native plants generally deserve priority while functional ecological resources should guide final plant selection.
106. Does Nature Need Cities? Pollinators Reveal a Role for Cities in Wildlife Conservation
| Amy Rosenthal and Craig A. Czarnecki | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | 2019
Argues that cities can become important refuges for monarch butterflies, pollinators, and other wildlife when green infrastructure is designed specifically around habitat needs.
107. Buzzing on Top: Linking Wild Bee Diversity, Abundance and Traits with Green Roof Qualities
| Sophie Kratschmer, Monika Kriechbaum and Bärbel Pachinger | Urban Ecosystems | 2018-02-20
Investigates how green-roof characteristics influence wild bee diversity and shows that rooftop habitat can contribute to urban pollinator conservation.
108. Pollinator Protection Strategy
| City of Toronto | City of Toronto | 2018
Establishes a municipal strategy centered on native pollinators, native vegetation, connected habitat, green roofs, gardens, parkland, and public participation.
109. Small Scale Additions of Native Plants Fail to Increase Beneficial Insect Richness in Urban Gardens
| Kevin C. Matteson and Gail A. Langellotto | Insect Conservation and Diversity | 2011-04-07
Provides a useful caution that small isolated native-plant additions alone may not substantially increase insect richness, emphasizing the importance of habitat quantity, floral abundance, and landscape context.
Green Roofs, Vertical Greening and Artificial Habitat
110. Urban Biodiversity in Green Walls: Plant Diversity and Flower Cover as Drivers of Pollinator Abundance
| Leonie K. Fischer et al. | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2026-08
Surveys vertical greening systems and finds that greater plant diversity and floral cover can increase use by wild bees, bumblebees, hoverflies, wasps, and other pollinators.
111. Urban Green Roofs as Habitat and Foraging Sites for Ants
| Grace H. Walusis and Chelse M. Prather | Urban Ecosystems | 2026-05-28
Examines how green-roof size, age, height, and surrounding urban habitat affect ants and their ability to use rooftops as habitat and feeding areas.
112. Urban Biodiversity by Design: A Multi-Taxa Evaluation of Targeted Habitat Interventions
| Various authors | Ecological Indicators | 2026-05
Assesses interventions including native flower strips, unmown refuges, nest boxes, bee hotels, ecological connectivity, and dark riparian corridors across major Chinese cities.
113. Effects of Green Roof Management, Age, and Substrate on Plant and Invertebrate Communities
| Reilly A. Swanson and Michael L. McKinney | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | 2026-02-20
Studies green roofs across several southeastern U.S. cities and evaluates how management practices and roof characteristics influence vegetation and invertebrate biodiversity.
114. Living Walls Boost Biodiversity by Providing Safe Spaces for Urban Wildlife
| University of Plymouth | University of Plymouth | 2026-01-22
Reports research finding pollinating insects, spiders, soil organisms, birds, and bats using vegetated building walls in Plymouth.
115. Urban Bat Box Translocation for Vespertilio sinensis Conservation
| Yanze Zhou and Guanjun Lu | Scientific Reports | 2025-07-02
Evaluates bat boxes as alternative roosts for bats displaced from residential buildings and explores their potential role in reducing human-bat conflicts.
116. Biodiversity Performance of Living Wall Systems in Urban Environments
| Paul Henry Lunt et al. | Urban Science | 2025
Finds that appropriately designed living walls can support soil invertebrates, pollinating insects, birds, and bats, with biodiversity varying substantially according to plants and substrate.
117. Careful Plant Choice Can Deliver More Biodiverse Vertical Greening
| Andrew Salisbury et al. | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2023-11
Demonstrates experimentally that vegetated façades support substantially more invertebrates than bare walls and that dense ivy and mixed plantings provide particularly valuable habitat.
118. Analysis of the Biodiversity-Enhancing Functions of a Living Wall Prototype
| Various authors | Buildings | 2023-05-27
Explores green façades as habitat-forming building layers capable of serving humans, plants, insects, and other urban organisms simultaneously.
