Urbanizing Biophilia

The United Nations projects that by 2050, 70% of the world’s population will reside in urban areas (that figure is now 55%). A number of factors have caused this trend, and while there are social, economic, and even environmental benefits that accrue from increasing densities of people, I am concerned about the impact on our already fraught relationship with nature; by extension, my unease is urbanization’s effect on us physically, psychologically, and spiritually. I subscribe to the theory that humans are wired to love living systems. What happens, then, when we lose further touch with the forms and fabrics of life?

Erich Fromm coined the term “biophilia” in 1973, but it was popularized by the American biologist Edward O. Wilson is his 1984 book of that title. The hypothesis is that evolution has disposed us to an innate affiliation for the natural world and most living things. Wilson says that we “subconsciously seek” deep connections with the environment, and if so this helps explain the therapeutic effects of nature and the emerging field of ecotherapy. Moreover, it sheds light on the benefits of animal-assisted therapies for bodily as well as psycho-emotional problems (many universities have centers that study human-animal interactions).

In Fyodor Dostoevsky’s famous novel The Brothers Karamazov, one of the characters said “Love the animals, love the plants, love everything [….] and you will perceive the divine mystery.” Must accelerating urbanization mean more estrangement from nature, and must it mean less ability to love the world capaciously? There are efforts to prevent these outcomes, and I hope they succeed, for great is the cost if we lose what Wilson calls our “affinity for life.”