Cities and Natural Process - Tapa dura

"The focus of the publication is still highly relevant and useful. In many ways the profession is just catching up with Hough's thinking." -Joan Nassauer, University of Michigan "The author's name will sell the new edition in geography, landscape, and design professions." -Brian Goodey, Oxford Brookes

In the modern city shaped by economic and technological interests, the environment is ordered and controlled in an effort to maintain a formal landscape far removed from any natural or social dynamic. The urban obsession with formal aesthetic doctrines has replaced naturally regenerating sites with horticultural deserts. Cities and Natural Process is a discussion of this fundamental conflict in the perception of nature, and an expression of the essential need for an environmental view when approaching urban design. With public concern for energy conservaon, the protection of natural systems and environmental awareness growing, the desire to nurture a rewarding environment where nature and urbanism co-exist is more pronounced than ever before. Revisiting many of the cases originally studied in City Form and Natural Process , the precursor of this book, and drawing on much new material, the author discusses the distinction between city and countryside and suggests a design framework for achieving an alternative, less sterile, view of cities. By examining natural and human processes as they operate in balance with nature, the book reveals how such processes are altered by the city, and how alternative values could tip the balance in favour of a constructive relationship with the urban environment. Cities and Natural Process is an essential addition to the study of urban design and development and the potential of cities to be environmentally, economically and socially sustainable.