Garden-to-gaia, urban sustainability, disasters 317in previous chapters, is expanding outward and is thoroughly affected by in-and-
out interactions with its surroundings. The metro area fundamentally depends
on its urban-region ring for water, recreation/tourism, mineral resources, and
much more. Within an urban region, farmland and forest landscapes tend to
be peppered with towns and small cities, most growing, which obliterate much
of the previous distinctiveness and integrity that the landscapes may have had.
Consequently, planning at the level of the urban region itself appears to be
theoptimum solution to the basic question or quandary of where best to focus
efforts for an effective mesh of nature and people in and around cities.
This fundamental point fits nicely in my bumper sticker (Forman 1995):
‘‘ Think Globally, Plan Regionally, andThenActLocally.” Keep the globe in mind
when making daily decisions. But most importantly, create a plan for every land-
scape and every region that provides sustainably for nature and people. Then
with the broad plan in hand, make the important local changes and refinements
that fit effectively into the big picture.
Urban sustainability
Many scholars have noted that the term urban sustainability is essen-
tially an oxymoron. It is extremely difficult to envision a city with thousands
or millions of people packed together that provides a thriving balance for both
people and nature. One might consider urban sustainability an idealistic goal
or endpoint which we seek, but never reach. Or, since the basic concept, like
trying to nail applesauce to a tree, seems vague and hard to pin down, every-
one tends to define it to suit a particular purpose. I essentially avoid the term
urban sustainability, but recognize that useful ways to think about it might be
developed (Braat and Steetskamp 1991 ,Forman 1999, Forman 2002a, Berkowitz
et al.2003, Blowers2003,Pezzey2004,Rogers2006,Moore 2007, Wu 2007).
Here are three approaches, with the last one offering the most promise. The
first builds on the idea that amultitude of tiny fine-scale solutions, when added
together, make a difference for a whole city or metropolitan area. These tiny solu-
tions could be of a single type multiplied together many-fold, or of an array of
types with potential synergies. Energy-efficient building materials, use of public
transport, recycling of wastes, water conservation techniques, and food-growing
on balconies and window boxes in the city are commonly cited examples. One
could add ‘‘biophilic design” of buildings with green roofs (Stuttgart, Germany;
Basel and Zurich, Switzerland) and a profusion of plants inside (Kellert and
Wilson1993,PeckandKuhn2003,English Nature 2003, Dunnett and Kingsbury
2004, Brenneisen 2006). City streets could be rife with storm-water swales, porous
pavement, rich biodiversity, and aesthetic design (Beatley2000,France2002,
Brandtet al.2003,Hough2004). Even at a somewhat broader scale, a city could