Since the beginning of civilization, humans have built cities to wall nature out, then glorified it in beloved but quite artificial parks. In Urban Jungle, Ben Wilson looks to the fraught relationship between nature and the city for clues to how the planet can survive in an age of climate crisis.
Fascinating ... Soars like a falcon over global cities on five continents while leading the reader through centuries of history. His chapters on cities conceived as garden paradises, the re-wilding of cities through land reclamation projects, the importance of urban trees and parks for climate resilience, urban food production, and water use are full of statistics and eye-catching examples.
Brief but illuminating ... Wilson leaves readers with hope about the future of efforts to preserve the ecosystems that surround us, as well as a new perspective that looks beyond the concrete and asphalt when walking along a city’s streets.
Wilson leads readers on a brisk ramble through urban nature, emphasizing both peril and potential ... Argued in a quick and assertive style that bounces from Yonkers to the Yangtze, this inquiry achieves a fascinating intertwining of apocalyptic warning and pragmatic optimism.
