Urban Jungle: The History And Future Of Nature In The City, by Ben Wilson

While cities and the creation around them have often been viewed in antagonistic terms, the best examples of cities in history as well as in the present have always involved a collaboration between urban dwellers and the natural world that they interact with. While there has been a great deal of mutualism between human beings and plants in the past that has happened unintentionally, the author (I think rightly) understands that if mankind’s cities are to long endure that there needs to be greater intentionality about enriching cities with legitimate wild space that can provide a variety of benefits for urban dwellers as well as the lives of plants and animals that might otherwise be greatly threatened by the sort of world that we seem to be making in a fit of madness in the present age. This book has a sprawling scope in terms of space and time, as the author moves seamlessly from discussions of the influence of Persian gardens on the architecture of Central Asia and India, the ambivalent relationship between cities like Delhi and London and New York with their wild spaces, and the way that World War II’s destruction helped create the field of urban ecology of which this book is a stellar example.

This book is almost 250 pages long and is divided into several sprawling but thematically related chapters that serve as a useful introduction to urban ecology. The book begins with a list of illustration and an introduction to the idea of studying the relationship of plants and the city. The book begins with a discussion of the history of studying the edges of urban life where they have connected with wilderness on their peripheries (1). This is followed by a discussion of the fondness of urban dwellers and the designers and rulers of cities throughout history with parks and recreation spaces (2). After this the author views the discussion of wild spaces within cities as being viewed negatively as signs of decay to be gotten rid of when cities engage in redevelopment (3). This leads to a discussion of the importance of the tree canopy in making cities livable in history as well as in the present world (4). The author discusses the life force that plants provide to cities (5), as well as a chapter on the harvest that people have found through planting vegetables in cities and allowing cities to become self-sufficient in some parts of their diet (6). The author then closes with a dream for future cities that purposefully combine plants and human architecture together in thoughtful ways (7), along with an epilogue, notes, acknowledgements, and an index.

Given the obvious symbiotic nature that exists between plants and animals on this earth, it is remarkable that trees so often fall victim to the short-sighted selfishness and greed of the people who design and build cities on this earth. We have plenty of historical examples of cities build as if they were in forests, and still other examples of cities whose existence has been greatly benefited by wild spaces that have provided important sustenance as well as beauty for the people who live with them, and yet over and over again we can read in history of people wanting to cut down urban forests and groves for development, of destroying the mangroves on the coast that keep the raging floodwaters at bay, and in seeking to destroy wild plants as being a sign of urban decay rather than as providing an example of the will of God’s creation to live, even under the less than ideal circumstances that exist under mankind’s dominion. If the author’s hopes are realized, perhaps we may yet come to realize that it is better that people and plants live in harmony, each of us performing our tasks well, for the benefit of ourselves as well as the other animals and beings that are helped by having a habit to thrive in near to people, but not under the threat of destruction by them.