What Modern Cities Can Learn From Nature: A Literature Review

This literature review explores the relationship between modern cities and the natural world, examining how urban areas can learn from nature to address environmental challenges and promote sustainability. It discusses the impact of urbanization, environmental degradation, and the importance of regenerative design. The review covers key concepts such as biomimicry, the benefits of incorporating nature into urban spaces, and the need for a shift towards sustainable practices. It also highlights the problems of pollution, resource consumption, and the impact of cities on the environment, emphasizing the need for innovative approaches to urban planning and development. The review emphasizes the importance of integrating ecological principles into city design and management to create healthier, more resilient, and sustainable urban environments. The review touches upon the importance of understanding the human-nature connection and the need to address environmental problems through technological solutions and societal changes.

0Running head: What can modern cities learn from nature?
What can modern cities learn from nature?
Name of the student
Name of the university
Author note

1What can modern cities learn from nature?
Literature Review
According to Peter Kahn, a modern city provides us with new ideas, sights and the
knowledge for creativity and innovation. The society is developing in a vast platform with
growing tension in urban areas of society and numbing. The enfeeble aspects of cities mainly
disconnects human being from the natural world. People in urban areas are unable to see the stars
due to pollution which motivates the society to focus on restoring the resources. Increasing
demand of cities has undermined the connection to nature. According to Kahn, the emotional and
mental strain cities have no people. This has resulted in the reduced approach to nature where
mental illness and mood disorders are common in urban areas (Campbell 2013 ; Kahn 2013).
Nature is the interaction of energies, materials, and life characterizes the living planet.
Cities demand for more resources that humans cannot produce by themselves and exports the
waste in a huge amount which needs to be decomposed in a safe place. Nature in modern terms
can be described as an economy but it is greener. The circumstances have made it clear that
indirect effects are less than desirable. Vertical farms are planted in cities to generate more
energy for irrigation and maintaining such farms for long term and on a large scale. Creative
growers convert industrial areas into agricultural field for effective farming. The scientific and
industrial revolutions have brought a huge technological progress and have solved many
problems. They have also propagated a different mindset where progress is defined by
substituting the old one with the very new ones. Our future depends on us, how we behave in the
society and how we react to the nature (Jacobs 2016).
A regenerative design framework is important for sustainable and green future. Change is
the only constant which we need to be recognized with time. Culture is vital for the sustenance of
nature or in competition with the rest of the nature. Our future depends on our activities of how,
what and why we design in a particular manner (Girardet 2014).
Urbanization is one of the solutions to the world’s increasing problems. Cities make our
society healthier and productive. While cities vastly improve the way of living, the ideas to
improve are more important as it is the foundation to grow a green world. It is observed there is a
global shift in the terms of living in the city. The urban economies are highly productive which is
benefited for everyone (Friedrichs 2014).
In 2008, the UN declared that 50% of the world’s population lives in the city. The
statistical data shows that there is a global shift with the introduction of urbanization. It is true
that more than 40% of the world’s population is located rurally than in urban areas. In both
developing and developed country, most cities have grown larger in size but have become less
dense. The fact is that where there is an urban growth, cities are likely to expand more with
transformation (Turner 2014).

2What can modern cities learn from nature?
The problem is not with the comparison, urban firms are better and more productive with
rural counterparts. The specialized high valued goods and services can be provided where there
is large population. History shows that still stability is not in cities, it is more likely to face boom
and bust cycle. They do not experience long term stability as they usually struggle to adapt to
have an impact of recession and conflict (Biesta 2015).
Now-days we are facing problems of global warming due to advancement of cities. There
is a danger of climatic change, depletion of non-renewable resources and environmental
degradation which we need to focus upon (Diamond 2013).
According to John T. Lyle, a coherent design framework is built for regenerative
development. It describes the progression of integration of learning from the nature. There is
change in the effectiveness as there is a shift of perception towards participation. For maintaining
sustainability there is a need to design for regeneration. There is a need to regenerate healthy
ecosystem functions to be able to good at designing the nature. The regenerative design
framework describes a continuum of shift of business to restorative, green, reconciliatory,
sustainable and regenerative design practice (Jarvis 2013 ; Spirn 2014).
Poor design has shown us the difference of urban areas with the wilds and has also
contributed to visualize the nature in an isolated manner. The impact of changing environment
seems distant and completely separate from our existence until it is resulted in negative form
(Girardet 2017).
According to Sim Van der Rynand Stuart Cowan, the impact in the ecological design is
described. It is said that living and working in nowhere places becomes normal, it is sad truth
that humans have lost sensitivity of caring towards nature. Kahn argues that it is more important
for human being to interact with the elements using senses to experience physical and
psychological benefits of nature. Designed cities with nature can offer both with simulation and
energy of an urban area and meaningful interaction with the psychological restorative natural
environment (Colding and Barthel 2013 ; Van der Ryn 2013).
According to Darwin, the survival of the fittest was coined in the study of evolution.
Darwin’s Theory of Evolution concerns about the adaptive nature which shows the variation
among animal and plants. Several genetic mutations took place and only few species fit in the
universe. Nature is very versatile; it has many facets which has so much of variety in it. As cities
are expanding in size, human have changed in behavior which is encountered in cities that are
becoming increasingly frequent. The evidence of diverse benefits is so strong and the contact
with the nature in the workplace has become the central element in the design of healthy office
spaces (Beatley and Newman 2013; Haraway et al. 2013).
Some cities are eventually working hard to bring nature into the urban world by creating
or revitalizing parks and building green space which is an essential element in the infrastructure.
There is always an unprecedented migration of rural to urban areas. The cities could offer the

