Phytopolis : The Living City

Phytopolis: The Living City, by botanist and author Stefano Mancuso, argues that cities - which drive so much environmental destruction even as humans become ever more dependent on them - need to be fundamentally rethought as climate change makes conventional urban life increasingly untenable.

Rather than persisting with traditional top-down planning, Mancuso proposes designing cities the way plants organize themselves: modular, non-hierarchical, and built on symbiotic relationships between parts.

Drawing on botanical systems that have evolved resilience over millions of years, the book offers a vision - one reviewer called it 'a manifesto for the urban planning revolution we so urgently need' - for city planners, policymakers, and anyone thinking about how urban life can become genuinely sustainable.