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.

1. Regions and land mosaics; 2. Planning land; 3. Economic dimensions and social patterns; 4. Natural systems and greenspaces; 5. Thirty-eight urban regions; 6. Nature, food, and water; 7. Built systems, built areas, and whole regions; 8. Urbanization models and options; 9. Basic principles for molding land mosaics; 10. The Barcelona region's land mosaic; 11. Gathering the pieces; 12. Big pictures.

Combining ecological science and urban planning Forman's pioneering book features 38 colour maps, a case study of the Barcelona Region, 78 land-use principles as well as a rich array of tangible good and bad land patterns extracted from urban regions worldwide. An essential purchase for students, planners, conservationists and policy makers.

Richard T. T. Forman is currently Harvard University's PAES Professor of Landscape Ecology. He has taught at the University of Wisconsin and Rutgers University, is an AAAS Fellow and has received the Lindback Award for Teaching Excellence.