7. THE FATE OF THE URBAN ORGANISM

The complete life cycle and purpose of the urban organism is one of the most important parts of this paper. I glazed over the subject when I suggested that the purpose of the urban organism is the creation of a global network of cities. This is only part of the story. To create a complete biological picture of any organism one must consider its entire life.

To understand what I mean by “purpose,” consider the purpose of familiar organisms. This is not necessarily a complex subject. In general, the purpose of every living organism is to survive and assist in the spread of life (directly or indirectly).

When we examine global networks of cities we’re not necessarily getting at the urban organism’s purpose. Instead, an understanding of global networks of cities helps us to understand the urban organism’s physiology. Now that we can think about the urban organism’s body, skeleton, and growth objective, let’s move on to the question; what is this body for? Refer to your own body. Why do our bodies mature and grow? Our bodies mature and grow to facilitate reproduction.