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Over the few last decades, increasing population and expansion of urban areas has triggered faster land degradation. This manuscript reviews the most significant soil and water degradation processes in urban areas and their environmental impacts. Urban soils are partially sealed and subject to severe compaction, erosion and contamination from several sources (e.g. vehicular traffic and inappropriate waste disposal), which restrict their ability to provide ecosystem services. Water resources are also under great urban pressure, due to changes in flow processes, namely increasing runoff and flashiness linked to enhanced flood hazard, and decreasing water quality and degradation of aquatic ecosystems. Persistent pollutants such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons have been found in urban environments. Long-term monitoring programs to quantify better the magnitude of degradation …