Urban Jungle: Wilding the City, from the author of Metropolis

(Hardback)

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An eye-opening and urgent exploration of nature and the city - past, present and future. This is thrilling re-examination of the way we live by a brilliant historian and thinker. For millennia, cities have seemed to represent our separation from the natural world and our victory over it. They are a kind of battleground, where humans have used technologies to reengineer the environment. In the early 21st century, we have reached a turning point- we have now urbanised our planet, but natural forces - be they rising waters, storms, droughts or pandemics - look set to determine the fate of our cities in the future. In fact, as Ben Wilson reveals, nature has always been at the heart of the city, and our post-industrial cities are much wilder places that we might imagine, with booming animal and plant populations. The project of rewilding the city has already begun. People around the world are realising that cities are not dead, artificial zones, but complex and diverse habitats, and a place that is healthy for animals and plants is healthier for humans as well. Where cities once built walls and towers to defend against attack; now they have to become greener to protect themselves from external threats. Rewilding the city is not a distant utopian dream- nature is already reclaiming the city. In a time of climate crisis, the city is both problem and solution. The extent to which cities strike a balance with nature will determine the fate of our cities. We stand at a crossroads. Our future-and that of the planet-will be made in the city.

Reviews

Illuminating... Wilson leaves readers with hope about the future of efforts to preserve the ecosystems that surround us, as well as a new perspective that looks beyond the concrete and asphalt when walking along a city's streets. * Daily Mail *
Urban Jungle teems with ideas, stories and proposals, presented with charm, eloquence and wit. It is novel and provocative... I was often left wanting more, so much the better. * The Times *
Awe-inspiring in its scope, Wilson's thrilling immersion in the age-old interconnectedness of city and nature is full of wonder, warning and hope - a rallying cry for urban rewilding. -- Isabella Tree, author of WILDING
Wilson provides an array of fascinating examples of urban ecology through the ages... Written in an authoritative yet accessible style, Urban Jungle contains a range of intriguing insights. * Literary Review *
Urban Jungle is a beguiling and beautifully written tapestry of history and ecology examining how cities and the natural world of plants, trees, birds, animals, and insects have co-existed, beneficially and otherwise, since time immemorial. * Country & Town House *
Delightful, insightful, and easy to read. Wilson shows us that, however distant we feel from nature, we have and will always be part of it. -- Arthur Kay, founder and CEO of Skyroom
A compelling case for bringing more nature into the city. * Tablet *
Imagine if we could see our urban streets with new eyes, start to use every spare space to grow food, carbon-sequestering green, shady areas to cool and make our cities more liveable. This richly researched book shows us this is more possible than we imagine, because Nature is irrepressible and will appear in every crevice at every opportunity to remind us that we cannot live without her. -- Sian Sutherland, founder of A Plastic Planet
Capacious, entertaining and rich in wondrous detail, this is a work of history that pulls off the startling feat of measuring up to the immensity of its subject matter. -- Tom Holland, praise for METROPOLIS
A fascinating look at the highs and lows of inner-city living, from skyscrapers to slums. * BBC History Magazine, praise for METROPOLIS *
Wilson [is] an erudite, creative guide to the history of civilization through its great urban areas... He broadens the book's focus beyond the usual Western suspects... An excellent account. * Time Magazine, praise for METROPOLIS *
Compendious and fascinating... Metropolis is crammed with local colour; and what gives the historical schema its real flavour is the deviations it allows. * Daily Telegraph, praise for METROPOLIS *
Brilliant... Enchanting... This is a history of the world told through its most buccaneering units. * Evening Standard, praise for METROPOLIS *

Author Bio

Ben Wilson is the author of five critically acclaimed books, including What Price Liberty, for which he received the Somerset Maugham Award; the Sunday Times bestseller Empire of the Deep; and, most recently, Heyday- The Dawn of the Global Age. Born in London in 1980, he has worked in television, broadcast on the radio in several countries, and writes regularly for publications such as The Times, Daily Telegraph and Prospect. He lives in Suffolk, UK.