Last updated on February 1, 2021

Kenneth Leon Niemczyk, a member of the first graduating class (1970) of Rutgers University’s Livingston College, has published his book Nature’s City.

Kenneth Leon Niemczyk, a member of the first graduating class (1970) of Rutgers University’s Livingston College, has published his book Nature’s City.

Nature’s City is a commentary on the struggle between the need for land by humans to accommodate an ever-increasing population and the need by Nature for land-based resources.  It  begins with the question: Where can human societies build their cities, towns, and villages and otherwise use land without destroying the resources needed by Nature to maintain the evolutionary trend?

Human societies indiscriminately located, and still locate, their cities and their other uses of land with little or no regard for its effects on Nature. Nature’s City addresses the need to protect the resources needed by Nature to keep the evolutionary trend on track and the biosphere viable for human existence.

Nature’s City proposes that human societies must change the way they build cities, towns, and villages.  In essence, it proposes a paradigm shift in the fundamental philosophy addressing human interaction with Nature.  Human societies must first determine which areas of Earth are resources for natural systems; those areas then are sacrosanct and cannot be touched.  Humans can then use the remaining areas for their cities, towns, and villages.

The Environment, Natural Resources, and Energy Division of the American Planning Association published in the Environmental Planning Quarterly a 3,000-word version in celebration of its 25th anniversary.  The editors noted the philosophical nature of the work that argues forcefully that planners must rethink fundamental premises and structures for planning and be more aware of the need to preserve Nature.

Nature’s City is available for sale from Amazon.com for download to the Kindle and other devices. 

Author Kenneth Niemczyk, of Woodstock, Vermont, earned a master of arts degree in 1983 from San Francisco State University after his graduation from Rutgers. He may be reached via email (ken “DOT” niemczyk “AT” yahoo “DOT” com).

Originally posted January 17, 2014
Revised August 6, 2016