This study analyzes five different types of American urban communities to demonstrate the manner in which economic and political power have constructed the urban landscape. It uses such examples as Disneyworld and Henry Ford's industrial complex to show how powerful interests have shaped the land.

Landscape ecology focuses on spatial heterogeneity, or the idea that where things are and where they are in relation to other things can have important consequences for a wide range of phenomena. Landscape ecology integrates humans with natural ecosystems and brings a spatial perspective to such fields as natural resource management, conservation, and urban planning. The thirty-seven papers included in this volume present the origins and development of landscape ecology and encompass a variety of perspectives, approaches, and geographies. The editors begin with articles that illuminate the discipline's diverse scientific foundations, such as L. S. Berg's keystone paper outlining a geoecological analysis based on soil science, physical geography, and geology. Next they include selections exemplifying landscape ecologists' growing awareness of spatial pattern, the different ways they incorporated scale into their work, the progression of landscape ecology from a qualitative to a quantitative discipline, and how concepts from landscape ecology have come to permeate ecological research and influence land-use policy, conservation practices, landscape architecture, and geography. Together these articles provide a solid introduction to what is now widely recognized as an important area of research and application that encourages new ways of thinking about natural and human-dominated ecosystems

Through a series of personal essays, this book addresses a wide array of past, current, and future issues in landscape ecology. The essays have been contributed by leading landscape ecologists from North America, Europe, and Australia, and provide an overview of the rich tapestry of viewpoints and perspectives that make landscape ecology at once a well-defined and yet also a frustratingly diverse discipline. The contributions span a range of topics and approaches, addressing theory as well as practice, science as well as application, conservation as well as utilization, and aquatic as well as terrestrial systems. The volume therefore provides informative and entertaining reading for beginning and advanced students, landscape managers, conservationists, and teachers.

景观生态学：格局、过程、尺度与等级（第二版），ISBN：9787040208795，作者：邬建国