3What can modern cities learn from nature?
biggest hope for the survival as it is entirely created by humans to protect and separate them
from the natural world (Komninos, Pallot and Schaffers 2013).
There is a main problem that cities do not exist as islands in isolation. They mainly
consume food from vast farmland, minerals from earth, fishery, timber from forest and many
more. It depends how effectively citizens are utilizing their resources. According to Robert
Krulwich, makes a great comparison of how cities use land areas. But if citizens have lived in
ranch houses, it would have been difficult to satisfy their need of resource demands. Currently,
urban areas cover 2% of the earth’s land area, but by 2030 it may increase up to 10% land
surface. This means that if we lose 1.2 million sq kilometers of the landscapes to the urban
construction then there will be rich in biodiversity. Cities need to incorporate the natural world in
new and innovative ways (Spirn 2014 ; Post 2017).
Today, with the crisis in sustainability faced in cities, it is more important for the society
and for urban areas to shift its historical model of overpowering and controlling the nature.
According to Shannon, biomimicry is to be able to interpret cities as the ecosystem with more
interconnected complexities and evolutionary cycles of growth. A pioneering system of nature is
to respond with a set of developed strategies which cities have used for growth aspects. The
system approach includes extensive social processes. Development in the level of growth in
future had reached in the conflict between development and ecology. The challenge in the
current world is to define the development of a sustainable threshold. While ensuring ecological
resilience and by integrating environmental opportunities and considering the designs of
wetlands with resilience framework for developing urban areas with strategic planning and
design. Understanding the priorities of resilience building and conducting research to understand
the role of ecological systems and build environment in reducing risk and enhance the urban
resilience (Howard 2013).
According to Peter Kahn, he studied the relationship between human and nature and
thinks it is more fragile than we realize. He works to understand the destruction of nature and the
growth of technology simultaneously. Technological nature has its own benefits such as it makes
us feel good by just triggering the innate biophilia. It is a term used to describe humanity’s
inborn affiliated in the environment. There is a limit to the extent of the technological
representation of nature which provides restoring, soothing, creative enhancing benefits and
many more (Larice and Macdonald 2013 ; Kahn and Hasbach 2013).
Nature is necessary for our physical and psychological wellbeing. The interaction with
the environment teaches us to live in relation with each other, not dominating each other.
Humans are technological species; an ideal vision for the technological nature is to keep the
technological nature intact. There are millions of ways that people depends on like imaginative
imagery of natural world, but we do not know what our nature is wanting and what is simulated.
With each ensuing generation, the amount of environmental degradation increases, but each of
the generation tends to accept that degraded condition as normal experience. This is also called

