In the next 30 years, the world will undergo an urban revolution. Throughout the developing world, new towns and cities will explode into farmlands and wetlands to accommodate billions of new residents, creating newly built environments that will require new power grids, water delivery and disposal infrastructure, and expanded transport systems. Established urban areas, largely in Europe and North America, will struggle to transform themselves towards greater efficiencies with regard to the use of energy and other natural resources without destroying the historical legacies that made them thrive in earlier centuries. A key imperative for all of these upcoming urban transformations will be increased sustainability, that is, more efficient use of natural resources (water, air and land) for residential and commercial uses; materials for construction; and energy for heating, cooling, transport and the electronic systems on which modern commerce depends. The authors of this edited volume suggest that progress is being made towards developing design approaches and technologies that will address the sustainability imperative, especially in the redevelopment of European cities. Using an ‘ecosystem approach’, they discuss ways in which the design of the built environment can be improved and better integrated to provide for a livable, yet sustainable, built environment. Van Bueren and her colleagues from Delft University have clearly intended this book as a teaching tool, signaling that it provides a ‘first step’ into the consideration of urban sustainability. A companion volume that dealt in greater detail with the ‘profit and policy’ aspects of sustainable and successful urban development and function would also be welcome.