Cities and Natural Process

by Michael Hough

Cities and Natural Process is a book for all concerned with the future of our cities, their design and sustainability, and our quality of life within them.
Michael Hough describes how economic and technological values have squeezed any real sense of nature out of the modern city, the ways in which this has led to
a divisive separation of countryside and city, has wasted much of the city's resources, and has shaped an urban aesthetic which is sharply at odds with both natural and social processes. Against this is set an alternative history of ecological values informing proven approaches to urban design which work with^n nature in the city.

Genres: Cities

344 pages, Paperback

First published July 27, 1995

Reviews

[Laura Taylor]

The single most inspiring book I have ever read. Along with McHarg's Design with nature, Hough's approach to thinking about the city as a part of the big wide natural world and designing with natural processes (sunlight, wind, water, seasons) has proven to be one of the most important lessons for me as a planner and professor in terms of designing to adapt to climate change and creating a sustainable livable future.

Whether you're designing your own garden or working on a comprehensive plan, keeping his ideas in mind will make the world just a little bit better.

[kathryn]

I am actually reading the second edition, but Goodreads didn't seem to have it.

I did really like this. case studies were great since they spanned decades of the project and talked about the real challenges of long term stewardship.

a lot of it I "knew" before reading it(cluster develpmt, linking nhoods to greeways and water, linking habitat, urban farming) but it was a great resource for data and case studies on all of it together.