The Rationalisation of Nature

The most common response to chaos is to attempt to create order, and to find a "logic" by which to organise the world around us - even if this is achieved through gross oversimplification, generalisation, and abstraction. Of course, chaos is simply the percieved absence of order, something that is solely defined by the observer. A complex system too difficult to understand or model is all too often disregarded and rejected as chaotic or messy and replaced with a greatly simplified abstraction. 

The cost of this is a loss of the complex organic inter-relationships that are so vital to a complete understanding of the natural world around us. The context and subtle interdependancies of nature are the first casualties of rationalisation, yet without them our understanding of this natural logic is severely limited. Without a complete understanding of the natural sphere, how can we hope to truly achieve sustainable urbanism? 

This rationalisation of nature is discussed in James Scott’s book "Seeing Like a State" which describes fiscal forestry in Europe. He comments on the attempt to simplify and rationalise nature with the “abstract tree representing a volume of lumber or firewood… a utilitarianism confined to the direct needs of the state.” Scott warns against the “dangers of dismembering an exceptionally complex and poorly understood set of relations and processes.” Commenting on the failure of abstraction and simplification when applied to city planning, Scott discusses the City Beautiful movement and the Total City Planning of Le Corbusier. These idealistic solutions failed to refer to urban history, traditions, or uniqueness of site, lacking the layering and complexity of a natural city. Scott notes the ultimate failure of rationalisation, describing how “just as the monocropped, same-age forest represents an impoverished and unsustainable ecosystem, so the high-modernist urban complex represents an impoverished and unsustainable social system”. 

In conclusion, to truly persue sustainable urbanism, we must first understand the natural systems and inter-relationships we are affecting. Without an adequetely detailed comprehension of these organic systems, we cannot predict the repercussions of our actions, nor ascertain the best strategies for improvement. The beginning to understand these natural systems is to resist the human desire for simplification and rationalisation, and to rethink the way we approach the natural world, not as chaotic or unrefined, but as a uniquely balanced network. It is only through protecting the subtle inter-dependancies and contextual details that this understanding can be acheived.