Jürgen Breuste, Professor at the University of Salzburg, Austria, is the founding President of the International Society of Urban Ecology (SURE) and past President of the International Association for Landscape Ecology, Germany (IALE-D). He studied geography at Martin-Luther University Halle/Wittenberg from where he got his PhD 1982 and his second graduation 1986. He was university lecturer at the German universities in Halle, Greifswald and Leipzig, and was head of department Urban Landscape at the Environmental Research Centre Leipzig/Halle. Until 2021, he has been a professor of urban Ecology at the University of Salzburg, Austria, an honorary professor of Capital Normal University, East China Normal University and the University of Bucharest, and member of several scientific boards. He has worked as project leader in a number of research projects on urban ecology and urban development at EU level and in other international cooperation. He has published several monographs in the fields of urban ecosystem research, nature conservation and urban development modeling, and serves on the editorial board of journals such as Ecological Indicators and Landscape Ecology.

Enhancing urban biodiversity means including urban wilderness, offering a place to unplanned nature in urban life. Most city dwellers today are largely alienated from wilderness, yet fascinated by it, by wild animals and wild plants. Many want to learn more about wildlife in the city, gain understanding, but also contribute to its protection and preservation. Urban wildernesses are ideal learning places, where we can learn from and with nature, and also about how wild urban nature sets up and accompanies the living space created for humans. Urban wilderness is perceived by urban dwellers and conservationists, is an opportunity and a challenge, and is also the focus of biodiversity and experiencing nature. The presentation will answer important current questions about the ecological and socio-cultural argumentation on urban wilderness, its structure, ecological performance, human behavior and the protection of wild nature in the city.