The world has become urban; cities increasingly shape our worldviews, relation to other species, and the large-scale, long-term decisions we make. Cities are nature, but they need to align better with other ecosystems to avoid accelerating climate change and loss of biodiversity. We need a science to guide urban development across the diverse realities of global cities. This need can be met, in part, by shifts in urban ecology and its linkages to related sciences. This perspective is a “synthesis of syntheses”, consolidating ideas from the other articles in the Special Section. It re-examines the role of urban ecology, and explores its integration with other disciplines that study cities. We conclude by summarizing the next steps in the ongoing shift in urban ecology, which is fast becoming an integral part of urban studies.

世界已经变得城市化；城市越来越多地塑造我们的世界观、与其他物种的关系以及我们做出的大规模、长期的决策。城市是自然，但它们需要与其他生态系统更好地协调，以避免加速气候变化和生物多样性丧失。我们需要一门科学来指导全球城市多样化现实中的城市发展。这种需求可以通过城市生态学及其与相关科学的联系的转变来部分满足。这个观点是“综合的综合”，巩固了特别部分其他文章的想法。它重新审视城市生态学的作用，并探索其与研究城市的其他学科的整合。最后，我们总结了城市生态学持续转变的后续步骤，城市生态学正在迅速成为城市研究的一个组成部分。