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.

This book tells the stories of urban do-it-yourself activists contesting conventional conditions of production and consumption through urban gardening sites, open repair workshops, fab labs, and share-and-swap events.

While some have argued that, in democratic societies, people simply have a right to a participatory role, others base arguments for public participation on the idea that lay people may have access to knowledge which is unknown to officially sanctioned experts. This paper reports on a novel empirical approach called “participatory modelling” to analyse and capture such “lay” understandings.

Roger Paden presents a critical analysis of Hare’s article “Contrasting Methods in Environmental Planning.”

In this paper, it is argued that many social practices serve human purposes and also provide a setting for the emergence of environmental value.

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.