Introduction to the Lecture：

Nature Cities aims to deepen and integrate basic and applied understanding of the nature of cities, including their roles, impacts and influences — past, present, and future. The journal will feature cutting-edge research, synthetic reviews and timely news and opinions. By bringing together diverse content and voices, it aims to transcend divides among disciplines, among regions and among researchers, practitioners, policy makers and the public. It will feature both quantitative and qualitative research from across relevant natural and social sciences, engineering, professional disciplines, and humanities.

Profile of the Speaker:

William Burnside is currently the Chief Editor of Nature Cities. He joined Nature Sustainability in 2017 as an associate editor and then senior editor, covering agriculture, conservation, life and Earth science, and urban science. Previously, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the US National Socio-environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC). His PhD in biology was awarded by the University of New Mexico, where he studied large-scale human ecology and the influence of metabolic constraints on ecological patterns and processes, collaborating with scholars in anthropology, computer science, ecology and physics. Before his doctoral work, he edited environmental and life science textbooks and earned an MS in natural resources and environment from the University of Michigan and a BA in human biology from Stanford University.