From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design [Paperback]

Nancy Jack Todd (Author), John Todd (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 18, 1994

From Eco-cities to Living Machines presents the ecologically-based working designs and prototypes of biologist John Todd and writer and environmental activist Nancy Todd. Since 1969 with the founding of New Alchemy Institute on Cape Cod, the Todds have become known world-wide for their leadership in the restoration of pure water, bioremediation of wild aquatic environments, food production, and urban design. In this new book, the Todds further develop the idea of Eco-cities, designs for integrating agriculture and flowing pure water into green urban settings and introduce Living Machines, a family of technologies for purifying wastewaters to tertiary quality effluent without chemicals. Provocative and grounded firmly in the principles of biodiversity, the Todds' work encompasses site-specific technological interventions and systems-wide ecological planners and designers, environmental economists, and systems-based engineers working to change the way we utilize production, technology, water and energy.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"If these Living Machines of John Todd's succeed in creating an immune system for truly cultured ecologies, then we really will have a new age. We've glimpsed its science; now all we have to do is envision its appropriately symbiotic politics."
-William Irwin Thompson

"He [John Todd] is a visionary, with an uncanny knack for ecology. He is as much artist as scientist, but his medium is biology."
—Donnella Meadows, Harrowsmith Magazine

"We recognize his [John Todd's] pioneering work in developing Solar Aquatics, and environmentally responsible family of technologies for wastewater purification and reclamation."
—William Reilley, Past Directory of the Environmental Protection Agency, presenting the first Chico Mendes Memorial Award to John Todd.

About the Author

Biologist Dr. John Todd and writer Nancy Jack Todd have been honored with major global environmental awards, including the Threshold and Environmental Programme Award. Nancy Jack Todd publishes Annuals of Earth for the Center for the Restoration of Water at Ocean Arks International and writes widely about international environmental affairs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books; 2 Sub edition (April 18, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1556431503
• ISBN-13: 978-1556431500
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 0.6 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #260,294 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Politics & Social Sciences > Urban Planning & Development > Environmental Planning

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not much new since 1985, April 6, 2004

By 

S. Morkin "Shane" (Paris France) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design (Paperback)

While I find Dr. Todd's work inspiring, this time around I was disappointed by this particular book. There isn't much new in it since the 1985 publication of Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, and City Farming: Ecology as the Basis of Design. For example, Eco-Cities lifted at times the same paragraphs and sentences from Bioshelters when describing the Cape Cod Ark, the Margaret Mead sailing boat, the Lindisfarne Hamlet, and rooftop gardens.

If you haven't read the 1985 book, then I could see how Eco-Cities deserves a throrough reading. If you have read Bioshelters than I would not purchase the new book, Eco-Cities, but take a glance at it at your local library instead.

I'm currently trying to organize an association in Paris, France to build an apartment complex using the ideas found in both Bioshelters and Eco-Cities. But I'm finding it difficult to gather concrete examples, blueprints, or even contact numbers for architectural firms with the experience to do so. I'd like to encourage the folks at Ocean Arks International to publish a book like Eco-Cities but move past concepts and give us a technological guide for actually creating eco-cities.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A HELPFUL BOOK ABOUT SUSTAINABLE ECOLOGICAL DESIGN, January 12, 2010

By 

Steven H. Propp (Sacramento, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design (Paperback)

John Todd (b. 1939) is a biologist working in the field of ecological design, and this 1994 book was co-written with his wife Nancy (who has also written A Safe and Sustainable World: The Promise Of Ecological Design). This book is an updating (with much material copied literally word-for-word) of their earlier book, Bioshelters, Ocean Arks, City Farming: Ecology as the Basis of Design.

They note early on "The relevance of the GAIA hypothesis in the context of our work is as both working premise and metaphor." One of their fundamental principles is, "Biology is the model for design." They actually break the work into sections based on their nine "Precepts," such as, "Design Should Follow, Not Oppose, the Laws of Life," "Design must Reflect Bioregionality," "Design Should be Coevolutionary with the Natural World," "Design Should Follow a Sacred Ecology."

Here are some representative quotations from the book:

"It is only because most of us do not have a sense of human history over this long period of time that we do not feel how ODD it is to build cities and suburbs as we do."

"Some of the saddest designs in architecture are those of schools."

"The economics for converting a factory to a solar food barn are as yet conjectural."

"A living machine is a device made up of living organisms of all types and usually housed within a casing or structure made of extremely light-weight materials."

This book will continue to be of interest to those interested in ecology, ecovillages, sustainable communities, urban planning, intentional communities, etc.

4.0 out of 5 stars Living Machines, October 23, 2005

By 

end-user (canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: From Eco-Cities to Living Machines: Principles of Ecological Design (Paperback)

I found the book to be very informative. It was specific enough to understand his work even if you aren't a biologist yet tied together nicely with an holistic paradigm that wasn't overdone. His vision of the ideal future for urban planning seemed reasonable and worth aiming for.