Description
Typical development in the American Southwest often resulted in scraping the desert lands of the ancient living landscape, to be replaced with one that is human-made and dependent on a large consumption of energy and natural resources. This transdisciplinary book explores the natural and built environment of this desert region and introduces development tools for shaping its future in a more sustainable way. It offers valuable insights to help promote ecological balance between nature and the built environment in the American Southwest-and in other ecologically fragile regions around the world.
Table of Contents
Introduction. Physical Aspects of the Desert Environment: Deserts of the World. Geology and Soils in Deserts of the Southwestern United States. Scales of Climate in Designing with the Desert. Water Resources in the Desert Southwest. Geologic, Hydrologic, and Urban Hazards for Design in Desert Environments. The Living Desert: Deep History and Biogeography of La Frontera. Vegetation Zones of the Southwest. Plant Ecology of the Sonoran Desert Region. Wildlife and Anthropogenic Changes in the Arid Southwest. Healing the Wounds: An Example from the Sky Islands. Built toBurn. Restoring Ecosystem Health in Frequent-Fire Forests of the American West. Desert Planning: Ecological Planning Method. Phoenix as Every City: A Closer Look at Sprawl in the Desert. Water Planning for Growing Southwestern Communities. Removable and Placed-Based Economies: Alternative Futures for America's Deserts. Environmental Injustice in the Urban Southwest: A Case Study of Phoenix, Arizona. Dwelling in Expanded Biotic Communities: Steps Toward Reconstructive Postmodern Communities. Dialogue on Development. Ecology in Design of Urban Systems: Ecological Design. Rainwater Harvesting and Stormwater Reuse for Arid Environments. Designing Habitats in Urban Environments. Native Plant Salvaging and Reuse in Southwestern Deserts. Sustainable Urban Living: Green Solar Energy for Food and Biofuels Production. Integral Urbanism in Desert Cities: Recapturing Links in Metro Phoenix. Urban Sustainability: Settlement, Growth, and Water Security for Southwest Cities. Creating Tomorrow. Desert Vernacular: Green Building and Ecological Design in Scottsdale, Arizona. Sustainable Energy Alternatives for the Southwest. Search for a Lean Alternative. Creating Sustainable Futures for Southwestern Cities: The ProtoCity Approach in the Ciudad Juarez Mexico/El Paso, Texas Metroplex. Index.
