Segregation by ethnicity or class is a common feature of urban regions in the United States as well as internationally. However, this phenomenon is almost always addressed as a social issue only, with little or no attention paid to its implications for ecosystem pattern and processes or for urban biodiversity. Social segregation may affect ecological structures and processes directly, may act through complex legacies, or may be involved in feedbacks with ecological characteristics of urban cities, suburbs, and urban regions. The symposium seeks 1) to explore a range of patterns of segregation in U.S. and international urban regions; 2) present examples of the ecological effects of such patterns of exclusion; and 3) explore cases of feedbacks between segregation and ecology. The outcome of the symposium will be a wider awareness of the interaction between segregation and ecology as a frontier for both research and application.