Introduction
This chapter outlines the “ecologies of urbanism” analytic employed by contributors to this volume. Unlike a singular ecology that might suggest a unified experience of urban nature, this approach compels us to identify the multiple forms of nature—in biophysical, cultural, and political terms—that have discernable impact on power relations and human social action in Asian cities. In a manner that distinguishes ecologies of urbanism from other approaches to urban environmental change, this analytical approach presupposes a multi-scalar perspective that varies its analytical parameters according to the social and/or biophysical processes under consideration. It also allows the reader to distinguish between “ecology” and “nature” in meaningful and consequential ways.