119. Floral Resources Encourage Colonisation and Use of Green Roofs by Invertebrates
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2023
Follows the ecological development of a Melbourne rooftop retrofit and shows how floral resources and plant selection influence invertebrate colonization and use.
120. Green Walls and Biodiversity
| Royal Horticultural Society | RHS | 2023
Summarizes experimental research showing that deeper and more varied climbing vegetation supports greater numbers of herbivorous, predatory, and decomposer invertebrates.
121. Urban Green Roofs Promote Metropolitan Biodiversity: A Comparative Case Study
| E. I. F. Wooster et al. | Building and Environment | 2022-01
Finds substantially greater bird, arthropod, and gastropod diversity on a biodiverse Sydney green roof than on a nearby conventional roof.
122. Urban Greening for Biodiversity Net Gain: A Design Guide
| Greater London Authority and London Wildlife Trust | London City Hall | 2021-03-17
Shows developers and designers how roofs, walls, landscaping, drainage features, and other urban greening can be designed to produce measurable biodiversity benefits.
123. Effectiveness of Using Nest Boxes as a Form of Bird Protection After Building Modernization
| Various authors | Biodiversity and Conservation | 2021
Finds severe losses of building-nesting birds following renovation but demonstrates that carefully selected nest boxes can partially restore populations when natural nesting cavities disappear.
124. Shading Enhances Plant Species Richness and Diversity on an Extensive Green Roof
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2020-03-21
Finds that greater substrate depth and shade can increase rooftop plant diversity by reducing harsh environmental conditions such as drought stress.
125. The Contribution of Constructed Green Infrastructure to Urban Biodiversity: A Synthesis and Meta-Analysis
Synthesizes evidence for biodiversity benefits from constructed green infrastructure including green roofs, stormwater wetlands, and community gardens.
126. Urban Habitat Creation Guide
| City of Sydney | City of Sydney | 2019-05-01
Provides practical guidance for creating gardens and small habitat patches for frogs, birds, lizards, microbats, bandicoots, insects, and other native urban wildlife.
127. Green Roofs: Creating a More Sustainable New York City
| New York City Department of Design and Construction | NYC DDC | 2016
Describes green roofs as multifunctional infrastructure capable of managing stormwater, reducing heat, and creating habitat for wildlife and migrating birds.
128. Green Roofs Provide Habitat for Urban Bats
| Various authors | Global Ecology and Conservation | 2015
Finds significantly greater bat activity over vegetated roofs than conventional roofs in New York City, demonstrating that rooftop habitat can benefit nocturnal mammals as well as insects and birds.
129. Green Roofs as Habitats for Wild Plant Species in Urban Landscapes: First Insights from a Large-Scale Sampling
| Madre et al. | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2014-02
Surveys more than 100 green roofs and demonstrates that rooftops can serve as habitat for spontaneously colonizing native and wild plant species.
Lawns, Parks, Trees, Dead Wood and Urban Blue Spaces
130. Sacred Sites as Refuges for Native Plant Diversity in an Urbanized Tropical Landscape
| Johnson Gabriel Andrianantenaina et al. | Nature Cities | 2026
Examines hundreds of vegetation patches in Antananarivo and demonstrates the importance of remnant and culturally protected urban green spaces for conserving native plant diversity.
131. Effects of Urbanisation, Habitat Characteristics, and Management on Garden Pond Biodiversity
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2025
Uses a large citizen-science survey to show that garden ponds can support amphibians, dragonflies, and birds and can serve as components of urban blue-green infrastructure.
132. Adding a Mosaic Mowing Regime to Urban Lawns Is the Key to City Biodiversity Management for Pollinators
| Patrik Rada et al. | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2024-09
Finds that leaving portions of lawns unmown increases flowering resources and supports diverse pollinator communities, including threatened species.
133. Urban River Restoration in Hong Kong: Assessment, Impact, and Improvement Strategies
| Various authors | Sustainable Cities and Society | 2023-12
Finds generally greater biodiversity in restored urban river sections and demonstrates how river restoration can combine ecological improvement with recreational and social benefits.
