While I've been working on this issue of the magazine, the horrors of war and genocide have been ravaging the Balkans. In such a climate, producing an NI on 'Green cities' has at times seemed irrelevant. It's certainly not top of the list of priorities for the people of Pristina or Belgrade, or even a very high one for those of us living in countries which have become embroiled in the war.

For most of us, watching the daily events unfold, the effects of armed conflict are horribly obvious. But there are many hidden, psychological effects too. Devastation happens so suddenly; life speeds up. Instant reactions are what counts. Thinking about the long term gets put on the back burner. Or is forgotten altogether.

Another psychological effect is that as conflict deepens so does our tendency to think in monochrome; in terms of right and wrong; goodies and baddies. The colourful complexity of life, and its more subtle shades, gets blasted out.

In time, when the carnage is over and the people of the Balkans start to rebuild their devastated cities, towns and villages, colour, including greenery, will creep back into the picture. Sustainability, in every sense, will be a priority. There will be a lot to deal with on the political, social and economic fronts. But there will also be much to face on the environmental front: the effects of depleted uranium (from NATO bombs), chemical and oil pollution, landmines and all the other noxious legacies of modern warfare.

Perhaps people will start to grow food, plant trees, rebuild homes and try to turn their settlements into habitable places again. Such actions reflect real-life needs, but they are also acts of faith in the future. Greenery, vegetation, has always represented the spirit of regeneration and hope. Not for nothing is the symbol of peace an olive branch.

There is always something deeply moving about people greening their most adverse environments. I recall a man serving a life sentence in Lurigancho prison, set in the Peruvian desert, who had somehow managed to transform the most dusty and unpromising plot into an inspiration of flowers and vegetables.

Greening cities is about the here and now. It is about creating better urban environments today. But it is also about the future - and our duty to future generations. The way we live in cities now is dramatically unsustainable. We've simply got to do it differently. And many people are trying just that. All over the world there are examples of green ideas, initiatives and practice, from Hong Kong to Havana, from Chattanooga to Chimbote, from Adelaide to Accra.

This issue of the NI is full of them.

Green cities
Can we survive our urban future? Vanessa Baird finds hope in crowded places.

Shapes of cities
How and why they vary so much.

Green Odyssey
On their bikes - and out searching for Asian inspiration - are Angela Bischoff and Tooker Gomberg.

Big foot, small world
Food, footprints and the quest for environmental equity by Herbert Girardet.

CITIES: THE FACTS
The way they are... and the way they could be.

It rains fishmeal
Chimbote's plucky residents are tackling the stinking rich. Stephanie Boyd reports from Peru's most polluted seaport.

CITIES - A HISTORY OF IDEAS

Exit from auto hell
Peter Newman looks for ways out of the urban nightmare of our making.

Mirror, Mirror...
So who's the greenest of them both? Amsterdam or Dinyar Godrej's hometown of Indore?

Seizing the reins
Jade Saunders connects with activists around the world - some less ruly than others.

ACTION & RESOURCES

Letters
Letter from Mongolia
Update
The NI Interview with Sein Win
Reviews: plus Christopher Hill classic
NI Crossword
Endpiece: by Suzanne Le Clerc-Madlala
Country profile: Madagascar

FRONT COVER : DARREL REES
MAGAZINE DESIGNED BY ALAN HUGHES
ONLINE MAG MAINTAINED BY SIMON LOFFLER