A little perspective-shift I’ve been chewing on lately.
Most people see cities as the antithesis of nature, as have I. I totally get it. Leaving town and going out into the backcountry for a period of time can change your perspective on things almost upon arrival.
These days, I simply spend a lot more time in town. I have a ton of bookmarks for extended hikes, mountain expeditions, and trails I hope to do someday. At this exact moment, my life doesn’t exactly lend itself to leaving everything behind for a backpack,
But that’s led me towards rethinking how I see cities. What if they’re nature too.
Seems totally counterintuitive at first. But people are a part of nature. And the idea of nature being pristine or uninterrupted by human activity is a Western perspective I too easily assume to be the default. If nobody would debate a complex beehive, spider tunnels, or nests carved into a cove to be examples of nature, why see our built environments too differently?
Of course, all the intensive infrastructure of our cities tends to harm biodiversity in the immediate space, but density tends to be better for big picture ecological health, because it reduces the spread. Then we can look at how stewarding our urban spaces as nature can make them better for people and the planet.
Like things in nature, cities are all about connection and the harmony of all who share a space.
The Nature of Cities
