writ II
REDEFINING NATURE
In this time of accelerated technological growth, people have found ways to tie in an essential ingredient to human happiness: social interaction. Although this can be extremely beneficial with ideas being exchanged almost instantaneously, the social interaction today is extremely artificial. You can take any aspect of society today and find ways that humans have merged into artificial means. Lets take music for example: the electronic music scene within the past decade has absolutely exploded. However, if you study the electronic music scene more closely you will find a beautiful characteristic that has started to emerge: organic qualities. What I mean by “organic qualities” is the process by which electronic music producers take sounds that they have physically recorded from musicians playing musical instruments, eventually tying them into either artificial or even more organic sounding beats. With this being said, an interesting “organic” phenomena is emerging throughout all aspects of society: where our food comes from, where our clothes come from, how we treat our medical problems, how we build our cities… you name it. I am extremely enthralled with this phenomena as it seems as though people are starting to wake up from their artificial dreams, and actually delve into grounding themselves in something with substance. Interestingly enough people have yet to realize something that also needs to shift towards the “organic”: interactions between people.
Symbiosis, as defined by Ernest Callenbach in his book: Ecology: A Pocket Guide; is “When members of at least two species live together in a prolonged and sometimes inherited physical association… Formerly considered a curiosity, symbiosis is in fact a key factor in evolution. Populations of organisms live in communities with associated organisms, with whom they have co-evolved”. Wow… could our need for physical interaction essentially be an inherent or even molecular part of our make up as human beings? Being essential animals at our core, we must fulfill basic needs before we are to achieve anything higher. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs pronounces we must first satisfy our physiological needs of: breathing, food, water, sex, sleep, homeostasis; second our safety needs of the security of body: resources employment, the family, health, prosperity; third: our needs of love and belonging; fourth: esteem; and finally the goal of self actualization who’s characteristics are defined as: morality, creativity, spontaneity, problem solving, lack of prejudice, and acceptance of facts. Although physical human interaction could be tied specifically to all levels of Maslow’s pyramid, I believe physical human interaction is at the very bottom of the pyramid with our basic essentials to keeping us alive. With the world in it’s anthropogenically caused discordant state of unbalance, perhaps we should all take a look and see if this problem is coming out of simply filling an organic need, with the artificial want.
In 2010, a world-wide survey was conducted in which people around the globe were asked to rate their happiness from 0 to 10. Not surprisingly the number one happiest country was Denmark and second place was a tie between Sweden and Canada. Although one could attribute Denmark’s happiness to its seemingly flawless systems of universal health care, environmental consciousness, and intrinsic wealth, I believe the people are so happy simply based off of the ability for the people to easily interact with one another via beautiful architecture and flowing urban design (urbanism). By creating beautiful cities, people have a true love for these spaces. Because people are able to effortlessly travel to their destinations, along with the fact that there is an abundance of areas in which the population can socialize, people willingly inhabit these urban places (and their local economies thrive)! Although the United States is definitely taking steps in the right direction, I believe a lot more could be done. For instance, instead of spending money on building new developments and adding to the resource consuming suburban sprawl phenomena, lets take that money and put it back into our cities! The very first thing we can do is integrate areas in which people willingly congregate. For instance at Burning Man there is a main “center camp” in which many people choose to spend their down time. This area provided a multi-disciplinary space for people to simply sit in comfortable chairs, buy delicious drinks, look at mind-expanding art, partake in yoga, strike up conversation with a stranger, or just sit back and enjoy some live music. What if we could create these places in our own cities? These spaces might just be the catalyst for a whole reformation of city life if we make them desirable enough. Let’s say we took an intersection of a busy city, closed it down, and made one of these spaces; not only would this open up new ideas in regards to how we are living in our cities, it would boost the local economy, along with a whole lot of other positive urban changes. Although there is so much we could do in regards to promoting urbanism, I believe creating social spaces should be the first intervention taken in that regard. Along with providing multi-disciplinary places to integrate human interaction, this human interaction taking place is another essential piece to shaping our future. These places will truly create a space that is conducive to cultivating creative collaboration.
If you create places in which great minds willingly occupy, you will create solutions to our current obstacles as a human race. Innovative thoughts are based on group thinking… one might think one aspect of a thought, but then collaboration is what pushes that thought into its full manifestation. Through creating this first step of solutions by creating sacred meeting spaces, this will allow for ideas to flow in regards to our economy, the environment as well as bridging social barriers. If we then take other aspects of improving our cities such as creating dynamic public transportation around these spaces, people will most likely take advantage of those modes of transportation; which means less resources consumed and a flourishing local economy. Although I could go into more detail with obvious ways beautifying our cities could improve symbiotic relationships, the only thing we need to think about right now is what we can do in this present moment to bridge these gaps. In a world of artificial connections and organic barriers, the only way out is through the re-creation of symbiosis in all aspects of life.
