A Gate Opens Where There Had Appeared To Be A Wall

Some “outrageous” statements to be explored in more detail in this blog:

·      Appearing to be the antithesis of nature, the city is at the vanguard of nature in the post-modern era.

·      Appearing to be at the vanguard of the decimation of the Earth, urbanization is perhaps at the vanguard of the recovery of the Earth ecosystem.

·      Appearing to be artificial, the city is a dynamic form of ecological adaptation—from a vision of intrusion to inclusion in the larger Earth ecosystem.  Urbanization as ecological adaptation rather than cultural separation from nature.

·      The city is perhaps too wild and too young in the history of the Earth rather than too tame, domestic, or artificial.

·      The city offers a way forward to a sustainable future and is not the barrier.

·      Global urbanization offers an opportunity rather than a deficit to overcome.

·      Paradoxically, the “peopling of the Earth” steps toward nature rather than away from nature.

·      The city-form comes into existence as an expression of the ongoing evolution of the Earth ecosystem rather than as an intrusion/aberration.

·      The dense urban city-form can be more environmentally efficient than other forms of human settlement for the vast contemporary global population.

·      Urbanization has become the predominant force in reducing the rate of population growth.

·      Domestication that integrates is an expression of constructive wildness.

·      The adaptability of the post-modern city has already begun and does not have to be invented, and can be enhanced.

·      Successful post-modern urban planning joins and enhances an inherent urban adaptation rather than aspires to invent it.

·      Optimal urban design prioritizes an ecological orientation toward city [as natural and wild] rather than an “environmental sensitive” technological orientation.

·      Global urbanization is just beginning to drive a dramatic renaissance in our understanding of human nature that reveals all human life—just as-it-is—to be an expression of the Earth.