1st Edition
Regenerating Essential Goods and Services in Urban Landscapes Sustainability Through Ecological Design
How do we provide for and nurture millions of people without destroying the planet in the process?
Author Doug Kent, an environmental specialist, believes a vital element in the solution is recognizing that urban landscapes are an essential partner in everyone’s wellbeing. He argues that urban landscapes can and must work harder.
Urban landscapes can provide part of our energy needs, help cool our buildings and public spaces, help us make the most of our precious water. They can also help combat air pollution and reduce the likelihood of allergies and asthma. They can provide landscape materials and even contribute to our timber supply. Doug also advocates turning landscapes into a food source, and/or a perfumery, pharmacy, soap shop, or craft store.
Doug has over 12 years of research in this book. He has spent years doing literature reviews, and many more years concocting, consuming, crafting, distilling, propagating, retting, sawing, sowing, and weaving its many recommendations. He has also travelled the length and width of California many times to interview the people and businesses already doing this incredible work.
Regenerating Essential Goods and Services is not a manifesto. It is a user’s manual. You are the creative and energetic force that will ultimately drive sustainability and regeneration. Let’s go.
1. Introduction 2. Craft Items and Textiles 3. Energy 4. Food 5. Landscape Materials 6. Public Health 7. Self-Care 8. Thermal Comfort 9. Timber 10. Water: Greywater Capture and Use 11. Water: Rainwater Capture and Use
Biography
Doug Kent is an author, activist, and educator in ecological land management. He has been exploring the dynamics and ecology of human sustainability for decades. He started gardening in 1979, began pursuing environmental remedies in 1988, became a landscape designer/contractor in 1995, embraced urban regeneration in 2003, and started teaching land management in 2005. Currently, he teaches at the Center for Regenerative Studies at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, UCLA Extension Horticulture, and USC Landscape Architecture and Urbanism.
