The Nature of Our Cities: Harnessing the Power of the Natural World to Survive a Changing Planet

“Technological innovations” are required to manage the ill effects of climate change on urban landscapes, according to this informative if irksome debut. Ecological engineer Galle recounts efforts by herself and others to implement such technical fixes. These include the installation of sensors to notify arborists when the soil around trees in a park in Maastricht, Netherlands, has dried out, in order to halt a mass die-off; the use of LiDAR (light detection and ranging) sensors mounted on vehicles to monitor the health of trees in New York City and Singapore by collecting hard-to-record data, such as tree canopy size; and the deployment of AI-directed drones that spray flame-retardant chemicals to fight wildfires in cities in Southern California. Galle’s finely detailed microhistories of city employees attempting to find more efficient and effective ways to do their jobs fascinate. But as the stories reach their climactic moment of technological innovation, they start to sound more like promotional material (“DIOPSIS will give local authorities the information they need to prove the incredible value of targeted investments and maximize cities’ outcomes”). While the narrative is instructive on a granular level, its boosterish tone feels at odds with the dire situations under discussion, in which excessive monitoring is necessary merely to mitigate worsening conditions. This disappoints. (June)