At the heart of the ecological crisis is an unhealthy relationship between humanity and the natural world.  Western philosophical traditions, in particular, are wrought with a history of unbreachable chasms — between mind and body, truth and fact, life and death, etc.  We have lived out a troubled existence with metaphors of competition, battles, and outright war on the natural systems we depend on for our survival.

Human settlements now leave a massive footprint on the water supplies, forests, mineral deposits, and food stocks offered forth by the planet we live on.  We are severely out of balance.  This begs the question How will humanity survive and thrive indefinitely into the future?  To answer this question, which cuts to the very core of human struggle on earth in the 21st Century, we must consider the design criteria that enabled life to spring forth in our cosmological past.  Only when we understand the governing dynamics of life can we thoughtfully and strategically design community structures that generate and support urban landscapes and social processes that promote a thriving existence. Continue reading “Want to Build Sustainable Communities? Study Living Systems!” »