4B. Composition:

Water is fundamental to city life. The impact of this element is best illustrated by city growth rates experienced in the typically arid Southwestern United States in the last 100 years. Engineering projects facilitated the entrapment of water and these cities have experienced explosive growth:

While water is a fundamental component of all cities, electricity has enabled cities to transform into unrecognizable images of their previous forms. Although not a part of their early history, without electricity today, most cities surely could not survive.

Figure 7: Earth Lights at Night

This photo had a profound impact on me. Politics, environmental concern, conflict, emotion aside, the picture exemplifies a human purpose where no one person or nation is in control but one in which we are all involved.

Water and electricity are just two parts of city composition. From vehicular superhighways to information superhighways, airports to sea ports, skyscrapers to stadiums each part of a city serves a purpose in the same way organs, cells, and nutrients enable our bodies to function. For the purposes of this paper, I urge you to begin relating parts of cities to parts of a living organism.