“Unlike most guides to the city, Chicago’s Urban Nature: A Guide to the City’s Architecture + Landscape does not include the alley where John Dillinger was shot. Instead, this delightful little book breaks new ground by presenting what author Sally A. Kitt Chappell terms ‘urban nature,’ defined as ‘the place where architecture and landscape [are] not only both present but where each [has] been conceived in response to the other … fusing into a dynamic relationship.’ Her personal response to Chicago’s built environment, and her enthusiasm for the city, informed by her years of highly regarded scholarly research, is infectious, making this a book you can’t put down.
“Chappell writes for four different audiences: tourists, Chicagoans, armchair travelers, and architecture landscape and planning professionals. Amazingly this works.… Chicago’s Urban Nature is a beautifully designed book, a tactile and visual pleasure that is small and flexible enough to carry in purse or backpack, or, as Chappell hopes, in the glove compartment for quick reference.”—Barbara Geiger, Landscape Architecture
View a video portrait of the numerous new green spaces that have enlivened and rejuvenated our hometown, narrated by the author.