Cities depend on a healthy natural environment that continuously provides a range of benefits, known as ecosystem services. Some examples of ecosystem services include drinking water, clean air, healthy food, and protection against floods. Healthy ecosystems are the foundation for sustainable cities, influencing and affecting human well-being and most economic activity. This manual outlines how cities can incorporate a focus on ecosystem services into city planning and management. By considering ecosystem services, cities have the opportunity to make some very positive changes, saving on municipal costs, boosting local economies, enhancing quality of life and securing livelihoods. The critical role that ecosystem services play in local economies is often taken for granted, and the TEEB approach can reveal the value of natural systems, highlighting opportunities and trade-offs between various policy options, planning proposals or infrastructure choices. By identifying the benefits that nature provides, and by understanding the value of these benefits, planners, educators and managers can move towards creating a sustainable city.