Against the background of unprecedented rates of urbanisation in the Global South, leading to massive social, economic and environmental transformations, this book engages with the dire need to understand the ecology of such settings as the foundation for fostering sustainable and resilient human settlements in contexts that are very different to the Global North. It does so by bringing together scholars from around the world, drawing together research and case studies from across the Global South to illustrate, in an interdisciplinary and comprehensive fashion, the ecology of towns and cities in the Global South. Framed using a social-ecological systems lens, it provides the reader with an in-depth analysis and understanding of the ecological dynamics and ecosystem services and disservices within the complex and rapidly changing towns and cities of the Global South, a region with currently scarce representation in most of the urban ecology literature. As such the book makes a call forgreater geographical balance in urban ecology research leading towards a more global understanding and frameworks. The book embraces the complexity of these rapid transformations for ecological and environmental management and how the ecosystems and the benefits they provide shape local ecologies, livelihood opportunities and human wellbeing, and how such knowledge can be mobilised towards improved urban design and management and thus urban sustainability.

Chapter 1. Introduction: Urban ecology in the Global South.- Part 1: Urbanisation and urban landscapes.- Chapter 2. Urbanisation in the Global South.- Chapter 3. Urban landscape history.- Chapter 4. Urban social ecology.- Part II: Urban Green Infrastructure & Biodiversity.- Chapter 5. Urban green infrastructure.- Chapter 6. Plant diversity.- Chapter 7. Animal diversity.- Part III: Ecosystem services.- Chapter 8. Urban provisioning ecosystem services.- Chapter 9. Urban regulating ecosystem services.- Chapter 10. Urban cultural ecosystem services.- Chapter 11. Urban ecosystem disservices.- Chapter 12. Urban agriculture.- Part IV: Planning and management.- Chapter 13. Promoting urban resilience and seeking sustainability.- Chapter 14. Social and ecological connectivity.- Chapter 15. Ecological planning and design.- Chapter 16. Urban governance of and for urban green and blue infrastructure.- Conclusion: (Re)imagining towns and cities of the future Global South.