- "Cities as Sustainable Ecosystems is a compendium of lists and theories that is a useful reference and for some a potential guide to right living. The authors are enamored with the seminal principles of “bioregionalism.” Those include the notion that there are natural geographic boundaries and scaled biotic systems that can be the essential unit for sustainable living. Carrying capacity as a derivative of local resources, ecosystems, economic systems and culture is a theory that has substance to the authors and this reviewer. Getting the right balance, equilibrium if you will would be an outcome of conscious design, lifestyle choices, and a wise economic model."
I was instantly intrigued when I came across this passage. I have been attracted to planning issues on the regional scale for a few years now, mostly in the context of regional transportation and the live/work paradigm. This idea of bioregionalism - and the region as the appropriate scale for the exchange of human resources and systems, is almost tantalizing. What if all the food we ate and the things we bought and sold were exchanged within a few hundred mile radius? Would it ever be possible? I imagine that cities would have to condense to free up space for agriculture and industry. Instead of sprawling suburbs, what if there were strict city entities surrounded by circles of agriculture. Cities could be connected by regional trains - a nationwide puzzle of connect-the-dots.
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