Concrete jungle : New York City and our last best hope for a sustainable future / Niles Eldredge and Sidney Horenstein.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Eldredge, Niles, author.

Horenstein, Sidney S., author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Urban ecology (Sociology)--New York (State)--New York.

Urban ecology (Sociology).

Urban geography--New York (State)--New York.

Urban geography.

Environmental degradation--New York (State)--New York.

Environmental degradation.

Biodiversity--New York (State)--New York.

Biodiversity.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (289 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Oakland, California : University of California Press, 2014.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

If 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. In this absorbing and wide-ranging book, Eldredge and Horenstein use New York City as a microcosm to explore both the positive and the negative sides of the relationship between cities, the environment, and the future of global biodiversity. They illuminate the mass of contradictions that cities present in embodying the best and the worst of human existence. The authors demonstrate that, though cities have voracious appetites for resources such as food and water, they also represent the last hope for conserving healthy remnants of the world's ecosystems and species. With their concentration of human beings, cities bring together centers of learning, research, government, finance, and media-institutions that increasingly play active roles in solving environmental problems. Some of the topics covered in Concrete Jungle: --The geological history of the New York region, including remnant glacial features visible today --The early days of urbanization on Manhattan Island, focusing on the history of Central Park, Collect Pond, and Manhattan Square --The history of early railway lines and the development of New York's iconic subway system --The problem of producing enough safe drinking water for an ever-expanding population --Prominent civic institutions, including universities, museums, and zoos

Contents:

Front matter

Contents

Preface: The Yin and Yang of Cities

1. Regarding Broadway: The Urban Saga and the New York Microcosm

2. Forest Primeval

3. Landscape Transformed

4. Growth of the Concrete Jungle

5. Fouling, and Cleaning, the Nest

6. Invasion and Survival

7. Resilience, Restoration, and Redemption

8. Cities, Globalization, and the Future of Biodiversity

Notes, References, and Suggestions for Further Reading

List of Illustrations

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9780520958302

0520958306

OCLC:

888191476