Urban Wastelands

Faced with the growing demand for nature in cities, informal greenspaces are gaining the interest of various stakeholders - residents, associations, public authorities - as well as scientists. This book provides a cross-sectorial overview of the advantages and disadvantages of urban wastelands in meeting this social demand of urban nature, spanning from the social sciences and urban planning to ecology and soil sciences. It shows the potential of urban wastelands with respect tocity dwellers' well-being, environmental education, urban biodiversity and urban green networks as well as concerns regardingurban wastelands' inrelation to conflicts, and urban marketing. The authors provide aglobal insightthrough case studies in nine countries, mainly located in Europe, Asia and America,thusoffering a broad perspective.