ABSTRACT
The protection of nature depends upon man’s ability to make cities livable, so that they will satisfy most of his needs and thus make unnecessary the widespread destruction of the environment that has characterized recent history. Because cities are where most people want to live, the task of human settlement is to build and maintain livable cities. The city is exciting and thus desirable as a human habitat, because it provides a maximum of interaction potential by bringing many different people together. The ecological concept of carrying capacity is familiar in the fields of wildlife management and animal husbandry; however, the false notion that human beings are not part of nature has deterred us from applying the scientific insights of population biology to the solution of our own problems. The basic ingredients for human survival are air, water, food, shelter, and a sense of community.
