URBAN JUNGLE

Historical survey of the damage that cities have done to nature and the possibilities for mutually beneficial coexistence.

Early on in his latest book, Wilson, British author of such popular histories as Metropolis and Empire of the Deep, reminds us that without nature, cities are unsustainable. “The veneer of civilization is paper-thin,” he writes. “Scratch at the carapace and you discover a world teeming with wildlife.” Despite this fact, cities are only beginning to learn how to live with the increasing numbers of living things that are attracted to and thrive on the biodiversity to which they give rise. Drawing examples from around the world, Wilson illustrates the interdependencies that cities have with plants, trees, water, food sources, and birds and animals. In each chapter, he discusses the accommodations struck when cities first emerged, the later destruction brought on by industrialization, and current attempts to reconnect around ecological and human resilience. As he points out, technological solutions that attempt to dominate nature—e.g., the concrete channeling of streams and canals—no longer make sense. Also insufficient are parks, tree-lined boulevards, private gardens, and low-density suburbs. Instead, we need green and blue (water) infrastructure and ecological buffer zones that engage with the natural processes essential to a city’s ecosystem. If contemporary cities are not to suffer the fate of the Mayan city of Tikal or the Cambodian city of Angkor Wat, “both devoured by rainforests,” they will have to follow the leads of Amsterdam, Singapore, and Berlin in attempting to live proactively with nature. The title of the book is unfortunate given that public debate in the U.S. regarding cities has used the phrase not to allude to nature but to speak with disdain and alarm about race and crime. Nonetheless, Wilson is a helpful guide to the intersection of nature and city life.

A sharp, dispassionate plea to recognize our dependence on nature and mitigate the dire consequences of climate change.