Phytopolis: The Living City

In this call to awareness, noted Italian botanist Stefano Mancuso warns of the impending dangers that our cities face. Reflecting on the human transition from earlier life enfolded within nature’s boundaries to the more recent transfer to dependent life within populated and stone-framed cities. He compares the organic similarities between the construction of cities and human anatomy, with special city divisions that are akin to human organs. As man evolves, so do cities, but as urban areas undergo similar evolution, the latter endure destructive effects rather than change. With the advent of climate change and temperature increases, the toll on cities will be disastrous. He advocates that future cities must include nature as a basic part of their design. Plants are tenacious oxygen generators; their foliage shade and moisture can temper the increasing heat. Examples of cities that have already approached ‘phytopolis’ or plant cities are rapturously described, while the automobile and excessive roadways central to a metropolis are censured. The author mounts a strong message concerning climate change and the threat to cities. Still, the text is somewhat repetitious, and the story might read better in the original Italian than in this translation.