As urbanization speeds up, more land in and around a city is affected by human activities. While promoting Nature Watch and citizen science, we found that densely populated cities and surrounding areas, such as North China Plain, Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta, are also potential biodiversity hotspots, with high value for conservation. These areas are part of the landscape of biodiversity conservation in China. Meanwhile, with continuing social developments, urban residents pay more attention to biodiversity and demand for healthy ecosystem services. In this light, we have begun to practice “compatibility conservation” in urban parks, factories and enterprises, farmlands and plantations, meaning that we do not keep biodiversity conservation as the only goal. Apart from recovering “near-human ecosystems”, we also work to provide positive interactions between urban ecosystems and urban residents. Toward this end, we encourage and engage the public in conservation practices through citizen science.