Urban Ecology for Local & Regional Decision Making

paper, fall 2025

Urban Ecology is the interdisciplinary study of urban and urbanizing systems from local to global scales. While urban ecology shares many features with the biological science of ecology, it emphasizes linkages with social, economic, and physical sciences and the humanities. Geographically, the subject includes central and edge cities, suburbs of various ages and densities, and exurban settlements in which urban lifestyles and economic commitments are dominant. In application, urban ecology can be useful as a social-ecological science for making cities more sustainable, resilient, and equitable.

In this paper, my peers and I explored the crisis in higher education at Yale University and its deep, historical ties to the city of New Haven.

Instructors Morgan Grove & Colleen Murphy-Dunning

Partners Sanjana Bhatnagar, Naurica Encarnación, Margaret Witkofsky