‘This is a wonderful book that should be on the desk of every architect and planner. It shows how

Can we increase services while reducing the ecological and physical footprint?
Yes. However, spaces in urban areas are increasingly allocated to private consumption, not public 
services.
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This is partly due to land values, but also partly because vacant land is perceived to be 
‘wasted’ space that should be converted to private indoor uses. We have mentioned some ways of 
increasing the space available for functioning ecosystems in buildings and cities that 
neither
increase 
‘sprawl’ or ‘Manhattanization’ 
nor
reduce economic and social activity. Design for eco-services can 
complement either high-density or low-density living. Again, we can:
•
Increase the use of spaces over streets, or on façades and roofs, by adding green space frames
that combine ecological, climatic, aesthetic and practical functions [Box 4].
• 
Eco-retrofit low-rise buildings so that there is more ‘ground area’ on-site than existed prior to
construction by integrating planters with roofs, atriums or balconies, etc.
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Positive Development
• 
Design buildings so that the landscape flows through the ground level (eg using vertical
thermal mass or Trombe walls, etc, to capture and distribute heat or coolness).
• 
Integrate Living Machines and vertical wetlands with both indoor and outdoor areas that
serve additional social functions as well, such as meeting, recreation and eating places.
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• 
Convert some suburban streets to public uses (other than driving and parking), such as food 
production, gardens or skate parks where homes are accessed by, say, shared golf carts.
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• 
Create incentives for owners of urban buildings to contribute to nature corridors planned by
ecologists (eg roof gardens or suburban roads covered by space frame gardens).
• 
Retrofit existing suburbs in a way that increases the number of dwellings without significantly
reducing land area, such as adding second floor units [Box 8].
• 
Retrofit public parks to provide more ecosystem goods and services, such as climate
mitigation and fire prevention using structures like green space frames.
In addition to questioning our implicit assumptions about space, we need to question our assumptions 
about durability. Some building and product designers believe that new but ‘durable’ buildings are 
more sustainable than retrofitted ones, even if the latter use recycled materials.
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