Urbanization involves excessively forceful impact on habitats, often including their extinction and replacement with artificial structures. These transformations disrupts flow paths of energy, water and matter, within and between adjacent ecosystems, re-directing them into unsustainable, human-originated tracks. These transformations pose major ecological consequences for ecosystems functioning. Changes of hydrological, biogeochemical and ecological processes in catchments are reflected in freshwaters - the receivers of deregulated, extreme runoffs and accelerated flow of matter from disrupted natural cycles. Additionally, degradation of water habitats handicap their resilience - the ability to maintain oscillations within boundaries defined by steady state. Consequently, ecosystems functions and ability to provide services may be permanently amended.

Organizing the flow paths pursuing rules governing natural ecosystems in some parts of the city catchments, may compensate effects of their degradation in others. Reduction of impacts, such as minimizing pollution or water detention, together with rehabilitation of freshwater habitats are the foremost and fundamental conditions. It is also necessary to take measures toward augmenting absorbing capacity of ecosystems.

"Urban aquatic habitats in integrated urban water management" Activity aims in improving knowledge and methodological base for the integration of urban aquatic habitats and water based amenities into urban water development and management strategies. It also tests the proposed approaches in the set of selected case studies addressing various water related issues all over the world.