| Urban ecology, a multi- and transdisciplinary field engaging both ecological and social sciences, aims to understand and support sustainability in human dominated environments. To succeed, urban ecology, in both research and practice, must span boundaries between scientific fields; researchers, practitioners, policy makers and citizens; political and geographic boundaries; and the nature/society divide. This dissertation presents three articles that explore this challenge to urban ecology's goals, theoretical coherence, and practical implementation.; The first article, "Goal attainment in urban ecology research: a bibliometric review 1975-2004" (Young and Wolf, 2006) analyzes a core literature of urban ecology to support a reflexive analysis of the boundary spanning claims of the field's research frontier. Findings indicate that the literature strongly reflects urban ecology's commitment to strengthen and expand the discipline of ecology through cross-boundary work. Yet the growing tendency toward a more strictly disciplinary orientation threatens urban ecology's value as a boundary spanning project.; The second article, "Theoretical foundations in urban ecological planning" performs a cross-disciplinary analysis of historical contributions to theory applicable in the field of urban ecology, revealing a rich history of inquiry along the nature/society divide which can inform contemporary efforts in urban ecological research and planning. The third article, "The greening of Chicago: environmental leaders and organizational learning in the transition toward a sustainable metropolitan region" examines what perceptions of environmental managers teach us about boundary spanning organizations in response to mandates for an urban green agenda.; Each article confirms urban ecology's potential to combine disciplines and professions seeking to attain greater coherence between ecological and social systems. The articles invite deeper analysis of urban ecology research, theory and praxis toward the development of more comprehensive research agendas, theoretical models, and methods of practice that can help advance efforts toward sustainable cities. |
