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| Ecological Urbanism (book) | |
|---|---|
| Name | Ecological Urbanism |
| Editor | Mohsen Mostafavi; Gareth Doherty |
| Subject | Urbanism; Ecology; Architecture; Planning |
| Publisher | Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Lars Müller Publishers |
| Pub date | 2010 |
| Pages | 320 |
| Isbn | 9783764364425 |
Ecological Urbanism (book) is an edited volume that repositions urban design debates by integrating perspectives from architecture, landscape architecture, ecology, planning, engineering, and public policy. Conceived at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and published by Lars Müller Publishers, the book assembles essays, projects, and manifestos by practitioners and theorists addressing the intersection of built form and environmental systems. It frames urbanism through case studies from cities like New York City, Beijing, Cairo, São Paulo, and Barcelona, engaging conferences, design studios, and academic programs from institutions such as Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and ETH Zurich.
Ecological Urbanism emerged from a series of symposia and design studios at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design involving contributors from MIT Media Lab, Princeton University School of Architecture, University College London, and the Architectural Association School of Architecture. The editors, Mohsen Mostafavi and Gareth Doherty, coordinated networks including faculty from Yale School of Architecture, Berkeley School of Environmental Design, Columbia GSAPP, and practitioners from firms like OMA, Foster + Partners, SOM, UNStudio, and Arup. Funding and institutional support came from entities such as the Guggenheim Museum, Getty Foundation, Ford Foundation, and National Endowment for the Arts, and the project intersected with events including the Venice Biennale, the World Urban Forum, and the Urban Age conferences.
The book organizes material around themes that connect landscape architecture projects to infrastructure initiatives, linking cases like the High Line in New York City and the Cheonggyecheon restoration in Seoul with large-scale programs in Shanghai, Dubai, Singapore, and Cairo. Essays deploy examples from Central Park, Bosco Verticale, Millennium Park, King's Cross redevelopment, and Barcelona's Superblocks while engaging theories from figures such as Jane Jacobs, Lewis Mumford, Kevin Lynch, Rem Koolhaas, and Henri Lefebvre. Interdisciplinary methods reference work by Ian McHarg, Christopher Alexander, Richard Register, William Whyte, and Jan Gehl and technical frameworks from Isabelle Anguelovski, Bruno Latour, James Corner, and Gordon Cullen to examine biodiversity, hydrology, energy systems, and transit networks in metropolitan regions like Los Angeles County, Greater London, Île-de-France, Mexico City, and Rio de Janeiro.
Contributors include architects and theorists affiliated with Harvard GSD, Columbia University, ETH Zurich, Delft University of Technology, TU München, University of Tokyo, and Delft. Notable authors and firms represented are Rem Koolhaas, Peter Zumthor, Alejandro Aravena, Patrik Schumacher, Koolhaas's OMA, Foster + Partners, MVRDV, BIG (Bjarke Ingels Group), Herzog & de Meuron, Zaha Hadid Architects, Sanjay Puri, and Sasaki Associates. Essays engage scientists and activists from WWF, The Nature Conservancy, ICLEI, C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group, UN-Habitat, and United Nations Environment Programme, while case studies reference projects by municipal authorities such as New York City Department of Parks and Recreation, Singapore Urban Redevelopment Authority, Shanghai Municipal Planning Commission, and Barcelona City Council.
Reviews appeared in venues like Architectural Review, Architectural Record, Detail, Domus, Metropolis (magazine), and academic journals including Journal of Urban Design, Landscape Journal, and Environmental Science & Policy. Critics compared its stance to the manifestos of New Urbanism advocates such as Andrés Duany and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk, while commentators invoked tensions with theories from David Harvey, Manuel Castells, and Saskia Sassen regarding urban political economy. Some reviewers praised its synthesis of practice and ecology and linked it to movements led by Janine Benyus and Bill McKibben, while others faulted overlaps with existing work by Ian McHarg and the perceived optimism of technocratic solutions endorsed by firms like Arup and Siemens. Debates referenced events like the Copenhagen Climate Summit and literature including Silent Spring, The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and publications by UN-Habitat.
Ecological Urbanism influenced curricula at Harvard GSD, Columbia GSAPP, MIT School of Architecture and Planning, University of Pennsylvania Stuart Weitzman School of Design, and Tsinghua University School of Architecture, and informed projects by municipal agencies including New York City Department of City Planning, Singapore URA, and São Paulo Prefeitura. Its ideas appear in subsequent books and initiatives by scholars at ETH Zurich, TU Delft, UCL Bartlett School, and organizations like C40, ICLEI, The Rockefeller Foundation, and Bloomberg Philanthropies. The book shaped discourses linking climate change adaptation, sustainable development, green infrastructure, and resilience within policy arenas influenced by Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, UN Sustainable Development Goals, and programs like 100 Resilient Cities and the Urban Climate Change Research Network.
Category:Urban planning books