National Aquarium of New Zealand. The National Aquarium of New Zealand in Napier, New Zealand. Photo by Chris Zielecki, used under Creative Commons licensing.

At the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Photo by Michael Bentley, used under Creative Commons licensing. At the National Aquarium in Baltimore. Photo by Michael Bentley, used under Creative Commons licensing.

For city dwellers whose lives revolve around asphalt and concrete, it can be difficult to feel connected to the ocean. But if we let out of sight mean out of mind on our increasingly urban planet, our oceans will be unrecognizable due to overfishing, pollution, and other threats. Tim Beatley, who has led the charge to bring nature back into our cities as a pioneer of green urbanism and biophilic cities, has been thinking for years about how the awe we feel for oceans can be incorporated into urban life. In the first chapter of his new book, Blue Urbanism: Exploring Connections Between Cities and Oceans, Beatley argues why it's so important to foster a love for the oceans even in landlocked cities: because oceans affect us all.