City and environment /

Boone and Modarres's analysis of the relationship of cities with their environments incorporates a variety of important topics relevant to several disciplinary and interdisciplinary fields. Beginning with descriptions of different city types across history, the authors draw on a wealth of data, from historical case studies to contemporary census figures, and convincingly demonstrate the importance of exploring how cities can be made into livable, desirable places. Boone (Arizona State Univ.) and Modarres (UCLA) conceptualize cities and their environments as products of natural, cultural, and social dynamics that interact, often in geographically specific manners, to arrive at their current forms. Despite the historical specificity attached to place, they identify the ways that larger social forces of technology, globalization, and political processes help to construct explanatory frameworks for patterns of population growth, energy consumption, infrastructure development, global urbanization, social injustice, and sustainability. They weave policy recommendations throughout the text and dedicate the final chapter to specific recommendations on how to build cities that are healthy, safe, and sustainable. The authors demonstrate how terms like "green spaces," "garden cities," and "smart growth" can be defined and pursued, rather than simply used as catchphrases. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. E. J. Krieg Johnson State College