2D. Conscious removal:

It is important that one consciously attempt to set aside their identity when pondering the urban organism. Forget what you know and how you feel about “the world.” Pretend you’re looking into a microscope or at a different planet. What then? If NASA showed us photos of a planet emitting light visible from space, how would we go about understanding what we saw?

To assess human civilization or labor to understand our role on the planet, human civilization must remain connected to its evolutionary and biological history. Human nature and nature are the same. Thus, “cities are living organisms” is not rhetorical, but an observation of human existence and purpose.