For decades, American cities have experimented with ways to remake themselves in response to climate change. These efforts, often driven by grassroots activism, offer valuable lessons for transforming the places we live. In her book From the Ground Up: Local Efforts to Create Resilient Cities (Island Press, 2022), Alison Sant focuses on the unique ways in which US cities are working to mitigate and adapt to climate change while creating equitable and livable communities. Sant shows how, from the ground up, we are raising the bar to make cities places in which we don’t just survive, but where all people have the opportunity to thrive. From the Ground Up was named among the best books of 2022 by the ASLA and Planetizen. The early stages of the book were developed during an artist’s residency at the Headlands Center for the Arts.

Publication Date: January 2022

Publisher: Island Press

Studio Team: Authored by Alison Sant, illustrations by Packard Jennings, and research assistance by Robert Ungar

Collaborators: Edited by Heather Boyer, Graphic Design by MacFadden & Thorpe

Book Website: fromthegroundupbook

Download Sample Chapter: excerpt