Global Cities; Town Life

Fans of these pages may remember my enthusing about Parker's first two 'Project Eco-city' books (Precocity for short, if you must). Well, here are the next two and, as I suspected, I enthuse just as much.

What this series so successfully does is treat the urban conglomeration as a living creature in itself-a being that eats and excretes, inspires and exhales; so Town Life isn't the usual sort of 'Nature at your feet' that we might expect from the title but a look at the way the town itself lives and how we have to look after it to keep it healthy and stop it from choking on its own vomit. Global City exposes the gallop towards unsustainability that our biggest conurbations seem hell-bent upon, pointing out our need to reform building practices, planning strategies and transport systems at least, if the city is to remain a viable way of living together.

The bibliographies and address lists are truly comprehensive and contemporary. Highly recommended.