Consistent with a worldwide trend, the size of Australian cities has increased dramatically over the last 100 years, placing significant pressures on the natural resource base and regional infrastructures. Evidence of rapidly changing climates, diminishing surface and groundwater resources, and a catastrophic loss of global biodiversity illustrates the critical need for planners to articulate an ecologically- sound blueprint for urban development. In this course you will engage with a theoretical and methodological framework for incorporating ecological criteria into the urban and rural planning process in response to these substantial challenges.