Synopses & Reviews
Nearly thirty years after creation of the most advanced and expensive hazardous waste cleanup infrastructure in the world, Reclaiming the Land provides a much-needed lens through which the Superfund program should be assessed and reshaped. Focusing on the lessons of adaptive management, it explores new concepts and tools for the cleanup and reuse of contaminated sites, and for dealing with the uncertainty inherent in long-term site stewardship. Its contributors include scholars and practitioners representing many decades of experience with the Superfund program as well as a variety of disciplines. "This excellent collection provides a range of perspectives on making the Superfund program work even better for the American people. The unifying concept of adaptive management offers broad, generally applicable ways of improving cleanup and reuse of many types of contaminated sites." - Carol M. Browner, Principal, The Albright Group and Former Administrator, United States Environmental Protection Agency "From Love Canal to the present day, no topic has cast a longer shadow across the American environmental landscape than the Superfund program and the challenge of cleaning up toxic waste sites. Reclaiming the Land covers the full range of Superfund issues with both historical perspective and a dynamic set of forward-looking reform proposals. It is essential reading for anyone and everyone in the environmental arena." - Daniel C. Esty, Professor, Yale University "This book represents the most comprehensive critical analysis of how the Superfund program can remain a relevant and meaningful part of this nation's environmental arsenal. Rather than maintaining the status quo, adapting to the changed conditions in which this vital statute is implemented now and in the future is the only logical way to proceed. We owe it to the communities this law was designed to protect to seriously consider these recommendations." - Elliott P. Laws, Counsel, Pillsbury Winthrop and Former Assistant Administrator, Solid Waste and Emergency Response, United States Environmental Protection Agency "Reclaiming the Land represents an important contribution to the literature on environmental stewardship in general, and hazardous waste site cleanup in particular. Appropriate focus is placed on institutional approaches, community involvement, and the iterative approach of adaptive management, with contributions from landscape architects, urban planners, systems engineers, economists, and leaders in business and government agencies." - Mitchell J. Small, H. John Heinz III Professor of Environmental Engineering, Carnegie Mellon University Gregg P. Macey is a Lecturer in the Department of Urban and Environmental Planning at the University of Virginia, where he teaches environmental economics, land use law and policy, and environmental justice. He is also an attorney with the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. He holds a J.D. from the University of Virginia and will receive his Ph.D. in urban planning from MIT. Prior to law school, he worked as a land use mediator. Jonathan Z. Cannon is Professor and Director of the Environmental and Land Use Law Program at the University of Virginia Law School. He was formerly in the private practice of environmental law and also served in a number of senior positions at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including most recently General Counsel. He was Director of the Center for Expertise for Superfund Site Recycling at the University of Virginia.
Review
Aus den Rezensionen: "Urban Ecology ... bietet ... einen sehr guten Einstieg und Überblick in die Thematik 'Stadtökologie' ... Erfreulich ist die geographische Breite [sic] die hier Berücksichtigung findet: die Pionierarbeiten aus Deutschland, interessante Beispiele aus USA, Polen und Italien, aber auch Probleme und Konzeptionen bezüglich asiatischer Megacities. Wer sich mit der Ökologie urban geprägter Landschaften auseinander setzen will, wird um dieses Buch nicht herumkommen." (R. Gerstmeier, in: Entomofauna Zeitschrift für Entomologie, 2008, Vol. 29, Issue 16, S. 220)
Review
From the reviews: "This impressive volume is a collection of important papers on Urban Ecology ... . Anyone who picks up this book and starts reading, either from the start, or from anywhere in between, will not lay it down easily. ... It is highly recommended for everyone interested in the nature of interactions of organisms and their environment." (Hannelore Hoch, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, Vol. 55 (2), 2009)
Review
From the reviews:
"This impressive volume is a collection of important papers on Urban Ecology ... . Anyone who picks up this book and starts reading, either from the start, or from anywhere in between, will not lay it down easily. ... It is highly recommended for everyone interested in the nature of interactions of organisms and their environment." (Hannelore Hoch, Deutsche Entomologische Zeitschrift, Vol. 55 (2), 2009)
Synopsis
to a Research Project Ernest W. Burgess Abstract The aggregation of urban population has been described by Bucher and Weber. A soc- logical study of the growth of the city, however, is concerned with the de nition and description of processes, as those of (a) expansion, (b) metabolism, and (c) mobility. The typical tendency of urban growth is the expansion radially from its central business district by a series of concentric circles, as (a) the central business district, (b) a zone of deterioration, (c) a zone of workingmen s homes, (d)a residential area, and (e) a commuters zone. Urban growth may be even more fundamentally stated as the resultant of processes of organization and disorganization, like the anabolic and katabolic processes of metabolism in the human body. The distribution of population into the natural areas of the city, the division of labor, the differentiation into social and cultural groupings, represent the normal manifestations of urban metabolism, as statistics of disease, crime, disorder, vice, insanity, and suicide are rough indexes of its abnormal expression. The state of metabolism of the city may, it is suggested, be measured by mobility, de ned as a change of movement in response to a new stimulus or situation. Areas in the city of the greatest mobility are found to be also regions of juvenile delinquency, boys gangs, crime, poverty, wife desertion, divorce, abandoned infants, etc."
