The goal of our work is fourfold: to describe the diversity of scientific questions in urban ecology, show how these questions are organized, to assess how these questions can be built in close interactions with stakeholders, to better understand the role urban ecology can play within ecological sciences. A workshop with scientists from all relevant fields (from ecology to sociology) and stakeholders was organized by the Foundation for Research on Biodiversity (FRB). Three types of scientific issues were outlined about (1) the biodiversity of organisms living in urban areas, (2) the functioning of urban organisms and ecosystems, (3) interactions between human societies and urban ecological systems. For all types of issues we outlined it was possible to distinguish both fundamental and applied scientific questions. Overall, the human population is more and more urban. Cities have a strong impact on the biosphere and increasing the share of Nature within towns is more and more viewed as crucial for the well-being of town dwellers. Moreover, as all types of ecological and evolutionary questions can be asked in urban areas, urban ecology will likely be more and more influential in the development of ecology. The future of towns, their biodiversity and the life of city dwellers is at stake. Depending on research and the way its results are taken into account, very different towns could emerge. Urban areas can be viewed as a test and a laboratory for the future of the interactions between human and ecological systems.

The concepts of 'artificialised land' and 'land take' refer to specific land use and land use changes, respectively. Initially introduced by agronomists, who sought to identify the causes of agricultural land loss, the implementation of these concepts required the identification of various land uses and changes between them. 1 This has resulted in a distinction between four main types of use: agricultural uses, forestry uses, areas considered 'natural' and the rest, comprising 'artificialised land'. The This article is based primarily on the results of a collective scientific report (ESCo) conducted by IFSTTAR and INRA at the request of the ministries responsible for Environment (MTES) and Agriculture (MAA) and ADEME. For the complete results, refer to the full report and summary, respectively:-Béchet (coord.), Le Bissonnais (coord.), Ruas (coord.), et al. (2017a). Sols artificialisés et processus d'artificialisation des sols, Déterminants, impacts et leviers d'action. Rapport d'expertise scientifique collective réalisée à la demande du MTES, du MAA et de l'ADEME, IFSTTAR & INRA (France), 609 p.; -Béchet, Le Bissonnais, Ruas (coord.), Schmitt B., Savini I., Desrousseaux M., et al. (2017b). Artificialised land and land take processes: drivers, impacts and potential responses. Summary of the collective scientific report, IFSTTAR-INRA (France), 127 p AU3 . 1 Slak and Vidal (1995).

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Abstract. - In mountainous areas, town planning can be regulated by a specially-adapted legal framework to reconcile protection and development, to balance agricultural and touristic economies and to prevent the risk of environmental damages. The legal contraints have led to the increasing predominance of integrated protection in local planning policies, to prevent the injure to mountainous areas, landscapes and sites. However, it should be recalled that legal mechanisms are just some of the instruments which facilitate the integration of economical development into spatial planning.