New-type urbanization and ecological civilization construction are two hot issues in China's current social development processes. Means of integrating the concept and principals of ecological civilization into the process of urbanization are of great academic and practical significance. Exploring rational patterns of urban growth and urban dwellers' habitation and consumption behaviors under the guidance of ecological civilization construction principles are key points in achieving healthy, high quality, and sustainable urban development. The urban residential community is a complex symbiosis between humans and the environment, and also the fundamental operative unit used in ecological management. The objective of this paper is to provide an overview of existing studies on the relationship between urban dwellers' behaviors and the ecological environment of their residential communities, and the implications of this for building ecological communities. First, we review the concept and connotations of the terms 'community' and 'ecological community'. Next, we examine the characteristics of urban dwellers' behaviors and explore the interactions between urban dwellers' behaviors and the eco-environment of residential communities. We then investigate the issue of building ecological communities from the perspectives of management strategies and options, ecological infrastructure construction and individual demonstrations of ecological communities. Finally, we present the priorities for future research, based on a summary of both the progress and knowledge gaps in previous studies. Literature review results indicate that, while some multidisciplinary research approaches have been used, there is still a need for more comprehensive approaches in researching the bi-directional relationship between urban dwellers' behaviors and the eco-environment of residential communities. Many of the studies available in this field are without sufficient validation via systematic methods. Moreover, the majority of the current studies on building ecological communities have concentrated on designing and developing new ecological communities rather than taking the reconstruction of existing communities into account. In addition, even for the newly designed eco-communities, planning and infrastructure construction have been awarded more attention than the ecological management of communities. Furthermore, rational policy recommendations and strategic options for building ecological communities of a range of community and environment types, and availability of resources and energy, remain under-examined, especially regarding the exploration of innovative management mechanisms. The review results also indicate that current practices in building eco-communities is more focused on improving specific indicators than systematically investigating the complex relations between the universal evaluation indicators of eco-communities. In addition, the existing management information systems of ecological community properties only cover public environmental management, and do not integrate material and energy metabolism, carbon and nitrogen cycles and ecological management concepts into the management platforms used to fulfill real-time calculations, queries, planning of ecological assets and properties, and interactive communication between urban dwellers and community managers. Last but not least, the experience gained from the implementation of current practices in building ecological communities needs to be further documented to ensure that integrated examples can be both extended and their principles applied to other communities, whilst avoiding overinvesting in overly advanced techniques, tools, and processes.