Mutualistic cities in the biosphere
After ~3.7 billion years of biological evolution cities have emerged as a major transformative component of the biosphere. Although covering a small fraction of the Earth’s surface their planetary reach is vast, encompassing oceans and land. Their rapacious appetite for energy and materials threatens Earth’s habitability. A reimaging of a world in which humans come to live in a more beneficial relationship with other species must involve a reimaging of the city, one where cities emulate natural ecosystems that have co-evolved with the available mineral, biological, water, and energy resources of their environment. Such a city would be one that actively fosters the use of renewable energy sources, promotes biodiversity, clean water and air, recycling, and the social relations that are sustainable. This would be a ‘mutualistic’ city, in the sense of its biological meaning, where co-habiting organisms function in ways that are beneficial to each other. Currently no city is even remotely mutualistic. But those which try to emulate natural ecologies may have greater resilience to future environmental change. Mutualistic cities could also mitigate some of the worst consequences of human interaction with the Earth and enrich the environment, regenerating ecosystems that support healthy human lives, greater biodiversity and strengthened community ties.