4What can modern cities learn from nature?
environmental generational amnesia. It is used to explain how cities have been losing nature, and
why human beings do not really see the truth in time and do till the extent until they face
problems. There are so many environmental problems, population is one of them, industries and
energy used by them, and it leads to massive pollution and environmental degradation. The
emerging industries are producing more emissions, consumption and other activities by human
being. While cities of some developed countries have already adopted policies and technologies
for improvement of environmental problems, it has an impact in global levels for the growing
recognition of human activities. It is a fact that more than 75% of global energy is consumed by
cities and 80% of greenhouse gas emission can be observed and there is a disproportionate share
in the use of resources (While and Whitehead 2013).
Urban areas are mostly facing problems like water scarcity, waste water, improper
drainage of solid waste, loss of green and natural spaces from cities, observed soil pollution, air
pollution and water pollution. All these problems are particularly serious in developing countries
and those countries with economic transition, where there is a conflict between the short-term
economic plan and the protection of the environment. Pollution is a major problem which urban
environment faces and its components are the total outcome of an excessive burden of the
environment and self cleansing capacity. The greatest concern is of noise, the air quality and
congestion. The level of industries has grown vastly with the increased problem of traffic. Cities
consume increased amount of natural resources, produces more amount of waste materials and
emissions and all these have higher impact on planetary and regional environment. Air and water
pollution are the main environmental problems in most cities. It is mainly caused due to burning
of fossil fuels. Noise is also a form of pollution, which burdens the urban population. Urban
ecosystem is indicated as high energy consumption and generates more solid waste in certain
areas. Knowing the problems of increased level of urbanization, it is necessary to understand the
implications and the degree of social awareness to deal with the situations (DeJong, et al. 2015).
Environmental problems are due to increased amount of production and consumption by
the mass. This leads to increase in the energy consumption which results in a reduction of non-
renewable resources. Problems of infrastructure that does not follow the spread of urbanization,
excessive use of space and high consumption of drinking water which affects the lowering of
groundwater levels. Pollution problems cannot be easily dealt in city areas, mainly manufacturers
and emission problems are caused due to dispersed agents. Air pollution, water pollution and soil
pollution from industries and agriculture, problems faced for waste disposal and for radioactive
waste. The economic problem is due to heavy cost in construction of building, its infrastructure,
and road network damage (Duinker, et al. 2015).
The cities trigger environmental problems but also offer solutions as well. Cities are the
main hub for production, consumption and waste generation. It also possesses the potential
which increases the energy efficiency and sustainability of society as a whole. Solving these
problems is benefited for the environment; it also improves the health and wellbeing of citizens

5What can modern cities learn from nature?
and it should be the basis of development that makes the city attractive for living and also for
working.
Social economics is a discipline of economics which is embedded in social, cultural and
political behaviors. It examines all institutions, the choice of behavior, rationality and values
with relation to markets. Urban planners are focusing on more creative ways to interact with
nature. Small strategic interventions have offered relief to humans who live in city areas. It must
be taken into consideration not to eliminate the nature from the city and must work to bring back
the green nature. Planting more trees can be the ultimate solution for the problem. Zero waste is
means 90% has been diverted from landfills, by prevention, by reduction, by reuse, by recycling
and by compositing. All cities are putting their effort to commit zero waste for next two decades.
Mainly the vacant cites are used for increasing greenery in the city and to promote greenery
among youths for sustainable future (Jabareen, 2013).
Architects and designers have put control over the built of environment; by changing the
way of designing cities and buildings to reconnect with the nature. Humans are the only species
who can change the proximity of nature and helps to shift the physical relationship of the
environment. The separation that humans have crafted with centuries through isolating designs
has cost a lot to them. Unfortunately, the estrangement from nature has not only directly
impacted our health. The diverse benefits are so strong that with the contact of nature in the
workplace, it has become a central element in designing a healthy space for work (Frantzeskaki
et al. 2017).
According to Anttiroiko, it is found that people who live surrounding with green
environment are healthier than who stay 1 km away from green spaces. It shows worse vitality of
higher risk which creates more depression with higher level of stress and pain is realized. It is
aimed to portray a healthier planet and can promote more ethical relationship with the nature.
New technologies in the area of agriculture have witnessed a boom in urban agriculture. It has
advanced in hydroponic and aeroponic farming techniques which makes the work easier to grow
vegetables. The innovative solutions are focused upon by urban planners for more attention. The
nature is critical because cities depend on nature. It is known that without nature we cannot see
city. Each city wants enormous amount of resources such as water, food, heat and energy. Urban
life must be of human pleasure such as culture, entertainment, play, art, science, appreciation and
an active of participation in nature. New ways are adopted to build healthier relationship such as
family nature clubs, hiking, gardening which can expose humans in nature. Green gyms are
brought into consideration to create healthy environment for all age groups to exercise together.
The natural world’s benefits will be of no value if we do not consider the circumstances strictly.
The humans must reconnect with the nature to minimize destruction (Anttiroiko et al. 2014).

6What can modern cities learn from nature?
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7What can modern cities learn from nature?
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