My Cities and Nature TBR

[forestofglory]

With the increase in covid cases, the shorter days and the cooler weather, I've been spending even more time inside reading. So I'm not out there experiencing much many environments built or otherwise beyond my house, but I am reading about it. I thought it would be fun to share some of the books on my TBR that relate to nature and the built enviroment.

Making a Yellow River Delta: An Environmental Drama in Song Dynasty China by Ling Zhang

Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the American Landscape by Lauret Savoy

Blue Dunes: Climate Change by Design ed Jesse Keenan and Claire Weisz

Sidewalk City: Remapping Public Space in Ho Chi Minh City by Annette Miae Kim

Food and the City: Histories of Culture and Cultivation ed Dorothée Imbert

Zoned in the USA: The Origins and Implications of American Land-Use Regulation by Sonia A. Hirt

The Commons in History: Culture, Conflict, and Ecology by Derek Wall

Trees in Paradise: A California History by Jared Farmer

The Monkey and the Inkpot: Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern China by Carla Nappi

The Great Society Subway: A History of the Washington Metro by Zachary M. Schrag

Hazardous Metropolis: Flooding and Urban Ecology in Los Angeles by Jared Orsi

Gardenland: Nature, Fantasy, and Everyday Practice by Jennifer Wren Atkinson

Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada’s Last Great Trees by Harley Rustad

Chocolate Cities: The Black Map of American Life by Marcus Anthony Hunter and Zandria Robinson

The Rise of West Lake: A Cultural Landmark in the Song Dynasty by Xiaolin Duan

Unsurprisingly there's a lot of history books on the list. Given how slowly I read non-fiction it will probably take me a couple of years to get to all of these.

Have you read any of these? What did you think? Do you have any books on urban planning or the enviroment that you'd recommend?

Comments

[monksandbones]

Hey! Ling Zhang is a professor in my old department (I went to her job talk when she was hired)! I remember one aspect of her work at the time focused on the agency and experience of the Yellow River itself, and it was very cool. I'm sure this new book will be good!

I can also recommend Big Lonely Doug! It's not exactly uplifting to read about the destruction of the old growth forests of the BC coast, but it's definitely interesting.

[forestofglory]

That's great to hear about Ling Zhang! Now I want to read her book even more!

I'm pretty sure that Big Lonely Doug is on this list because you recommened it a while back.

[ambyr]

The Great Society Subway is a lot of fun--detailed research, but a conversational tone that isn't afraid to entertain with some amazing anecdotes between the statistics and the deeper social implications. It was one of the first things my urban planning bookclub read.

Other highlights for me have been (keeping in mind that we take, uh, a very broad view of what constitutes "urban planning books") Putman's Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Conn's Americans against the City: Anti-Urbanism in the Twentieth Century, Desmond's Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City, Schivelbusch's The Railway Journey: The Industrialization of Time and Space (Urizen Books edition only if you're gonna read this, the University of California Press edition retranslated it and it's dire), Wilkerson's The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration, Hayden's Building Suburbia: Green Fields and Urban Growth, and Seo's Policing the Open Road: How Cars Transformed American Freedom. I am happy to talk at more length about any of them if you're interested! (You are also welcome to join the bookclub if you'd like--since the pandemic it's all moved to Discord indefinitely.)

[forestofglory]

Gosh, I've been jealous of your urban since Bisty told me about it! I would love join! (But also I'm worried about reading anything in a timely fashion these days)

[ambyr]

Well, the next meeting is this Wednesday, which would be very tight, but after that you'll have two months to read . . . whatever we pick next. And if you turn up having read only half a book, you probably won't be the only one. We'll announce the book on the Facebook group and on the Goodreads group, and you can see if it sounds interesting to you? I'm sure Bitsy would be happy to hear your voice.

[forestofglory]

Thanks! I can't mange to read anything by Wednesday, but I'd like to try for next month. I've asked to join the group on goodreads,

(Bisty is so far the only person who I have convinced to read Nature's Metropolis, and is generally a good person to talk to about trains and planning)

[ambyr]

Accepted! I hadn't been posting the Discord link on Goodreads because most people join from Facebook, but I'll make sure I remember to throw it up there next time.

[forestofglory]

Thank you!

[boxofdelights]

I haven't read any of those, but I am intrigued by Gardenland.