Phytopolis: The City of Life

On the streets there are green groves, in the squares cool gardens: this beautiful, almost utopian landscape is not a fantasy from the movies, but a perfectly real program of action. This is what the well-known Italian scientist Stefano Mancuso believes—professor at the University of Florence, a science popularizer, and the author of bestsellers translated into more than 30 languages. His book “Phytopolis. The City of Life,” for the first time being published in Russian, is devoted to the past and future of modern cities. The more actively megacities grow, the more rapidly global warming is approaching—one that in the not-too-distant future could make the familiar urban environment first uncomfortable, and then unfit for life.

But there is also an encouraging piece of news: trees can help slow down warming and preserve cities! Drawing on extensive historical examples and the latest findings from biology, the author develops the idea of a phytopolis—“a city-plant,” one that exists in harmony with nature and learns from it how to survive and develop.