Review: Much has been written about the relationship between nature and the city (much of it negative) but of late there has been a new movement developing - the notion of urban-as-ecosystem. It takes the city and treats it as another ecosystem (as in urban ecology) or at least as another series of niches to be used. This is an interesting development to say the least because it gets away from the less useful, more negative images and since we are now an urbanised planet such approaches are overdue. Most of these studies start from an ecological perspective but this text, although covering similar ground, starts from an urban geographical perspective.

Written by two eminent urban geographers this book is an attempt to show the city/nature interface and what it means for both sides of the story. It does this by dividing the book into three parts corresponding, roughly, with past, present and future. Part one looks at the way in which 'nature' and 'city' have been related. We start with an outline of key terms and an overview of the main points to be raised in the book. Chapter two shows how the city developed and, alongside that, how the environment was brought into (or kept out of) the city area. So, we have plans with rivers and forests as positives and designed areas and disease which would be the negative. It's fair to say that until the 19th century, the equation swayed unevenly between the two. The industrial town, as shown in chapter three, swung the balance very much in favour of the city with the environment being very much a case of pollution and degradation. Parisian sewers and dead American horses highlight our not very glorious city past. However, set against this we have the new reforms from the parks movement to the more radical garden city design. Chapter four brings us up to date in terms of history, but with a continuing divide in cities. This time though it's not between nature and city but between 'developed' and 'developing' city. The developed city is going through a post-industrial transformation from grimy city to parkland wonder. Its megacity cousin in the developing world is going, so it seems, in the other direction with slums and poor water supply just two issues. There tends to be less of a consideration that the developed nations went through this 150 years ago and that perhaps what we are seeing today is less a new phenomenon than an old one with reporters! Part two looks at a range of environmental issues. Chapter five looks at the specific site of cities and what it means in terms of city-nature relations. Chapter six considers the city and hazards - how people respond to disasters from fires to Hurricane Katrina. Chapter seven turns to another contemporary issue - the ecofootprint - and demonstrates how cities live well outside their physical boundaries. The final three chapters study the key environmental issues of our times in terms of water, air, and land pollution or, more accurately, sewage and supply, smog and garbage. Clearly the advantages of city living don't extend to consideration of the environment. Of course, this may well change as part three, looking at future city-nature relations suggests. Thus chapter 11 considers the issue of urban equity, especially race and environment with the argument that the worst conditions are lived in by those least able to escape them. Chapter 12 considers the idea of sustainability and ways in which the city can grow and prosper at the same time as using fewer resources more effectively. A brief postscript returns to the themes of the introduction to consider ways forward.

Overall, a very useful book. It describes the city in an environmental context and shows how we have used that environment, for good or ill, through the centuries. It's a good introduction to the topic which, when used in conjunction with the extra resources mentioned, will provide a decent overview of both the past and the future. We are becoming an urban planet, the sooner we realise the implications of this the better - this text will help in this endeavour.