This book will address the destruction of urban forest in nine cities by bombing during World War II and the Bosnian War and their reconstruction in the post-war years. After reviewing the general objectives and results of aerial bombing, the book explores the effects of bombing and the reconstruction of urban forest in London, Coventry, Hamburg, Dresden, St. Petersburg, Stalingrad, Tokyo, Hiroshima, and Sarajevo. Sarajevo stands out among these cities because the destruction of its urban forest was the result of citizens cutting down trees for firewood during the siege of the city. Most of the cities studied developed plans for reconstruction either during or after the war. These plans often addressed the planning and re-establishment of the urban forest that had been destroyed. Urban planners often planned for infrastructure improvements such as new boulevards and parks where trees would be planted. After the war many of these plans were abandoned or significantly modified. Cost, resistance by property owners, control of reconstruction by authorities outside of the cities, and the lack of planting stock were factors contributing to the failure of many of the plans. Exceptions occurred in Hiroshima and Coventry where the destroyed cities became symbols of national reconstruction and every effort was made to redesign the destroyed portions of these cities as memorials to those who lost their lives and to demonstrate the rebirth of the cities. In several of the cities studied individual citizens undertook on their own the replanting of street and park trees. Their ingenuity, hard work, and dedication to trees in their cities was remarkable. A common factor limiting efforts to replant street and park trees was the lack of nursery stock. During and immediately after the wars nearly all nurseries that had supplied trees for city planting had been converted to vegetable gardens to produce food for the urban populations. The slow return to the production of trees for urban planting was a common factor in the time required in many cities to restore their street and park trees. There are lessons to be learned by urban planner, urban forester, and landscape architects from this book that will be useful in the future destruction of urban forest either by natural or man-made causes.

Public Gardens and Livable Cities changes the paradigm for how we conceive of the role of urban public gardens. Donald A. Rakow, Meghan Z. Gough, and Sharon A. Lee advocate for public gardens as community outreach agents that can, and should, partner with local organizations to support positive local agendas. Safe neighborhoods, quality science education, access to fresh and healthy foods, substantial training opportunities, and environmental health are the key initiative areas the authors explore as they highlight model successes and instructive failures that can guide future practices. Public Gardens and Livable Cities uses a prescriptive approach to synthesize a range of public, private, and nonprofit initiatives from municipalities throughout the country. In doing so, the authors examine the initiatives from a practical perspective to identify how they were implemented, their sustainability, the obstacles they encountered, the impact of the initiatives on their populations, and how they dealt with the communities' underlying social problems. By emphasizing the knowledge and skills that public gardens can bring to partnerships seeking to improve the quality of life in cities, this book offers a deeper understanding of the urban public garden as a key resource for sustainable community development.