Ben Wilson

An eye opening and urgent re examination of nature in our cities from the Sunday Times bestselling author Awe inspiring full of wonder warning and hope ISABELLA TREE author of WildingOur modern day cities might seem to represent our separation from the vitality of the natural world Yet as Ben Wilson reveals in this invigorating re examination of urban landscapes across the globe nature has always been at the heart of the city Moving from Los Angeles and Delhi to Singapore and Amsterdam Wilson explores how the bond between humans and nature has oscillated throughout history and shows that in a time of climate crisis a new approach to rewilding may prove to be the city s saviour Wilson soars like a falcon over global cities on five continents WASHINGTON POST Novel and provocative THE TIMES

An eye-opening and urgent re-examination of nature in our cities, from the Sunday Times bestselling winner of the Somerset Maugham AwardsOur modern-day cities might seem to represent our separation from the natural world. In fact, as Ben Wilson reveals in this captivating re-examination of urban landscapes around the world, nature has always been at the heart of the city.Urban Jungle explores the wild side of cities past, present and future: the middens, abandoned sites and strips of land alongside railway lines. For much of history, wild patches in cities provided essential food, fuel, medicine and places of recreation and escape for city-dwellers, and the dividing line between city and countryside was blurred. Even our post-industrial cities are much wilder places that we imagine, with booming animal and plant populations - if we know where to look. On today's urbanised planet, natural forces - be they floods, storms, droughts or pandemics - look set to determine the future of our cities. In a time of climate crisis, cities that once built walls and towers to defend against attack now have to become greener to protect themselves from external threats.

«Informatiu, ric i accessible. Per lectors que vulguin formar-se una visió àmplia i global». Library Journal Al llarg dels segles les ciutats han estat habitades per una minoria. Tot i això, la vida

El fascinante relato de cómo las ciudades han sido, desde hace más de siete mil años, las impulsoras de las mayores transformaciones de la historia de la humanidad. En los doscientos milenios que la humanidad lleva de existencia, nada nos ha transformado con mayor profundidad que las ciudades, centros efervescentes de creatividad e innovacion, impulsoras de los mayores avances de la historia. Aunque durante siglos solo las habitaba una pequeña minoria, el calor que irradian ha desencadenado la mayor parte de nuestras revoluciones politicas, sociales, comerciales, cientificas y artisticas. Metropolis es una historia global de como los centros urbanos han permitido el florecimiento de las grandes civilizaciones, y tambien el relato de como hemos llegado a ser quienes somos. Wilson lleva a los lectores en un viaje por las ciudades mas importantes a traves de mas de siete mil años de historia para revelarnos las innovaciones impulsadas por cada una de ellas: desde los inicios de la educacion civica en Atenas hasta la ecorreinvencion de Shanghai en el siglo XXI, pasando por los inicios del comercio global en el Bagdad del siglo IX, el papel de los cafes londinenses en el surgimiento de los mercados financieros, las comodidades domesticas en el corazo