Description
Book SynopsisIf they are to survive, cities need healthy chunks of the world's ecosystems to persist; yet cities, like parasites, grow and prosper by local destruction of these very ecosystems. This book helps you explore both the positive and the negative sides of the relationship between cities, the environment, and the future of global biodiversity.
Trade Review"Both born and bred New Yorkers, the authors masterfully make their case by telling it through the history of their city's growth and development, starting with the area's underlying geology and tracing New York's settlement and eventual development into perhaps the archetypal modern metropolis. The book persuasively makes the case that the world's concrete jungles may in fact be one of our best tools for saving the actual jungles and the rest of the planet's biodiversity." -- Ray Bert Civil Engineering "Concrete Jungle delivers a "think globally, act locally" message for New York City." -- S. Hammer CHOICE "A fascinating read, and New Yorkers will find much to interest them in discovering often overlooked historical features." -- Dr. Leighton Dann The Biologist
Table of ContentsPreface: The Yin and Yang of Cities 1. Regarding Broadway: The Urban Saga and the New York Microcosm 2. Forest Primeval Building Stones 3. Landscape Transformed Around the American Museum of Natural History East River Shoreline 4. Growth of the Concrete Jungle One Hundred and Fifty-Fifth Street Queensboro Bridge and East River 5. Fouling, and Cleaning, the Nest The High Bridge 6. Invasion and Survival John Torrey Fort Tryon Park The Battery The Sea Wall 7. Resilience, Restoration, and Redemption Canyonlands and the Future 8. Cities, Globalization, and the Future of Biodiversity Notes, References, and Suggestions for Further Reading List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Index
