In urban landscapes there is strong competition between land-uses, with humans and nature competing for space. The presence of nature in cities is, however, important for human well-being and understanding of our environment, and it provides key habitats and connectivity for species’ populations at broader scales (Dearborn and Kark 2010). Thus far, urbanisation has been described as a ‘massive unplanned experiment’ (Niemelä 2011); if cities are to be sustainable they need to be planned at a landscape scale rather than be allowed to develop in an uncoordinated fashion (Wu 2009; Wu 2014). For this to happen, landscape planning ideally should include quantitative tools to allow planners and decision makers to measure and compare the ecological impact of potential future landscape configurations (Opdam et al. 2002).