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This work deals with urban planning in a comprehensive form. A devastating anticipated population increase, an oligarchic economic structure, and the massive use of technology (as well as warfare) have caused climate crises to which some people and organizations have been alerted. Bolan cites other authors' hypotheses that increased migration and concurrent population increases in urban areas have been affecting the earth's physical environment for nearly 200 years. Likewise, the individual consumption of resources, such as automobiles and single-family homes, has had a similar effect over a shorter period. Like many environmentalists, earth scientists, and researchers, Bolan sees a huge problem in the overconsumption of each person. The author believes that the key to the possibilities of coping is education in a variety of sectors. He is an advocate for reaching the United Nations' seventeen sustainable goals for "People, Planet, and Prosperity."
This book—a marvelous example of an interdisciplinary guide to the uses and the major need to access resources wisely—is authored by a veteran urban planner with sixty years of experience. Bolan's educational background in civil engineering, regional and urban planning, and political science clearly informs his work. In addition to writing and editing, his comprehensive background includes work in the U.S. and Central and Eastern Europe as well as faculty positions at Boston College and the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota. With this book, he has propelled himself into the ranks of esteemed experts such as economist Kenneth Boulding, environmentalist Sir David Attenborough, and all others whose approaches to the earth's largest problem, human overpopulation, are multifaceted and based on common sense.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review