This edited volume is the product of a forum held in Rome in February 2008 which drew participants from a variety of sectors and disciplines, including architecture, geography, journalism, risk management, medicine, urban planning, medicine, communications and environmental science. The participants mainly came from Italy (16), along with a few participants from the United States of America (6), the United Kingdom (2), Belgium (1) and France (1) to discuss ‘Urban climate change at the crossroads’. The volume is based on the conviction that the world today finds itself at two crossroads: first, the historical crossroad where ‘we either head off the worst of ecological collapse through concerted and forward-looking action, or we face a “Mad Max future” of dystopia, violence and upheaval’ (p. ix). The second crossroad is intellectual in nature and is based on the belief that individual sciences and fields are unable to grasp the magnitude of the economic and environmental challenges that will result from climate change in the near and distant future. Instead, the volume advocates a holistic approach to urban climate change studies and planning, and sustainable urbanization to deal with these economic and environmental challenges, both current and in the future.

The contributions to this volume differ greatly and include theoretical contributions that cross disciplinary fields such as those by Bettina Menne, Harriet Bulkeley, Richenda Connell and Lieven De Cauter. Others focused more narrowly on their specific fields such as communications, architecture, urban planning and governance, to highlight just how approaches in their respective fields should be changed and reoriented in order to make meaningful contributions to urban climate change studies. Case-studies were limited to just two very interesting chapters that discussed the ways in which New York City is addressing climate change through its PlaNYC 2030 programme, and the city's disaster management planning, in particular the provision of emergency housing should the city be hit by force 3 and 4 hurricanes (against the backdrop of the chaos in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina). A theme that runs throughout the volume is the need to move away from current climate change approaches that focus overwhelmingly on mitigation (e.g. the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions) to a model which includes adaptation along with mitigation. Adaptation strategies are seen as crucial because even if by some miracle we were to halt increases in greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures are still set to rise with resulting adverse environmental impacts. The interplay between mitigation and adaptation strategies and initiatives in actual policy is set out by Cynthia Rosenzweig in her discussion on New York City's PlaNYC 2030 programme, which provides an interesting model for other cities in the developed north.

Numerous ideas were voiced by the contributors and the discussants, of which the following stayed with the reviewer: new green urban planning is at its root elitist and does not make provision for poor people. Cinzia Abbate in her contribution highlights the exclusive nature of green developments such as Masdar in Abu Dhabi, and asks the key questions, where and how will poor people live in the future? Julie Sze, on the other hand, links the environmental justice movement with the climate justice movement, which focuses on the global impacts of climate change on the most vulnerable people and places in the world, and advocates the incorporation of the worldviews and cultural perceptions of these communities into global climate change policies. Marianella Sclavi draws attention to the need for participatory governance in consensus-building on climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, and stresses the fact that this participatory governance should include all sectors of urban areas, from the poorest to the richest communities. Lorenzo Bellicini, on the other hand, reminds us that cities do not have single identities, but consist of a multitude of different neighbourhoods and districts, each with its own identity and characteristics. His research has shown that Rome consists of a collection of 200 micro-cities, each of which constitutes an important unit in planning for urban climate change.

Urban Climate Change Crossroads is a thought-provoking volume that underscores the need for a holistic approach to urban climate change. The volume is strong on exploring this approach on an intellectual level, but weak when it comes to the practical implementation of many of the ideas apart from the short contributions on New York City. As a result the reader is left with many questions regarding just how these approaches have influenced urban climate change planning, both holistically and within the specific fields identified. The volume is also overwhelmingly concerned with the developed north, in particular Europe and the United States, which leaves the question ‘What about Lagos?’ (p. 16; as metaphor for cities in the developing world) sadly unanswered.