Trees and Cities Course
People, Plants, and Pollution: A Primer on Urban Environments
These pages supplement my draft book, "People, Plants, and Pollution: A Primer on Urban Environments," under advanced contract with The University of Chicago Press. I'm developing this website while teaching major/non-majors classes (follow the links at left, though the course content shown is incomplete). It's become quite technical, with lots of quantitative information, perhaps putting it out of reach of non-science majors. I certainly envision the book being useful for environmental science and policy majors, and as a textbook for an urban ecology course. Here is the Table of Contents, WGWTOC.pdf. I cover a broad range of topics, with lots of graphical data and extensive endnotes. At present, November 2009, the publisher awaits a very tardy review (three months late), so I'm considering alternative open publishing options (free pdf and low-cost hard copy provided through lulu.com). I'd greatly appreciate feedback on this option.
I used a draft for my Fall 2008 and Fall 2009 "Cities and Trees" nonmajors course. I've begun designing some web pages with more information, but that takes time. My hope is to offer the present book online as a set of freely available web pages, and provide lecture pdfs to people wanting to adopt the book in a course. I promise that an online version will be available Fall 2010. Knowing that course development and approval takes time, please contact me if you have a desire to teach an urban environments course with this book!
Feel free to use the site and offer feedback on examples, assignments, papers, and what-not. Also, you can find more information in my Ecosystem Services Course site and my Durham Open Space and Trails (DOST) site. I'm best reached through email: wgw_at_duke_dot_edu.