A pointed argument that cities-not nation-states-can and must take the lead in fighting climate change. Climate change is the most urgent challenge we face in an interdependent world where independent nations have grown increasingly unable to cooperate effectively, even on the urgent issue of sustainability. Can cities do better? Benjamin R. Barber argues that with more than half the world's population, 80 percent of both its GDP and its greenhouse...

"Welcome to our green city! You'll find flowers, trees, animals... and wind turbines, electric cars, and solar panels, too. In this city, a utopian imagination of what a sustainable community could look like, neighbours from diverse backgrounds come together to care for their surroundings and one another. As readers are invited on a journey through the city, they learn about what makes it environmentally friendly, from electric transportation to green...

Most of the world's population now lives in cities. So if we are to address the problems of environmental deterioration and peak oil adequately, the city has to be a major focus of attention. Ecocities is about re-building cities and towns based on ecological principles for the long term sustainability, cultural vitality and health of the Earth's biosphere. Unique in the literature is the book's insight that the form of the city really matters –...

"A look at how to bring the beauty and character of a natural environmental approach into more structured urban landscape designs, using five fundamental principles that can be applied and combined to create sustainable and emotionally powerful landscapes for public use"--