Design With Nature by Ian L. McHarg established the scientific, technical, and philosophical foundations for ecological design — a blueprint for rethinking the relationship between the built environment and the natural world that continues to shape landscape architecture and urban planning.
About This Book
First published in 1969 and landmark enough to rattle the foundations of multiple disciplines, Design With Nature arrives at its 25th anniversary still essential. McHarg's argument is deceptively direct: that responsible urban and regional planning must work with ecological systems rather than against them. The book constructs a case — scientific, philosophical, and practical — for treating the natural environment not as an obstacle to development but as its organising logic. For practitioners in landscape architecture, ecological design, and planning, this is not background reading. It is foundational text, as relevant to contemporary debates about climate-responsive urbanism as it was at its first publication.
Key Features
- 208 pages of ecological analysis, planning frameworks, and illustrated case studies
- Introduction by Lewis Mumford from the original 1969 edition
- Published by Wiley, 25th Anniversary Edition
What You'll Discover
- A practical methodology for integrating ecological data into site analysis, urban planning, and regional design decisions
- The philosophical argument for understanding human civilisation as embedded within — not separate from — natural systems
- How landscape architecture and ecological design intersect with the physical sciences and humanities to produce more humane built environments
- McHarg's critique of the polluted, mechanised urban environment and his case for an alternative model grounded in ecological intelligence
About the Author
Ian L. McHarg was a landscape architect and educator whose work fundamentally reshaped the fields of landscape architecture, urban planning, and ecological design. Design With Nature remains his most influential publication, described by Lewis Mumford as reviving the hope for a better world through the promise of ecology and ecological design.
Specifications
- Format: Softcover
- Pages: 208
- Dimensions: 26 x 23.5 cm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780471114604
- Publisher: Wiley
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Landscape architects, urban and regional planners, ecological designers, and students in environmental design programs seeking the foundational text of ecological planning thought.