ABSTRACT
Lewis Mumford begins his contribution to Man’s Role in Changing the Face of the Earth, a seminal study in environmental sciences, by stating: “The natural history of urbanization has not yet been written” (Mumford, 1956: 382). Half a century later, this diagnosis is still valid, while the need to understand the role of cities for global environmental change has reached unprecedented recognition in science and policy (see e.g., the recent report of the German Advisory Council on Global Environmental change; WBGU, 2011).
