NATURE-FIRST CITIES AND URBAN ECOSYSTEM-BASED PLANNING: “Nature-First Cities is not a heavy academic book. We wrote it to be inspirational. We challenge readers to understand why we have become so disconnected from nature and what happens when we start to rebuild that connection,” stated SFU Professor Sean Markey
“Nature belongs in cities, but how do we put nature first without pushing people aside? Nature-First Cities reveals the false dichotomy of that question by recognizing that people and nature are indivisible. What are the costs associated with having cities that are not nature-based? What are the benefits if we invite nature back into our cities? What would it take to actually do this? If we are to challenge how urban development has taken place without a deep understanding of our connection to nature, what is a strategy for bringing nature back into cities,” stated Sean Markey.