Urban Regions: Ecology and Planning Beyond the City

With land planning, socioeconomics and natural systems as foundations, this book combines urban planning and ecological science in examining urban regions. Writing for graduate students, academic researchers, planners, conservationists and policy makers, and with the use of informative urban-region color maps, Richard Forman analyzes 38 urban regions from 32 nations, including London, Chicago, Ottawa, Brasilia, Cairo, Seoul, Bangkok, Canberra, and a major case study of the Greater Barcelona region. Alternative patterns of urbanization spread (including sprawl) are evaluated from the perspective of nature and people, stating land-use principles extracted from landscape ecology, transportation and hydrology. Good, bad and interesting spatial patterns for creating sustainable land mosaics are pinpointed, and urban regions are considered in broader contexts, from climate change to biodiversity loss, disasters and sense of place.

Richard T. T. Forman is Harvard University's Professor of Advanced Environmental Studies in Landscape Ecology. Previously at the University of Wisconsin and Rutgers University, he is an American Association for the Advancement of Science Fellow and recipient of the Lindback Award for Teaching Excellence as well as of honorary degrees and medals in the USA and internationally