Origins The term 'Ecological Urbanism' seems first to have appeared in Spanish, as 'ecourbanismo' in the 1999 book Ecourbanismo, entornos humanos sostenibles: 60 proyectos (Ecourbanism, sustainable human environments: 60 projects) by Miguel Ruano.The publisher's blurb describes this as 'sustainable planning', but the emphasis on design is quite clear in the choice of sixty somewhat unlikely projects: 'The list includes both architects and planners from pioneers like Sergio Los, Peter Calthorpe and Lucien Kroll to prestigious international offices such as Norman Foster, Daniel Libeskind, Richard Rogers, SITE, Renzo Piano and Giants-Zengelis.'