This book shows what role nature can play in a city and how this can make it a better place for people to live. People, planners, designers and politicians are working towards the development of green cities. Some cities are already promoted as green cities, while others are on their way to become one. But their goals are often unclear and can include different facets. 

Presenting contributions from world leading researchers in the field of urban ecology, the editors provide an interdisciplinary overview of best practices and challenges in creating green cities. They show examples of how to build up these cities from bits and pieces to districts and urban extensions. Each example concludes with a summary of the collected knowledge, the learning points and how this can be used in other places. The best practices are collected from around the world Europe, Australia, America and Asia. The new dynamic urban development of Asia is illustrated by case studies from China and the Indian subcontinent. 

The reader will learn which role nature can play in green cities and what the basic requirements are in terms of culture, pre-existing nature conditions, existing urban surroundings, history, design and planning. 

Prof. Dr. Jürgen Breuste is Head of the Research Group Urban and Landscape Ecology at the University of Salzburg, Austria. He is the President of the Society for Urban Ecology (SURE).

Part 1: Concepts.- Chapter 1. The Green City: general concept.- Chapter 2. The nature concept - of what the green consist of.- Chapter 3. The benefit concept - How people can benefit from urban nature.- Part 2: Challenges and Practices.- Chapter 4. Urban Parks.- Chapter 5. Urban Gardening.- Chapter 6. Urban Agriculture.- Chapter 7. Urban Forests.- Chapter 8. Urban waters and wetlands.- Chapter 9. Urban Protected Areas.- Chapter 10. Urban Biodiversity.- Chapter 11. Multi-functional urban green spaces.- Chapter 12. Conflicting nature in cities.