Ian McHarg’s 1969 book, Design with Nature, was grounded in earlier good practice, especially the European vision of fitting cities into the regional landscape and carrying thorough surveys before planning commenced. The book emerged in the wake of publications that worried about the ability of the earth to support expanding populations and their growing impact on the environment. McHarg argued that ecological design should follow planning based on detailed site information. Although McHarg advised many urban authorities in the USA and other countries, especially in Africa, Asia and Europe, and his ideas had influenced some British new towns, they had little attention in the planning of Milton Keynes, England’s largest new urban settlement, where the initial geological surveys were inadequate, but a successful large tree-planting program has created a “city in the forest.” McHarg was however closely involved in planning the Nigerian Capital city, Abuja, but his sound master plan was ill-equipped to provide for a nation undergoing post-conflict rebuilding and a local population more concerned with access to land than ecological planning. Nonetheless, McHarg helped us to promote, protect, and preserve urban green spaces. Although teams from different disciplines now work well together, the integrated thinking advocated by McHarg remains sometimes in short supply in local practice.

伊恩·麦克哈格（Ian McHarg）的1969年的《自然设计》一书，这是基于较早的良好实践，尤其是欧洲的愿景，即在计划开始之前使城市适应区域景观并进行全面调查。这本书是在出版发行后出现的，它们担心地球支持不断增长的人口的能力及其对环境的日益增长的影响。麦克哈格认为，生态设计应该遵循基于详细场地信息的规划。尽管麦克哈格（McHarg）为美国和其他国家（尤其是非洲，亚洲和欧洲）的许多城市当局提供了建议，但他的想法影响了英国的一些新城镇，但他们对英格兰最大的新城市住区米尔顿·凯恩斯的规划却很少关注。最初的地质调查还不够，但是一项成功的大型植树计划已经创建了“森林之城”。不过，麦克哈格（McHarg）密切参与了尼日利亚首都阿布贾（Abuja）的规划工作，但他健全的总体规划装备不足，无法为一个正在经历冲突后重建的国家和一个比生态规划更关心土地使用权的当地居民提供服务。但是，McHarg帮助我们促进，保护和维护了城市绿色空间。尽管现在来自不同学科的团队可以很好地合作，但是McHarg提倡的综合思维有时在本地实践中仍然供不应求。