Press Release: Conservation for Cities

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PRESS RELEASE

CONSERVATION FOR CITIES How to Plan & Build Natural Infrastructure

By Robert I. McDonald Washington, DC (August 10, 2015) — The twenty-first century has been, and will continue to be, a time of rapid urban growth across the world. This growth of urban areas and populations, along with climate change, stresses the already fragile relationship between cities and nature. In Conservation for Cities: How to Plan & Build Natural Infrastructure (Publication Date: July 14, 2015), Robert I. McDonald provides a way to improve the lives of the increasing number of city-dwellers and, at the same time, foster a stronger relationship between cities and nature.

Conserving for cities means using the natural environment not simply to shrink cities’ footprints or conserve urban biodiversity, but also to directly benefit humans. From the health effects of clean air and water, to increasing property values with trees, to the links between parks and mental health, it is clear that nature still has an important role to play in city life. McDonald explores these connections and shows how planners and policymakers can integrate these factors into the projects they shape.

This book will help ecologists, urban planners, landscape architects, and anyone else with an interest in improving city life to capture the benefits of ecosystem services while strengthening the bond between cities and nature. From mitigating stormwater in DC to flood prevention in Sacramento, Conservation for Cities identifies the most compatible forms of natural infrastructure for cities through real world examples, common strategies, and ecosystem service models.

McDonald details the process of incorporating natural infrastructure into urban planning, answering fundamental questions about how to create more resilient and livable ISLAND PRESS | PRESS RELEASE | 1

communities. While recognizing the challenges of implementation, McDonald shows that it is both possible and necessary to bring nature back into the concrete jungle.

Dr. Robert McDonald is Senior Scientist for Sustainable Land Use at The Nature Conservancy, where he is a leading scientist for the organization's efforts to figure out how to make cities more sustainable. He holds a PhD in Ecology from Duke University and has published more than 30 peer-reviewed publications, many of them on the science of how cities impact and depend on the environment. He blogs for The Nature Conservancy's Cool Green Science blog and has published two recent essays on urban/environment interactions in a collection called Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Global Issues (McGraw-Hill) and in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Conservation for Cities

By Robert I. McDonald Paperback and E-book Publication Date: August 13, 2015 250 pages | Price: $30.00 ISBN: 978-1-61091-522-9 http://islandpress.org/conservation-for-cities Founded in 1984, Island Press works to stimulate, shape, and communicate the information that is essential for solving environmental problems. Today, with more than 800 titles in print and some 40 new releases each year, it is the nation’s leading publisher of books on environmental issues. But Island Press does more than publish books. It advances environmental science by nurturing the exchange of ideas across disciplines and sectors, and by helping to create a multidisciplinary literature on environmental problems and solutions. The knowledge created is spread far beyond the range of a limited marketplace through sophisticated communications initiatives that reach journalists, academics, policymakers, practitioners and the general public. Through these efforts, Island Press is driving change by moving ideas from the printed page to public discourse and practice.

Island Press’s emphasis is, and will continue to be, on transforming objective information into understanding and action. For more information and further updates be sure to visit www.islandpress.org. ###

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