The beautiful promenades, residential gardens and open spaces of Europe’s inner cities are the subject of this German book. The thirty gardens documented are recently completed examples from 1990 to 2010, designed by famous landscape architects such as Patrick Blanc, Michel Desvigne, Gustafson Porter and West 8.

The projects range from inner-city private rooftop gardens and vertical gardens to riverside revitalization projects and masterplans for entire cities, all of which display sustainable and ecological innovation. The geographic position of these designs also demonstrates the aesthetic differences between cities. In Paris, a long public promenade is lined with native hazelnut trees and complements the new and old city quarters it nudges against, while in a basilica’s garden in Rome, pergolas are draped in dense Roman grapevines and a low, round water basin sits at the centre of the garden.

The book also features ten expert essays focusing on a range of topics, including conservation of historical gardens and civic agriculture in the city.

Edited by Annette Becker and Peter Cachola Schmal. Birkhauser, hardcover, 2010, 245 pp, rrp $127.50.