The founder of the Garden City Association outlines his radical new approach to urban planning. First published in 1898.

The secrets of plants that cling, grip, and climb, from the inventor of the vertical garden.

The inventor of the vertical garden showcases some of his favorite projects, which he has created all over the world for museums, hotels, skyscrapers, private homes and more.

From building office blocks in the charred ruins of post-war Tokyo to creating Japan's largest ever urban development, Mori Building Co. has revolutionized how cities are made. In the late 1960s, after the success of its early 'number buildings', the company changed its focus from individual sites to whole neighbourhoods as Japan's economic miracle fuelled a building boom. By the 1980s Mori had completed the groundbreaking redevelopment at Ark Hills, home to the country's first 'intelligent building' which became Tokyo's international finance hub. This was the forerunner to the Roppongi Hills project - a cultural quarter which has attracted 40 million visitors a year since it was completed in 2003 and is Japan's biggest private development to date. In this book, Minoru Mori tells the story of the remarkable growth and pioneering vision that made Mori Building Co. Japan's leading developer. He traces the entire history of the company and shows how the unconventional thinking championed by Mori will be vital as Japan faces the challenges of recovering from a devastating tsunami while dealing with a shrinking population and a turbulent global economy.

A spectacular global survey of some of the world’s most inventive buildings—increasingly relevant in the face of climate change—which bring architecture and horticulture into a sustainable whole How can our urban jungles be transformed into skyscraper forests that help our cities provide new forms of sustenance, from urban farms to breathing buildings?The topic is increasingly in the public eye, and the answer is already cropping up on our streets. Garden City captures the growing global movement among contemporary architects for biodesigning buildings that are less structure and façade, more living entities, capable of being ecologically autonomous, horticulturally productive, and both pleasing to the eye and relevant to our day-to-day lifestyles. More than 100 (mostly completed) projects are presented here, a life-affirming range of design ideas that can be applied to new buildings and those needing rehabilitation. From offices that incorporate urban farms and exchange the CO2 produced by humans for food and oxygen produced by plants, to lightweight systems for growing gardens on vertical surfaces; from “tree houses” the size of city blocks to civic buildings that connect to existing water-management systems—there are rich and often unexpected ideas for every designer. The future of our urban architecture is biologically alert, naturally self-sustaining, and alive. Garden City is the visual resource charting this frontier of new urban architecture.