134. Impact of Mowing Frequency on Arthropod Abundance and Diversity in Urban Habitats: A Meta-Analysis
| Various authors | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2022-10
Finds strong evidence that reducing mowing frequency increases arthropod richness and abundance and can convert intensively managed urban grass into more valuable wildlife habitat.
135. Partial Mowing of Urban Lawns Supports Higher Abundances and Diversities of Insects
| Various authors | Journal of Insect Conservation | 2021
Shows that less frequent and partial mowing can increase insect biomass, abundance, diversity, and reproduction while retaining some short grass for people.
136. Stand Characteristics and Dead Wood in Urban Forests: Potential Biodiversity Hotspots in Managed Boreal Landscapes
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2020-09
Finds that urban forests can contain old trees and structurally diverse stands with considerable conservation value and that retaining more dead wood could further increase biodiversity.
137. Dead Wood Resources Vary Across Different Types of Urban Green Spaces and Depend on Property Prices
| Arkadiusz Fröhlich and Michał Ciach | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2020-05
Shows that standing dead trees, fallen wood, and dead branches are important but scarce habitat resources and recommends incorporating dead-wood retention into urban green-space management.
138. Dead Tree Branches in Urban Forests and Private Gardens Are Key Habitat Components for Woodpeckers in a City Matrix
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2020
Finds that large old trees, snags, and dead branches in gardens and forest remnants provide important habitat for urban woodpeckers and other cavity-dependent organisms.
139. Urban Domestic Gardens IX: Composition and Richness of the Vascular Plant Flora, and Implications for Native Biodiversity
| Various authors | Biological Conservation | 2006-05
Documents exceptionally diverse plant communities in residential gardens and examines their complex role as both wildlife resources and sources of introduced plants.
Reptiles, Amphibians, Wetlands and Urban Water
140. Patterns of Abundance of Three Reptile Species Inside the Metropolitan Area of Rome
| Francesco Gallozzi et al. | Urban Ecosystems | 2026-07-30
Examines how habitat structure and urbanization influence wall lizards and geckos, providing evidence for incorporating reptile requirements into urban green-space management.
141. Enhancing Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services in Small Urban Wetlands for Sustainable Cities
| Various authors | Aquatic Diversity and Ecology | 2026-06
Reviews the conservation value of small urban wetlands and recommends improving wetland networks, hydrological connectivity, ecological restoration, and nature-based planning.
142. Nature and Me
| National Parks Board Singapore | NParks | 2026
Describes Singapore's science-based approach to conserving urban biodiversity, including ecological monitoring, coastal management, biodiversity planning, and the City Biodiversity Index.
143. Diversity of Urban Reptiles in Three Amazonian Municipalities
| Sérgio Borges et al. | Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências | 2025
Uses citizen-science observations to document 122 reptile species around Belém, Manaus, and Rio Branco and emphasizes the importance of conserving urban forest fragments.
144. Novel Habitats for Biodiversity? Freshwater Biodiversity in Stormwater Management Ponds
| Ilia Maria C. Ferzoco and Shannon J. McCauley | Science of the Total Environment | 2024-09-10
Meta-analysis finds that stormwater ponds can support taxonomic richness comparable to reference ponds and provide habitat for a surprisingly broad range of freshwater organisms.
145. Rain Gardens Enhance the Taxonomic Richness of Soil Invertebrates in Urban Ecosystems
| Various authors | Ecological Engineering | 2024-05
Finds that rain gardens in Nanjing contain richer and compositionally different soil-invertebrate communities than conventional lawns.
146. Effects of Urban Wetland Patch Pattern on the Biodiversity of Aquatic Birds in Nairobi, Kenya
Studies 31 Nairobi wetlands and finds that wetland size, configuration, connectivity, and surrounding landscape characteristics significantly influence aquatic bird biodiversity.
