Cary Conference VIII Convened: April 27 - 29, 1999 Institute of Ecosystem Studies Millbrook, NY
Conference Rationale and Goals Nowhere on earth is the challenge for ecological understanding greater, and yet more urgent, than in those parts of the globe where human activity is most intense - cities. The majority of the world's people live in or near cities, and the percentage is increasing. Urbanization is one of the major environmental changes that people are causing on a global scale. Urban areas concentrate enormous amounts of energy and resources, creating unique ecosystems and causing innumerable impacts to adjacent and distant lands and waters.

People need to understand how cities work as ecological systems to take control of the vital links between human actions and environmental quality. Furthermore, city dwellers' lives are enriched through appreciating and understanding their local environment.

By seeing cities as ecosystems, with physical, biological and social structure and function, we bring urban areas into the realm of ecology and ecological understanding into the service of urban planners, managers, educators and citizens. Taking an ecosystem approach gives us the tools we need to cope with:

• the complexity of cities, integrating sociology, anthropology, economics and history with the full suite of biological and physical concepts;
• the dynamic nature of cities as places where change is the norm and is driven by a multitude of interacting forces and conditions; and
• the vital roles played by spatial relationships, human and other disturbances, and historical influences on shaping the urban environment.

Developing broad understanding of cities as ecosystems faces numerous challenges, both intellectual and practical. Until recently, many urban research and educational efforts focused on just the more "natural" or "green" parts of the urban landscape, rather than addressing the whole as an ecological system. However, there is increasing attention being paid to urban ecology, including new initiatives aimed at understanding cities as ecosystems. Our education systems do only a spotty job of teaching systems and interdisciplinary thinking, and they have a hard time developing truly integrative themes that run across the subjects and through the years in the curriculum. Fortunately, national and state curriculum and teaching standards - in science, math, geography, social and earth sciences - all are calling for student-centered inquiry, and for teachers and schools to provide a rich range of opportunities for students to engage in genuine investigations of the real world around them. The Cary Conference will crystallize the new frameworks that are emerging from research about urban ecosystems and from research on how people learn about complex systems and explore practical ways to apply this knowledge in formal and nonformal education programs of all kinds.

Ultimately, urban ecosystem education seeks to foster a broad, ecosystem-based understanding of cities among all people. The overarching goal of Cary Conference VIII is to advance the practice of urban ecosystem education, and this goal will be addressed by tackling three specific goals:

1. Establish the importance of urban ecosystem education and the need to foster among all people an understanding of cities as ecosystems.
2. Develop the conceptual foundations and explore the intellectual frontiers of urban ecosystem education.
3. Identify needs and make recommendations for integrating urban ecosystem education into formal and informal education systems.

The Cary Conference will focus on integrating urban ecosystem education into schools, colleges and universities, and through museums, environmental centers and other informal programs. While the majority of participants will be from the U.S., with a concomitant focus on examples and applications here, the needs, foundations and visions we develop will hopefully be applicable worldwide.

There are many different stakeholders with an interest in fostering a deeper understanding of urban ecosystems, including academics, educators, city planners and managers, community development leaders and urban citizen groups and individuals. We propose to bring people with these different perspectives together to address the questions, Why is it important for people to understand urban ecosystems? How can people use an understanding of urban ecosystems? What practical improvements can we expect if such understandings are developed broadly? The answers to these questions will identify the key learning outcomes for different constituents and show how these outcomes might be used. The Cary Conference will provide a unique opportunity for a diverse group to engage in meaningful and focused dialogue, and to distill cogent and convincing statements of importance and need.

Why is it important to develop the conceptual foundations and identify the intellectual frontiers for education about urban ecosystems? In order to move beyond piecemeal, peripheral, and anecdotal treatment, and to avoid approaches based on significantly outmoded or even incorrect ideas, the practice of urban ecosystem education needs as foundations:

• goals for teaching and learning that build on broadly synthetic and scientifically current understanding,
• firm grounding in theory and empirical research from both the sciences (what concepts, skills, habits of mind to teach) and from education (what cognitive, pedagogical and practical techniques to use), and
• a dynamic process for sustaining cross-fertilization and interchange among scientists, educators, practitioners and stakeholders, and for identifying and addressing important challenges and frontiers.

In promoting and guiding the practice of urban ecosystem education, we must be strategic in choosing what to teach and emphasize. Clearly, we cannot teach everything about cities, but instead must identify the key outcomes in a process of dialogue among scientists, educators and constituents. These outcomes must address people's needs, have clear application and utility, and be achievable given what we know about the cognitive and social influences on how people learn and develop understandings.

Building on a well developed foundation, the third goal of the Cary Conference is to identify needs and make recommendations for integrating urban ecosystem education into formal and informal education systems and programs. Achieving this goal will require the insights, experiences and wisdom of a broad diversity of education practitioners and leaders to create pragmatic visions for the future of urban ecosystem education. Several emerging trends and initiatives can be brought to bear here:

• Efforts to define and enhance ecological or environmental literacy.
• The movement to achieve national education standards.
• New and emerging educational strategies and tools, such as user-friendly simulation models of whole ecosystems, geographic information system technology and partnerships and networks of students, teachers and scientists.