Industrialized Nature: Brute Force Technology and the Transformation of the Natural World
For nearly a century, we have relied increasingly on science and technology to harness natural forces, but at what environmental and social cost?
For nearly a century, we have relied increasingly on science and technology to harness natural forces, but at what environmental and social cost?
A history of constructed and designed landscapes in the United States’ national parks.
Hal Rothman’s Neon Metropolis is a colorful and absorbing account of Las Vegas’s rise from the desert landscape of the American West to the cutting edge of metropolitan growth and development.
This book presents one of the first comparative histories of rivers on the continents of Europe and North America in the modern age. The contributors examine the impact of rivers on humans and, conversely, the impact of humans on rivers.
This paper examines the mentalities associated with the transformation of “nature” into urban life in industrial societies, with particular reference to the conversion of rainwater into tap water. It argues that industrial technologies dissociate urban dwellers from the natural environment upon which they depend.
State of the World 2007: Our Urban Future examines changes in the ways cities are managed, built, and lived in that could tip the balance towards a healthier and more peaceful urban future.
Beginning in the pre-modern world, the Volga and Mississippi Rivers both served as critical trade routes connecting cultures in an extensive exchange network, while also sustaining populations through their surrounding wetlands and bottomlands. In modern times, “Mother Volga” and the “Father of Waters” became integral parts of national identity, contributing to a sense of Russian and American exceptionalism. Rivers, Memory, and Nation-Building discusses their histories, through which we derive a more nuanced view of human interaction with the environment, which adds another lens to our understanding of the past.
Earthquakes occur along fault lines, sometimes with disastrous effects. These disturbances can significantly influence urban development, as seen in the aftermath of two earthquakes in Italy. Fault Lines follows the history of these places before and after their destruction, explores plans and developments that preceded the disasters, and the urbanism that emerged from the ruins.
This article studies the aetiology underlying water management by exploring the social hermeneutics that determined its construction. It details how science, technology and political relations construct each other mutually, both producing and harnessing the scientific discourse on the environment.
This article discusses how the understanding of the key concepts and the links between health, water, and sanitation has changed over time.