147. Re-engineering Buried Urban Streams: Daylighting Results in Rapid Changes in Stream Invertebrate Communities
| Various authors | Ecological Engineering | 2016-02
Shows that reopening buried urban streams can rapidly alter and improve aquatic invertebrate communities where recolonizing organisms remain available nearby.
148. Urban Amphibian Assemblages as Metacommunities
| Kirsten M. Parris | Journal of Animal Ecology | 2006-05
Demonstrates that pond area, isolation, habitat conditions, and species-specific environmental relationships help explain amphibian communities across metropolitan Melbourne.
149. Catchment Protection and Restoration
| Nairobi Rivers Commission | Nairobi Rivers Commission | n.d.
Describes efforts to protect Nairobi's remaining wetlands and waterways through restoration, encroachment prevention, stormwater management, public education, and integration into urban planning.
Urban Mammals, Bats, Carnivores and Human-Wildlife Coexistence
150. Species Richness Response to Urbanization Across Mid-Size Cities in the Southeastern United States
| Lavendar R. Harris et al. | Journal of Urban Ecology | 2026-06-25
Uses standardized camera trapping in Athens, Jackson, and Little Rock and finds that habitat fragmentation and local city characteristics strongly influence wildlife diversity.
151. Architectures of Encounter: Influence of the Built Environment on Human-Wildlife Conflicts
| Various authors | Journal of Urban Ecology | 2026-06-09
Reviews more than 200 studies to examine how buildings, roads, infrastructure, and other urban features can either intensify or reduce human-wildlife conflict.
152. Amphibian Conservation in Urban Areas: A Review of Green Infrastructure for Achieving One Health
| Kazuko Hase | Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution | 2026-05-22
Reviews how ponds, small green spaces, blue-green infrastructure, connectivity, citizen science, and other measures can support amphibians within cities.
153. Cats in the City: Urban Cat Distribution Is Influenced by Habitat Characteristics, Anthropogenic Factors, and Coyotes
| Angelinna Bradfield et al. | Urban Ecosystems | 2025-04-08
Examines free-ranging cats across New York metropolitan green spaces and investigates how human activity, habitat, and coyotes influence an invasive predator capable of killing native wildlife.
154. Urban Coyote Spatiotemporal Overlap with Humans Is Associated with Environmental Characteristics Not Human Sociodemographics
| Various authors | Scientific Reports | 2025
Uses GPS-tracked coyotes in metropolitan Chicago to investigate how environmental characteristics shape when and where large urban wildlife overlaps with people.
155. Environmental Contamination Predicts Mammal Diversity and Mesocarnivore Activity in the Seattle-Tacoma Metro Area
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2025
Examines how contaminant risk, human population density, and natural land cover influence mammal communities and carnivore activity within metropolitan Seattle and Tacoma.
156. Policy-Making for Peri-Urban Landscapes as Arenas of Human-Wildlife Interactions
| Annemarie Tabea Roth, Janina Kleemann and Marcin Spyra | Urban Ecosystems | 2024-04-20
Examines rapidly changing urban-rural edges where development and wildlife habitat intersect and discusses how planning policy can better respond to human-wildlife interactions.
157. Mammal Mia: A Review on How Ecological and Human Dimension Research on Urban Wild Mammals Can Benefit Future Biophilic Cities
| Various authors | Basic and Applied Ecology | 2024
Reviews hundreds of studies on urban mammals and proposes an interdisciplinary research agenda for cities seeking genuine human-wildlife coexistence.
158. A Suite of Wildlife Crossing Structures Facilitates Mammal Movement Across Tropical Forest Fragments in a City
| Tay et al. | Ecosphere | 2024
Evaluates culverts, rope bridges, roads, and traffic-calming measures in Singapore and documents extensive mammal use of crossing structures linking fragmented forests.
159. Gentrification Drives Patterns of Alpha and Beta Diversity in Cities
| Various authors | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2024
Uses nearly 189,000 camera-trap days across 23 U.S. cities to demonstrate relationships between neighborhood socioeconomic change and the distribution of mammal biodiversity.
