The theme of this symposium is the interplay between human choices and their environmental effects. Goals are (1) to examine the effect of choices on ecosystem properties, with focus on residential areas, (2) to examine socio-ecological models developed by social scientists used to conceptualize “choice” in urban ecosystems, and (3) discuss the opportunities and pitfalls of the multidisciplinary collaborations needed to study interactions of humans with landscapes. Speakers for the symposium represent a mix of social scientists who have been involved in studies of urban ecosystems together with biophysical scientists (ecology, climatology and environmental engineering) who are studying the effects of “choice” at the household or landscape level. Each talk will integrate aspects of human behavior and choice with resulting ecosystem properties, including nutrient flux, vegetation patterns, stream biodiversity and surface temperature. The first talk will be explicitly linked to the subsequent talks, providing context. It will also introduce a set of 3-5 questions for listeners to ponder during the talks, and to provide the starting point for the discussion and synthesis to follow the talks. The symposium will fit the ESA time guideline of 3.5 hours. Talks will be 25 minutes long. Allowing for a 10-minute break, this will leave 25 minutes for discussion and structured synthesis. The proposed symposium is one of several interrelated activities being developed by the Urban Ecology section. Symposium organizers are coordinating with other in the Urban Ecology Section to develop an urban ecosystem field trip in San Jose so that themes from the symposium carry over into the field trip. We also plan to host an off-site, informal dinner with symposium speakers and the UE section. Finally, we will seek to develop an integrative paper on the topic “the importance of human choice on the properties of urban ecosystems” as a follow-up product from the symposium. Symposium speakers will be invited to participate in writing this article and we will plan schedule at least one authors’ meeting at ESA to shape the article.