In September 2018 the EGS Department had the pleasure of hosting the Urban Biodiversity and Design (URBIO) biennial meeting. This meeting brings together landscape and urban designers and ecologists from all over the world with a shared interest the ecology of our cities.

This year we had participants from over 20 countries, and delegates particularly appreciated the location where they felt they got interesting and useful insights to African and South African cities. One delegate noted that he enjoyed ‘ the trans-and interdisciplinary character of the conference and the exchange among participants from different urban contexts, and the location (which was exemplary for urban ecology).

Specifically, I liked the strong link between the conference and the local urban reality, research and planning: this was very insightful.’ The next URBIO meeting will be in China in 2020.