The history and future of the ecological city.

In this far-reaching work, social ecologist and historian Murray Bookchin takes the reader on a voyage through the evolution of the city. Cities are not just monumental social and political facts, they are tremendous ecological facts as well. Far from seeing them as an inherent adversary of the natural world, though, Bookchin uncovers a hidden history of cities as “eco-communities” that fostered diversity and interconnection, living in balance with and awareness of nature. Just as ecosystems rely on participation and mutualism, so must cities—and their citizens—rediscover these qualities, establishing harmonious, ethical social relations as a basis for a healthy ecological relationship to the natural world.

Published for the one hundredth anniversary of Murray Bookchin’s birth, Urbanization Without Cities is the first in a series of his books that AK Press is reprinting and bringing to a new audience.

Preface

Introduction

1. Urbanization Against Cities
2. From Tribe to City
3. The Creation of Politics
4. The Ideal of Citizenship
5. Patterns of Civic Freedom
6. From Politics to Statecraft
7. The Social Ecology of Urbanization
8. The New Municipal Agenda

APPENDIX The Meaning of Confederalism

Notes

Index