Concern for environmental issues has been established in the public and academic debate since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, from which the United Nations Program in charge of environmental affairs (UNEP) was created. The Brundtland Report prepared in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development is recognized as a milestone in this topic, where the concept of Sustainable Development was presented for the first time, referring to development that meets the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their own needs.

In the first instance, it was mainly biologists who dealt with issues related to urban ecology and the need for interdisciplinary work motivated professionals from various fields (geographers, anthropologists, lawyers, economists, sociologists, architects, agronomists, among others) to get involved in these issues. Ecological research on urban systems has provided knowledge, from a systemic point of view, regarding the nature of the city that enables actions on scientific bases.

Accompanying the development of this new discipline, the National University of General Sarmiento created the Bachelor's Degree in Urban Ecology in 1996, whose mentor was María Josefa Di Pace. This degree program, the first in Latin America, provides a series of concepts and instruments for the analysis and resolution of environmental problems of cities and their surroundings. It proposes an interdisciplinary approach that is based on the relationships between the different aspects of environmental problems. Its graduates enter the public, business and civil society organizations, providing practical solutions in waste management, water management, energy efficiency, urban habitat, and territorial environmental policies in general.

The first urban ecology laboratories in the world were founded, in 1999 for temperate ecosystems, Urban Ecology Research Laboratory Archived September 28, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. from the University of Washington, and in 2008 for tropical ecosystems, the Urban Ecology Laboratory, State Distance University of Costa Rica, which forms an important part of the History of Urban Ecology in Costa Rica").

Solid waste in urban areas

In every ecosystem, a solid mass of organic remains of living organisms and their activity is produced (such as remains of branches and leaves, animal corpses and excrement), although there is also inorganic matter. Thanks to the decomposition processes of soil fauna and flora, solid waste is recycled into the environment.

In large cities, where the absence of natural soils is the majority, solid waste is also produced, the so-called urban solid waste, which represents a mixture of the remains of domestic, economic, industrial and process activities.

It is one of the biggest problems in many large cities today, due to the complexity it represents and the impressive volume that is generated every day and requires elimination. The collection and treatment of waste is carried out in several phases:

All of this, derived from the various activities carried out in an urban area, with others that come from shops, offices, schools and those derived from the management of the cleaning of parks and gardens. In recent years there has been an exponential increase in the production of solid waste in underdeveloped countries due to the excess of plastic packaging and wrapping of multiple consumer goods, as well as highly dangerous waste such as electronic waste, due to its high content of heavy metals, which are not managed properly.

Apart from the excess of waste that is generated, we must add the problem of its accumulation and poor management in the collection and recycling processes due to poor government policies for environmental management.

Urban ecology deals with various environmental issues linked to: water resources (pollution of surface and groundwater, water supply for human consumption and productive uses, flooding, etc.), waste management (domestic, industrial, hazardous, etc.), energy consumption, peri-urban dynamics, transportation systems, air pollution, soil degradation, settlements, access to green areas, among others.

Concern for environmental issues has been established in the public and academic debate since the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment held in Stockholm in 1972, from which the United Nations Program in charge of environmental affairs (UNEP) was created. The Brundtland Report prepared in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development is recognized as a milestone in this topic, where the concept of Sustainable Development was presented for the first time, referring to development that meets the needs of the current generation without compromising the ability of future generations to satisfy their own needs.

In the first instance, it was mainly biologists who dealt with issues related to urban ecology and the need for interdisciplinary work motivated professionals from various fields (geographers, anthropologists, lawyers, economists, sociologists, architects, agronomists, among others) to get involved in these issues. Ecological research on urban systems has provided knowledge, from a systemic point of view, regarding the nature of the city that enables actions on scientific bases.

Accompanying the development of this new discipline, the National University of General Sarmiento created the Bachelor's Degree in Urban Ecology in 1996, whose mentor was María Josefa Di Pace. This degree program, the first in Latin America, provides a series of concepts and instruments for the analysis and resolution of environmental problems of cities and their surroundings. It proposes an interdisciplinary approach that is based on the relationships between the different aspects of environmental problems. Its graduates enter the public, business and civil society organizations, providing practical solutions in waste management, water management, energy efficiency, urban habitat, and territorial environmental policies in general.

The first urban ecology laboratories in the world were founded, in 1999 for temperate ecosystems, Urban Ecology Research Laboratory Archived September 28, 2021 at the Wayback Machine. from the University of Washington, and in 2008 for tropical ecosystems, the Urban Ecology Laboratory, State Distance University of Costa Rica, which forms an important part of the History of Urban Ecology in Costa Rica").

Solid waste in urban areas

In every ecosystem, a solid mass of organic remains of living organisms and their activity is produced (such as remains of branches and leaves, animal corpses and excrement), although there is also inorganic matter. Thanks to the decomposition processes of soil fauna and flora, solid waste is recycled into the environment.

In large cities, where the absence of natural soils is the majority, solid waste is also produced, the so-called urban solid waste, which represents a mixture of the remains of domestic, economic, industrial and process activities.

It is one of the biggest problems in many large cities today, due to the complexity it represents and the impressive volume that is generated every day and requires elimination. The collection and treatment of waste is carried out in several phases:

All of this, derived from the various activities carried out in an urban area, with others that come from shops, offices, schools and those derived from the management of the cleaning of parks and gardens. In recent years there has been an exponential increase in the production of solid waste in underdeveloped countries due to the excess of plastic packaging and wrapping of multiple consumer goods, as well as highly dangerous waste such as electronic waste, due to its high content of heavy metals, which are not managed properly.

Apart from the excess of waste that is generated, we must add the problem of its accumulation and poor management in the collection and recycling processes due to poor government policies for environmental management.