160. Urban Human-Coyote Conflicts: Assessing Friendliness as an Indicator of Coexistence
| Cameron T. Whitley, Melanie M. Bowers and Harriett Grantz | Animals | 2023-09-13
Examines how cities interpret and communicate coyote behavior and shows that public attitudes and media narratives can strongly affect wildlife-management policy.
161. Urbanization, Climate and Species Traits Shape Mammal Communities from Local to Continental Scales
| Mason Fidino et al. | Nature Ecology & Evolution | 2023
Uses wildlife observations from 20 North American cities to show that climate, vegetation, body size, and species traits affect how mammals respond to urbanization.
162. Mammals Adjust Diel Activity Across Gradients of Urbanization
| Travis Gallo et al. | eLife | 2022-03-31
Shows that coyotes, bobcats, foxes, raccoons, skunks, deer, opossums, and rabbits alter their daily activity patterns in response to human density, vegetation, temperature, and urban development.
163. Human-Wildlife Coexistence in Urban Wildlife Management: Insights from Nonlethal Predator Management and Rodenticide Bans
| Christian Hunold and Kevin Mazuchowski | Animals | 2020
Examines municipal policies that attempt to replace automatic eradication with coexistence, nonlethal predator management, mutual accommodation, and reduced use of ecologically harmful rodenticides.
164. Amphibians in an Urban Environment: A Case Study from a Central European City
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2019
Finds that permanent ponds, river valleys, surrounding green space, and watercourse connectivity are important predictors of urban amphibian richness.
165. Mammal Diversity and Metacommunity Dynamics in Urban Green Spaces
| Travis Gallo et al. | Ecological Applications | 2017-08-21
Compares mammals in Chicago parks, cemeteries, golf courses, and natural areas and shows that different categories of urban green space support substantially different mammal communities.
166. How Small Cities Affect the Biodiversity of Ground-Dwelling Mammals and the Relevance of This Knowledge in Planning Urban Land Expansion
| Rafał Łopucki and Ignacy Kitowski | Urban Ecosystems | 2017-01-03
Investigates mammal communities around smaller cities and demonstrates why wildlife habitat should be considered before urban expansion fragments remaining landscapes.
167. Seattle Urban Carnivore Project
| Woodland Park Zoo | Woodland Park Zoo | n.d.
Uses camera traps and citizen observations to study coyotes, bobcats, raccoons, and other carnivores while developing strategies for habitat connectivity and positive coexistence.
168. Edmonton Urban Coyote Project
| University of Alberta and City of Edmonton | Edmonton Urban Coyote Project | n.d.
Studies causes of human-coyote conflict and develops evidence-based approaches for allowing carnivores and people to share metropolitan landscapes safely.
169. Urban Wildlife Information Network Research
| Urban Wildlife Information Network | UWIN | n.d.
Summarizes multi-city research examining urban mammal diversity, wildlife behavior, socioeconomic patterns, environmental contaminants, habitat connectivity, and human-wildlife coexistence.
Cemeteries, Vacant Lots, Brownfields and Informal Nature
170. Biodiversity in the Gaps: The Role of Urban Informal Green Spaces in Supporting Bird Conservation
| Various authors | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2026-08
Examines vacant lots, brownfields, railway corridors, and other informal spaces and shows that these overlooked habitats can complement formal parks in conserving urban birds.
171. The Role of Urban Parks and Informal Green Spaces in Supporting Spontaneous Flora and Insect Pollinators
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2026-07-29
Compares maintained parks with informal green spaces in Prague and finds substantial native plant diversity, threatened plants, and pollinator habitat across the urban landscape.
172. The Role of Vacant Lots in Promoting Avian Species Diversity and Occupancy in a Post-Industrial City
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2026-01
Finds that greater amounts of vacant land in Detroit are associated with increased bird richness and diversity, while surrounding roads tend to reduce avian diversity.
