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 | | EcoCities: Rebuilding Cities in Balance with Nature by Richard Register ISBN-10: 9780865715523 ISBN-10: 0-86571-552-1 ISBN-13: 9780865715523 ISBN-13: 978-0-86571-552-3 Paperback 2006-04-01 New Society Publishers Find Lowest Price |
Editorials | ||
Product Description Most of the world's population now lives in cities. So if we are to address the problems of environmental deterioration and peak oil adequately, the city has to be a major focus of attention. Ecocities is about re-building cities and towns based on ecological principles for the long term sustainability, cultural vitality and health of the Earth's biosphere. Unique in the literature is the book's insight that the form of the city really matters and that it is within our ability to change it, and crucial that we do. Further, that the ecocity within its bioregion is comprehensible and do-able, and can produce a healthy and potentially happy future. Ecocities describes the place of the city in evolution, nature and history. It pays special attention to the key question of accessibility and transportation, and outlines design principles for the ecocity. The reader is encouraged to plunge in to its economics and politics: the kinds of businesses, planning and leadership required. The book then outlines the tools by which a gradual transition to the ecocity could be accomplished. Throughout, this new edition is generously illustrated with the author's own inspired visions of what such rebuilt cities might actually look like. Richard Register is one of the world's great theorists and authors in ecological city design and planning. The founder of Urban Ecology and Ecocity Builders, he convened the first International Ecocity Conference in 1990, lectures around the world, and has authored two previous books, as well as an earlier edition of Ecocities. | ||
Reviews | ||
Ecocitology The most amazing book I have ever read...life-altering look at evolutionary coexistence. There is hope for our future...with others understanding and implementing ecocity principles. Please - I challenge you to read and use the book...our way of being depends on it. | ||
Awesome with Clarity Anyone involved in city planning or anyone that lives in a city should read this. Power of Proximity! | ||
A pattern of urban design we will rediscover EcoCities is a book I have returned to repeatedly and discovered new insights every time. Register is no utopian dreamer; he's addressing real problems in contemporary urban design and land use patterns that cannot be sustained in a lower-energy future. Register's personality comes through loud and clear in his writing--this is no dry treatment of the subject. Through this book, Register helps us to envision with some specificity what urban landscapes light on automobiles but rich in biodiversity could look like. It's as if he's illustrating a series of before and after treatments of various spaces, but the before picture is now and the after is a future yet to be realized. Highly recommended reading for anyone who wants to help actively design their built environment towards sustainability. | ||
One of the keys to Sustainability Along with books like Natural Capitalism and Cradle to Cradle, Ecocities takes its place among the most important environmental tomes of our day. In a nutshell, Richard Register's vision (replete with a plan to get us there) could transform our world. In fact a structural response like ecocities (and smart growth) may be the best tools available to bring us to our only destination, sustainability. In his thoughtful book, Register waxes poetic on the environmental crisis we face, shares a grand vision for addressing the crisis -- while simultaneously improving our everyday lives -- and wraps it up with a road map for getting there. His many illustrations spark the imagination and are guaranteed to put a smile on your face. If you haven't read it, just do. Buy this important book now. | ||
moderate environmental views Here is an ambitious remit. Register gives a history of the development of cities. And he offers suggestions for what he calls eco-modern designs. That attempt to minimise energy consumption and maximise biodiversity. The former is an obvious laudable aim for any city and its occupants. Rising energy costs, due in part to ever increasing global industrialisation, can adversely affect everyone in a city. Reducing consumption is shown to involve such trends as more energy efficient cars. But he also advocates a greater biodiversity within cities. More gardens, including on rooftops. Multiple benefits are offered. A more pleasant recreational environment. And reduced cooling costs for buildings. Register offers a light leftist approach. He does not seem anticapitalist, unlike some radical environmentalists. | ||