A pioneering work which argues that advancing urbanisation often replaces a once diverse natural landscape for a biologically sterile one and that efforts to reclaim mined or derelict urban land substitute naturally regenerating sites for new horticultural deserts that perpetuate the very conditions they intend to cure. Hough contends that the unrecognised natural processes occurring in cities can provide us with an alternative basis for urban design. `... a book of ideas and imagination which should stimulate anyone concerned about the future of urban life' THES