Navigating Urbanization Challenges: Strategies for Enhancing Urban Biodiversity through Integrated Planning, Ecological Theory, and Landscape Design

Urbanization profoundly impacts urban biodiversity through habitat loss, fragmentation, and environmental disturbances such as pollution and urban heat island effects, resulting in a significant decline in native species populations by 20%-50%. However, urban green spaces and other forms of “incidental biodiversity” offer critical opportunities for conservation. Strategic urban planning and design, incorporating green infrastructure such as wildlife corridors and rooftop gardens, can enhance biodiversity by over 30% while delivering ecological and social benefits, including improved mental health for residents. Emerging theories in urban ecology advocate for multi-scale integration, leveraging advanced technologies such as remote sensing, artificial intelligence, and geographic information system modeling to drive predictive research and incorporate climate change scenarios. In landscape design, biodiversity-friendly practices - such as establishing nesting structures and enhancing habitat connectivity through adaptive greening - can mitigate fragmentation and increase species diversity by 15%-40%. This Research Topic, through cross-national and cross-city case studies, integrates theoretical and practical approaches to provide scientific guidance for global urban biodiversity conservation, addressing the challenges of rapid urbanization and species extinction risks.

This proposal seeks to transform cities from drivers of biodiversity loss into catalysts for its recovery. By merging urban-ecology theory with advanced geospatial technologies, we will clarify how urban expansion fragments habitats and degrades ecological quality, then demonstrate how strategically planned green infrastructure - wildlife corridors, rooftop habitats, adaptive nesting features - can re-connect landscapes and re-establish viable populations of native species. Cross-national case studies will compare governance models, design strategies and socio-ecological outcomes, generating practical guidance that planners, designers and policymakers can tailor to diverse cultural and climatic contexts. Deliverables include open-access toolkits, predictive maps and policy briefs that embed biodiversity conservation within routine urban development, climate-adaptation and public-health agendas. Ultimately, the project aims to mainstream biodiversity-positive urbanism, ensuring that future city growth sustains resilient ecosystems and enriches the daily lives of residents worldwide.

This Research Topic calls for papers that position cities as living ecosystems. Contributors are invited to explore, but are not limited to: urban-planning measures that embed biodiversity from parcel to metropolitan scale; field-tested or emerging applications of ecological theory (metapopulation, patch-dynamics, landscape connectivity, etc.); novel methods and technologies - remote sensing, AI, GIS modelling, citizen-science apps - for mapping, monitoring or forecasting urban biodiversity; and rigorous cross-regional comparative studies that reveal how culture, governance or biogeography shape outcomes. We welcome submissions that offer transferable, equity-sensitive solutions for biodiversity-positive urban growth, ultimately from an ecological viewpoint.

Article types and fees

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• ... View all formats

Articles that are accepted for publication by our external editors following rigorous peer review incur a publishing fee charged to Authors, institutions, or funders.

Article types

This Research Topic accepts the following article types, unless otherwise specified in the Research Topic description:

• Brief Research Report
• Data Report
• Editorial
• FAIR² Data
• General Commentary
• Hypothesis and Theory
• Methods
• Mini Review
• Opinion
• Original Research
• Perspective
• Policy and Practice Reviews
• Review
• Systematic Review
• Technology and Code

Keywords: Habitat fragmentation, Predictive technologies(RS/AI/GIS), Biodiversity-friendly design, Urbanization, Environmental change, Biological responses, Urban ecology, Biodiversity, Multi-taxa

Important note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.