Nature Must Not Win the Game

Nature must not win the game. That’s what this section of the mosaic at the Bryant Park subway station says. It had me thinking about whether or not cities (as we know them) are in fact in direct conflict with the natural world.

I’ve often heard the arguments surrounding urban landscapes altering the natural migration patterns of wildlife and I can’t say they aren’t true, but is it actually “unnatural” when we do it?

Beavers block rivers. Ants and termites restructure huge patches of earth into subterranean cityscapes. Woodpeckers hollow out trees. Insects regularly synthesize hives that can be millions of times the size of an individual. Are we so different?

I actually think the rub lies in our interconnection instinct. Humans feel the “need” to connect our urban sprawls to each other. Perhaps ecologists and civil engineers should be looking at alternatives to highway systems instead of making unrealistic (in the short term) conceptual cityscapes that mesh with the natural world.

What’s at issue is that highways create the need for more sprawl. With every few miles you need refueling and emergency services, food, lodging… these things bring with them their own needs and the needs of the employees. It spirals out of control until you have twenty cities between yourself and your ultimate destination zone.

Perhaps light rail (type) mass transit? Maybe a series of high-speed semi-private “sky pods” that travel at low altitude on a guiding rail between transport hub spires? The ultimate point is to get it off the ground, make it on-going twenty-four hours and ultra fast. Comfort is also a concern.

For the record, the full quote (which is not on display) is a staple of Jungian Psychology and was written by Dr. Jung in his book “Alchemical Studies”.

““Nature must not win the game, but she cannot lose. And whenever the conscious mind clings to hard and fast concepts and gets caught in its own rules and regulations – as is unavoidable and of the essence of civilized consciousness – nature pops up with her inescapable demands.””