173. Urban Forest Fragments vs Residential Neighborhoods: Urban Habitat Preference of Migratory Birds
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2022-11
Finds that both residential vegetation and urban forest fragments can provide migration stopover habitat, although forest-dependent birds often show stronger preferences for remnant woodland.
174. Urban Cemeteries as Shared Habitats for People and Nature
| Various authors | Land | 2022-08-04
Examines public attitudes toward natural features in cemeteries and shows how relatively wild vegetation, meadows, mature trees, and dead wood can coexist with recreational and cultural functions.
175. Ecological Networks in Urban Forest Fragments Reveal Species Associations Between Native and Invasive Plant Communities
| Sonali Chauhan, Gitanjali Yadav and Suresh Babu | Plants | 2022-02-17
Examines plant communities in Delhi forest fragments and demonstrates the ecological complexity of remnant urban woodlands containing interacting native, introduced, and invasive species.
176. Brownfield Sites Promote Biodiversity at a Landscape Scale
| Various authors | Science of the Total Environment | 2022-01-15
Shows that landscapes containing former landfill sites can support greater richness of birds, plants, and insects, challenging assumptions that all brownfield land is ecologically expendable.
177. Can Small Vacant Lots Become Important Reservoirs for Birds in Urban Areas?
| Various authors | Urban Forestry & Urban Greening | 2020-01
Finds surprisingly rich bird assemblages in both small and large vacant lots in a Latin American city, demonstrating their potential value as overlooked wildlife refuges.
178. Balancing Urban Biodiversity Needs and Resident Preferences for Vacant Lot Management
| Various authors | Sustainability | 2018
Finds that Baltimore vacant lots containing remnant vegetation and trees can support greater bird richness while also meeting residents' preferences for attractive neighborhood green space.
179. Urban Forest Fragmentation Impoverishes Native Mammalian Biodiversity in the Tropics
| Various authors | Ecology and Evolution | 2018
Uses camera traps in Malaysian urban forests and finds that patch size, large trees, young vegetation, and standing dead trees influence the persistence of native mammals.
Light, Buildings and Other Urban Wildlife Hazards
180. Artificial Light at Night Consistently Impacts Avian Physiology and Behaviour
| Sayuri Diaz-Palma et al. | Ecology Letters | 2026-04-01
Meta-analysis finds that nighttime lighting alters bird sleep, metabolism, reproductive maturation, daily activity, nocturnal behavior, and foraging effort.
181. Disentangling the Biotic and Abiotic Drivers of Bird-Building Collisions in a Tropical Asian City
| David J. X. Tan et al. | Conservation Biology | 2024-08
Studies building collisions in Singapore and expands collision research beyond temperate North American cities into a highly urbanized tropical environment.
182. Effects of Artificial Light at Night on Nest-Site Selection, Reproductive Success and Behavior of a Synanthropic Bird
| Various authors | Environmental Pollution | 2021-11-01
Studies barn swallows nesting on buildings in Taipei and finds nighttime lighting affects feeding schedules, chick behavior, and reproductive outcomes.
183. Seasonal Variation in the Effects of Artificial Light at Night on Nocturnally Migrating Birds
| Various authors | Environmental Pollution | 2021-02-01
Uses observations from hundreds of U.S. cities to show that artificial nighttime lighting changes urban occurrence patterns of migratory birds across different seasons.
184. Multisensory Pollution: Artificial Light and Anthropogenic Noise Affect Great Tit Activity
| Various authors | Environmental Pollution | 2020-01
Demonstrates that urban wildlife may respond simultaneously to multiple pollutants, with artificial lighting and noise interacting to alter bird activity patterns.
185. Factors Influencing Bird-Building Collisions in Downtown Minneapolis
| Various authors | PLOS ONE | 2019
Monitors collisions at downtown buildings and examines glass, vegetation, structure size, nighttime lighting, and seasonal migration as predictors of bird mortality.
186. The Impact of Artificial Light at Night on Nocturnal Insects
| Avalon C. S. Owens and Sara M. Lewis | Ecology and Evolution | 2018
Reviews how artificial lighting affects insect movement, feeding, reproduction, predation, communication, and mortality, with particular concern for moths and fireflies.
