Introduction -- On the edge -- Parks & rec -- The crack in the concrete -- The canopy -- Life force -- The harvest -- Zootropolis -- Epilogue

"Since the beginning of civilization, humans have built cities to wall nature out, then glorified it in beloved but quite artificial parks. In Urban Jungle Ben Wilson...looks to the fraught relationship between nature and the city for clues to how the planet can survive in an age of climate crisis"--

Since the beginning of civilization humans have built cities to wall nature out, then glorified it in beloved but quite artificial parks. Wilson looks to the fraught relationship between nature and the city for clues to how the planet can survive in an age of climate crisis. We are at last acknowledging that human engineering is not enough to protect us from extremes of weather. Wilson takes us to places where efforts to rewild the city are under way. The pinnacle of this strategy will be Amsterdam: a city that is its own ecosystem, that makes no waste and produces its own energy. And he finds that the things that will help cities survive-- wildflowers, wildlife-- also make people happy. -- adapted from jacket