Product Description

There is a huge amount of interest in the future of the planet and how architecture and design can contribute to this.

This book considers the ecological design of the city and includes ideas and best practice examples of ecological architectural and urban design around the world.

The tone of the book is extremely accessible as it demonstrates how small changes in one area of the world can have impacts elsewhere. It gives an optimistic view and leaves the reader fascinated at the intricacies of the planet′s ecosystems and how architecture and urban design can affect it.

• Examples range from Ladbroke Grove solar city in London to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Copenhagen, Curitiba, Tokyo, Sao Paulo, Helsinki, Portland Oregon, New York and New Delhi
• It is an extremely well rounded book with a balance of focus across history and around the world
• It is set to be a complete and comprehensive work on this popular area
• It is written by one of the leading figures in this field

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1375899 in Books
• Published on: 2004-10-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 304 pages

Review
"...timely textbook..." (Ecologist, March 2005)

"...this book is as good a place as any to start..." (ref; issue of sustainability) (RIBA journal, March 2005)

"...a handy reference compendium of successful applications at both the building and urban design scale." (Urban Design Magazine, October 2005)

Review
"...timely textbook..." (Ecologist, March 2005)

"...this book is as good a place as any to start..." (ref; issue of sustainability) (RIBA journal, March 2005)

"...a handy reference compendium of successful applications at both the building and urban design scale." (Urban Design Magazine, October 2005)

From the Back Cover
Urban growth is changing the condition of humanity and the face of the earth. Half the world’s people now live in cities, with most of the other half depending on them for their economic survival. Mega–cities of ten million or more people are the largest, most complex structures ever made. They are the central hubs of modern economies and their transport systems. Their resource use and waste discharge dominates the human presence on earth. Fossil fuel technology powers modern urbanisation, but in the coming years many cities will become vulnerable to the rising tides of climate change. Across the world, we need a revolution in ‘future–proofing’ our cities, progressively switching to renewable energy technology and mimicking natural zero–waste ecosystems.

Cities People Planet is a state of the art textbook on how we can address the many challenges of urbanisation. Through a fast moving text and ninety case studies, the author presents leading–edge initiatives and policies on how to make cities around the world both liveable and sustainable. Starting with a concise environmental an d cultural history of cities, the book continues as a contemporary global survey and analysis of the challenges of an urbanising world. The ecological redesign of cities, where practiced, is already showing substantial economic and social benefits and is now starting to be implemented across the world.

"Cities People Planet by Herbert Girardet is an impassioned plea for a different approach to cities. He argues that unless we change the way we live and use the resources within them, we may not survive. This powerful challenge should make us all think long and hard about our human dependence on the natural environment."
—Anne Power, Professor of Social Policy, London School of Economics and Political Science