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This paper, based on a review of ecological literature and writings about ecology, aims to outline the history of the relationship between naturalists and the city. Beginning in the 17th century, naturalists’ curiosity for the city is attested by the production of flora inventories. However, the birth of ecology as a disciplinary field would radically distance naturalists from the city. Too dirty, too disrupted and ultimately too human, nature in the city was no longer a legitimate topic of research in ecology during part of the 20th century. Urban ecology, in its naturalist version, was born in the 1970s, but only recently took off in a context of increasing urbanisation. It would initiate a rediscovery of the city that, in the past few decades, has coincided with the development of interdisciplinary approaches and works oriented towards the definition of strategies to make the city more ecological.