THE EXAMPLE OF COPENHAGEN
The social, environmental, and economic impact of Copenhagen’s bicycle culture most definitely appeals to me on every single level. I don’t know anyone in their right mind that would watch: Bicycling Copenhagen Through North American Eyes, and not think the thought “what if?”. What if our cities here in America fully implemented the bicycle as they have in Copenhagen? After thinking about that possibility two more things are evoked from my mind: 1.) education is truly a catalyst for change 2.) the bicycle is definitely a catalyst for urban change.
First building on the thought that the bicycle is a catalyst for urban change, I must pull several examples I saw in that short film. First off, the social implications of embracing the bicycle are endless. As I observe the people in this film, I can’t help but notice the beauty and happiness they all seem to embody; with such a unique and lively energy about them. Exercise and social interaction, (two main necessities for happiness in humans), is naturally built within the fabric of the city through the use of the bicycle. Needless to say, people are social animals; naturally people enjoy looking and interacting with other people… the bicycle naturally allows this. Building off the thought that Denmark has the number one ranking for the happiest people in the world, one must attribute some of that success towards the natural implementation of fulfilling core necessities of humans within the fabric of the city. Comparatively, the people of the United States of America are highly regarded by outside cultures as cold and despondent; it is no wonder why we hold that stigma, we embody it in every sense of our culture. For example: the fabric of our places of living (in the USA), meaning the stomping grounds of our culture, are completely obedient to the automobile. We spend a majority of our time in solitary confinement, traveling at the grace of 4,000 pounds of metal, completely closing ourselves off from the world and from each other. That being said, I believe life is about the journey not the destination; every action we take should be in harmony with who we are and what we love. I don’t know about you but I’m pretty sure humans are not in harmony with closing ourselves off from each other and this Earth that we call home; it is completely unnatural in every sense. Just a side note: please apply this opinion I just stated to how it goes hand in hand with American obesity rates (obviously), declination of our social capabilities, the rise in the diagnosis of attention disorders in children (and adults), increasing depression rates, the degradation of our environments, cultures, aspirations… as well as the fabric of our cities. Coincidence? I think not
Delving in a bit deeper, look at the impact the bicycle has on Copenhagen; it clearly affects the urban ecology of that city, more specifically the social, environmental, and economic aspects. You could say people traveling on bicycles through the city are like red and white blood cells going through the body, both carrying vital aspects that keep the body or the city alive. Every person involved in the biological system of the city has places to go, things to do, people to see, and progress to achieve; it is an ever evolving process. Although we feel accomplishment and satisfaction coming to the ultimate resolution of our day and climbing into our beds, the joy we get is through working out the intricacies of the puzzle… going through the process. By watching the film on bicycling in Copenhagen I have observed a sort of natural relationship between the mental, physical, and emotional processes which the bicyclist or pedestrian is willingly required to perform in order to get from point A to point B; kind of like a multifaceted meditation. The only way one can witness this living meditation, is through taking in every aspect of the process; every sight, smell, taste, sound, feeling, and emotion. Witnessing these aspects of the process creates connections, connections create substance, and this substance creates the medium in which we manipulate ourselves through this physical reality we call… life. Which goes to show, the fabric of our cities plays a very important role in creating a conducive environment to hold this medium; which is most likely why Copenhagen and Denmark are home to the happiest people in the world: they realize it is all about the experience. The bicyclists seem happy and content to be flowing with the speed of bicycle traffic, convenience isn’t sacrificed, people of all ages are integrated, and it is just a generally enjoyable way of getting around. Plainly stated, the city seems as if it was built to accommodate the bicycle, happiness, and sustainability. What an amazing feat Copenhagen has cultivated.
With all these beautiful observations, I try and imagine myself in Copenhagen; I notice my place of living, as well as my place of work, leisure, and “consumption” being oriented around a human scale. People want to be out and about, which means safety isn’t an issue as there are always many “eyes on the street”. It goes without saying that a natural sense of camaraderie and love of place seem to be ever present in Copenhagen; no need to feel the uneasiness of solastalgia, the city itself is well taken care of as there is a true love for the city and the people inhabiting it. The people of Copenhagen are able to live their lives, live in the moment, live in harmony, and live in happiness; at the grace of the bicycle (and of course a few other things).
Bringing it back home: Salt Lake City, as well as most all cities across America, have the ability to live like those in Copenhagen… we just haven’t realized it yet. To create this kind of livability I think it is simply taking the initiative to thoroughly think through the unique aspects of places, then thoughtfully apply these aspects through creativity, which will allow the implementations of Copenhagen-like ideals. By promoting the convenience and popularity of bicycles and urban living, we can reconnect to what truly makes us happy, begin to live so we may focus our efforts on more mind expanding tasks, while also finding a way to live in harmony with our Earth. I have a deep seeded belief that the meaning of life is to simply experience, this experience expands connections, eventually leading to substance… a web of life if you will; a living piece of artwork simply meant for us to gaze at in awe of all the interconnected instances of perfect synchronicities… nothing more, nothing less. Copenhagen is most definitely a place which fosters experiences and connections that all “places” should aspire to cultivate as well. By remembering this importance of cultivating experience, perhaps we will remember why we are having these experiences in the first place.
cloud atlas
“The world spins from the same unseen force that twists our hearts”