Practically all human activities have environmental consequences: the different forms of economic organization, demographic evolution and the exploitation of resources can have repercussions on the environment. Man and society are always at the centre of environmental issues, and our response to environmental challenges is grounded in knowledge and how we organize our activity.

Since 1980, the UAB and Barcelona City Council had organized joint activities centred on urban ecology issues. In 1996, their collaboration gave rise to an annual cycle of lecture-debates on a very wide range of topics dealing with the major environmental challenges facing the city. This marked the beginning of the Permanent Seminar on City Ecology.

The principal characteristics of the Ecology Seminar are: (1) its varied environmental subject matter, (2) addressed from an equally varied range of disciplines and perspectives, (3) presented by leading figures from disciplines not exclusively within the field of ecology (historians, philosophers, architects, economists, etc.) and (4) with the participation of the public and an emphasis on the free expression of all those taking part.

The scientific director of the Ecology Seminar (Dr. Jaume Terrades, Professor of Ecology at the UAB), the coordinator of the various editions (Dr. Anna Àvila) and various speakers involved in each edition, depending on the topics in hand, are researchers affiliated to CREAF.

The Publications Service of the UAB has published the abstracts of the papers given at the various editions of the Ecology Seminar.