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Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems: Principles and Practices
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Product Description
Modern city dwellers are largely detached from the environmental effects of their daily lives. The sources of the water they drink, the food they eat, and the energy they consume are all but invisible, often coming from other continents, and their waste ends up in places beyond their city boundaries.
Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems shows how cities and their residents can begin to reintegrate into their bioregional environment, and how cities themselves can be planned with nature’s organizing principles in mind. Taking cues from living systems for sustainability strategies, Newman and Jennings reassess urban design by exploring flows of energy, materials, and information, along with the interactions between human and non-human parts of the system.
Drawing on examples from all corners of the world, the authors explore natural patterns and processes that cities can emulate in order to move toward sustainability. Some cities have adopted simple strategies such as harvesting rainwater, greening roofs, and producing renewable energy. Others have created biodiversity parks for endangered species, community gardens that support a connection to their foodshed, and pedestrian-friendly spaces that encourage walking and cycling.
A powerful model for urban redevelopment, Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems describes aspects of urban ecosystems from the visioning process to achieving economic security to fostering a sense of place.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #273282 in Books
- Published on: 2008-01-31
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Binding: Paperback
- 296 pages
Editorial Reviews
Review
"...the authors have written an excellent book on a subject of great interest and scope... the contents of this book will encourage readers to explore in greater detail the growing literature on urban ecology and urban sustainability, an end in itselfachievement that is a marvelous achievment." (Christopher Boone Ecological Restoration )
About the Author
Peter Newman is professor of city policy and director of the Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy at Murdoch University in Perth, Australia. He recently completed a Fulbright scholarship, which he spent at the University of Virginia studying sustainability initiatives in the U.S. He is the author of Sustainability and Cities (Island Press, 1999).
Isabella Jennings is a graduate student in the School of Environmental Science at Murdoch University. Her past and current research is related to the cities as sustainable ecosystems idea.
Customer Reviews
Skims the surface of a deeper topic
This book comes across as presenting in-depth information on creating sustainability within cities by utilizing a systems approach. Instead, what it is is a long restatement of "the Ten Melbourne Principles for Sustainable Cities", a set of principles developed at a conference held in Melbourne, Australia. All of the principles are covered in the introduction. The authors then rehash them in ten chapters incorporating a lot of naivete along the way.
One theme that keeps recurring in the book is the idea that indigenous cultures are more aware than other cultures of the importance of preserving the ecosystems on which they depend. This is a good example of "survivor bias". The authors pay attention to cultures that have survived, ignoring all the failed indigenous cultures. They are also making a misleading statement about these cultures by suggesting their practices were such that they would have continued on had they not been interrupted by Europeans.
The authors give some broad, non-science based introductions to topics like resilience, panarchy, and ecosystems, going so far as to misrepresent an ecosystem as some sort of smoothly running conflict-free process. Nature is cutthroat. It is unforgiving to elements that are causing problems. It is not the sort of place where the members are focused on "Fostering a sense of joy and belonging through rituals and celebrations following natural cycles" (p.47). Unless, of course, you see a bear taking down a moose then killing any animal that tries to interfere with his meal a joyful celebration.
On the bright side, I think this book provides a lot of introductory information and some good references on the topics it addresses.
Good introduction to a new "school of thought"
I used this book as one of two texts for "Introduction to Urban Ecosystems". It presents an important new perspective on viewing cities. As such, I would also assign other readings on the chapter topics.
I reviewed many potential texts for my class and this one covered the topics that I thought were important. For the class, I used the Melbourne principles as a premise that served the topic well.
