Accelerating urbanisation and associated lifestyle changes result in loss of biodiversity and diminished wellbeing of people through fewer direct interactions and experiences with nature. In this review, we propose the notion of urban wilding (the promotion of autonomous ecological processes that are independent of historical land‐use conditions, with minimal direct human maintenance and planting interventions) and investigate its propensity to improve biodiversity and people–nature connections in cities. Through a large interdisciplinary synthesis, we explore the ecological mechanisms through which urban wilding can promote biodiversity in cities, investigate the attitudes and relations of city dwellers towards urban wild spaces, and discuss the integration of urban wilding into the fabric of cities and its governance. We show that favouring assembly spontaneity by reducing planting interventions, and functional spontaneity by limiting maintenance practices, can promote plant diversity and provide ecological resources for numerous organisms at habitat and city scales. These processes could reverse biotic homogenisation, but further studies are needed to understand the effects of wilding on invasive species and their consequences. From a socio‐ecological perspective, the attitudes of city dwellers towards spontaneous vegetation are modulated by successional stages, with grassland and woodland stages preferred, but dense shrubby vegetation stages disliked. Wild spaces can diversify physical interactions with nature, and enrich multi‐sensory, affective and cognitive experiences of nature in cities. However, some aspects of wild spaces can cause anxiety, feeling unsafe, and the perception of abandonment. These negative attitudes could be mitigated by subtle design and maintenance interventions. While nature has long been thought of as ornamental and instrumental in cities, urban wilding could help to develop relational and intrinsic values of nature in the fabric of cities. Wildness and its singular aesthetics should be combined with cultural norms, resident uses and urban functions to plan and design urban spatial configurations promoting human–non‐human cohabitation. For urban wilding to be socially just and adapted to the needs of residents, its implementation should be backed by inclusive governance opening up discussion forums to residents and urban workers. Scientists can support these changes by collaborating with urban actors to design and experiment with new wild spaces promoting biodiversity and wellbeing of people in cities.

中文翻译：

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野生城市促进生物多样性和人类：跨学科框架

加速城市化和相关生活方式的改变导致生物多样性丧失，并通过减少与自然的直接互动和体验而降低人们的福祉。在这篇综述中，我们提出了城市野化的概念（促进独立于历史土地利用条件的自主生态过程，以最少的直接人类维护和种植干预），并调查其改善生物多样性和人与自然联系的倾向。城市。通过大规模的跨学科综合，我们探讨了城市荒野促进城市生物多样性的生态机制，调查了城市居民对城市荒野空间的态度和关系，并讨论了城市荒野融入城市结构及其治理。我们表明，通过减少种植干预来促进组装自发性，并通过限制维护实践来促进功能自发性，可以促进植物多样性，并为栖息地和城市规模的众多生物体提供生态资源。这些过程可能会逆转生物同质化，但需要进一步研究来了解野生对入侵物种的影响及其后果。从社会生态学的角度来看，城市居民对自然植被的态度受到演替阶段的调节，首选草地和林地阶段，但不喜欢茂密的灌木植被阶段。野生空间可以使与自然的身体互动多样化，并丰富城市中自然的多感官、情感和认知体验。然而，野外空间的某些方面可能会引起焦虑、不安全感和被遗弃的感觉。这些消极态度可以通过微妙的设计和维护干预措施来缓解。虽然长期以来，自然一直被认为对城市具有装饰性和工具性，但城市野化有助于在城市结构中发展自然的相关价值和内在价值。野性及其独特的美学应与文化规范、居民用途和城市功能相结合，规划和设计促进人类与非人类共居的城市空间配置。为了使城市荒野实现社会公正并适应居民的需求，其实施应得到包容性治理的支持，为居民和城市工人开放讨论论坛。科学家可以通过与城市参与者合作设计和试验新的野生空间来支持这些变化，以促进城市居民的生物多样性和福祉。