Synopsis
Urban Ecology is the study of ecosystems that include humans living in cities and urbanizing landscapes. This book introduces students and practitioners of urban ecology to its roots, bases, and prospects by way of a diverse collection of historical and modern foundational readings. Its aim is to provide a rich background in some of the core facets of Urban Ecology. The editors are urban ecologists from the United States, Italy, and Germany who together view these readings as a fair representation of the importance of both natural and social sciences to Urban Ecology. The book presents important papers that both set the foundations for the discipline and illustrate modern approaches, from a variety of perspectives and regions of the world. The editors do this by reprinting important publications, filling gaps in the published literature with a few targeted original works, and translating several key works originally published in German.
Synopsis
Urban Ecology is a rapidly growing field of academic and practical significance. Urban ecologists have published several conference proceedings and regularly contribute to the ecological, architectural, planning, and geography literature. However, important papers in the field that set the foundation for the discipline and illustrate modern approaches from a variety of perspectives and regions of the world have not been collected in a single, accessible book. Foundations of Urban Ecology does this by reprinting important European and American publications, filling gaps in the published literature with a few, targeted original works, and translating key works originally published in German. This edited volume will provide students and professionals with a rich background in all facets of urban ecology. The editors emphasize the drivers, patterns, processes and effects of human settlement. The papers they synthesize provide readers with a broad understanding of the local and global aspects of settlement through traditional natural and social science lenses. This interdisciplinary vision gives the reader a comprehensive view of the urban ecosystem by introducing drivers, patterns, processes and effects of human settlements and the relationships between humans and other animals, plants, ecosystem processes, and abiotic conditions. The reader learns how human institutions, health, and preferences influence, and are influenced by, the others members of their shared urban ecosystem.
Synopsis
Urban Ecology is the study of ecosystems that include humans living in cities and urbanizing landscapes. It is an emerging, interdisciplinary field that aims to understand how human and ecological processes can coexist in human-dominated systems and help societies with their efforts to become more sustainable. It has deep roots in many disciplines including sociology, geography, urban planning, landscape architecture, engineering, economics, anthropology, climatology, public health, and ecology. Because of its interdisciplinary nature and unique focus on humans and natural systems, the term "urban ecology" has been used variously to describe the study of humans in cities, of nature in cities, and of the coupled relationships between humans and nature. Each of these research areas is contributing to our understanding of urban ecosystems and each must be understood to fully grasp the science of Urban Ecology. Therefore, in Urban Ecology: An International Perspective on the Interaction Between Humans and Nature, we introduce students and practitioners of urban ecology to its roots, bases, and prospects by way of a diverse collection of historical and modern foundational readings. The editors are urban ecologists from the United States, Italy, and Germany who together view these readings as a fair representation of the importance of both natural and social sciences to Urban Ecology. This book presents important papers in the field of Urban Ecology that both set the foundations for the discipline and to illustrate modern approaches, from a variety of perspectives and regions of the world. The editors do this by reprinting important publications, filling gaps in the published literature with a few targeted original works, and translating several key works originally published in German. The aim of this collection is to provide students, practitioners, and professionals with a rich background in some of the core facets of Urban Ecology.
Table of Contents
Introduction.- Section I Urbanization and Human Domination of Earth.- Section II Conceptual Foundations of Urban Ecology.- Section III The Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, and Pedosphere.- Section IV The Biosphere.- Section V The Anthroposhere: Human Dimensions.- Section VI The Anthroposphere: Planning and Policy.