187. High-Intensity Urban Light Installation Dramatically Alters Nocturnal Bird Migration
| Benjamin M. Van Doren et al. | Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences | 2017
Shows that New York's Tribute in Light attracts and disorients migrating birds and that temporarily extinguishing the lights rapidly removes the effect.
188. Reduced Flight-to-Light Behaviour of Moth Populations Exposed to Long-Term Urban Light Pollution
| Various authors | Biology Letters | 2016
Finds that moth populations from brightly illuminated urban environments show reduced attraction to artificial lights, suggesting evolutionary responses to long-term urban light pollution.
189. Threats to Urban Raptors
| Urban Raptor Conservancy | Urban Raptor Conservancy | n.d.
Reviews major hazards confronting city-dwelling birds of prey, including vehicle and window collisions, electrical infrastructure, environmental contaminants, rodenticides, and human persecution.
Residential Gardens, Urban Agriculture and Citizen Conservation
190. What Can Urban Gardens Teach Us About Biodiversity?
| Zara Kadir | New York Botanical Garden | 2026-06-10
Surveys different garden types and records dozens of bird and insect species, showing that habitat structure and landscape diversity can allow substantial biodiversity to persist within small urban spaces.
191. Wild Ways: Understanding the Behavioural Drivers of Urban Rewilding in London's Private Gardens
| Various authors | Cities & Health | 2026
Examines practical, social, environmental, and motivational factors influencing whether residents rewild private gardens for biodiversity.
192. Wild Ways: Gardening for Wildlife in London's Private Residential Gardens
| Various authors | Cities & Health | 2025-09-10
Finds high participation in wildlife gardening among surveyed London residents, particularly through providing food, water, shelter, vegetation, and habitat connections.
193. Urban Allotment Gardens with Turf Reduce Biodiversity and Provide Limited Regulatory Ecosystem Services
| Marta Melon et al. | Sustainability | 2025-07-07
Finds that management choices within allotment gardens strongly affect plant biodiversity and ecological function, with turf-dominated plots offering comparatively limited habitat.
194. Wildlife-Friendly Cities Through Global Urban Wildlife Monitoring
| Urban Wildlife Institute | Urban Wildlife Information Network | 2025
Explains how standardized wildlife monitoring across many cities can reveal general principles of urban ecology and translate those findings into wildlife-inclusive planning, design, management, and coexistence policy.
195. Use of Wildlife-Friendly Structures in Residential Gardens by Animal Wildlife
| Various authors | Urban Ecosystems | 2024
Citizen scientists document birds, frogs, reptiles, and mammals using water sources, nest boxes, artificial shelters, and other wildlife-supporting structures in Australian residential gardens.
196. Urban Agriculture and Its Biodiversity: What Is It and What Lives in It?
| Various authors | Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment | 2023-04-15
Reviews the diversity of organisms inhabiting urban agriculture and argues that farms and food-growing spaces should be considered habitat for both humans and non-human species.
197. Gardening for Wildlife: Factors Underlying Engagement in Wildlife-Friendly Gardening
| Oriol García-Antúnez et al. | People and Nature | 2023-02-01
Examines why householders create wildlife habitat and identifies attitudes, knowledge, garden characteristics, social influences, and practical constraints affecting participation.
198. The Plant and Faunal Species Composition and Diversity on Rooftop Farms
| Various authors | Landscape and Urban Planning | 2022
Examines plants, arthropods, birds, and seasonal variation on urban rooftop farms and explores how surrounding landscape and farm design influence their wildlife value.
199. Why Garden for Wildlife? Social and Ecological Drivers, Motivations and Barriers
| Mark A. Goddard, Andrew J. Dougill and Tim G. Benton | Ecological Economics | 2013-02
Finds that wildlife gardening is influenced by personal motivations, neighborhood norms, garden structure, ecological context, and environmental awareness, suggesting community programs can drive widespread habitat improvement.
