Whatever the importance of a garden, it will always be a place for relaxation, communal gatherings or sensual pleasures. The contemporary gardens collected in this book are a cross-section of current trends, notable not only for their use of new materials and construction techniques, but above all for their single, shared characteristic: in every case, they are small urban gardens. The following pages contain the most imaginative solutions: gardens that creep up facades, that nest on rooftops or squeeze into left-over spaces between adjoining walls or between a facade and the street. Clearly, gardens have become, more than ever before, a means to buffer the effects of fast-paced urban living; spaces in which to unwind, to relax and recharge one's batteries, and havens of silence in the midst of a city's bustling activity. All over the world, garden designers' strategies show us how different resources can be tapped, demonstrating how easily gardens fit in with our daily lives surrounded by concrete and asphalt, with something to offer even to the most nomadic of lifestyles.