Nature - Intertwingled: Information Changes Everything - page 13

Of course, the more complex the diagram, the harder it is to understand. The process of making
a map helps us rise above the limits of the local to see the whole, but this bird's-eye view isn't
suitable for all audiences. Often we must aim for simple visuals that make the complex clear, fo-
cus attention, and transform ideas and understanding into decisive action.
Either way, we mustn't limit our practice to boxes and arrows. There are myriad ways to visual-
ize systems and their possibilities. Donella may overstate her case, for even when words come
one at a time, the narrative that emerges is often nonlinear. Good stories tend to wander. They
draw upon our memories, associations, and emotions to create rich, sensory experience. Often,
words are the best way to paint a picture.
In The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs does this brilliantly. In a text with
no image, she helps us see the city as a system. Her words bring sidewalks, parks, and neighbor-
hoods to life. Jane shows us why traditional maps aren't good for urban planning. By focusing
on roads and buildings, maps reveal the skeleton but miss the point. A city's structure is evident
in its mixture of uses, the life and activity it nurtures, and the conditions that generate diversity.
To see and improve our cities, we must use a different lens.
Imagine a large field in darkness. In the field, many fires are burning. They are of many sizes, some great,
others small; some far apart, others dotted close together; some are brightening, some are slowly going
out. Each fire, large or small, extends its radiance into the surrounding murk, and thus it carves out a
space. But the space and the shape of that space exist only to the extent that the light from the fire creates
it. The murk has no shape or pattern except where it is carved into space by the light. When the murk
between the lights becomes deep and undefinable and shapeless, the only way to give it form or structure
is to kindle new fires in the murk or sufficiently enlarge the nearest existing fires. xii
We've all felt the warmth and vitality of populous city streets, and we've also felt fear in the
cold, dark, lost areas. Jane's words help us see why this picture, rather than a classic map, is the
right frame for city planning. It's an unconventional text that explains why slums stay slums and
traffic gets worse. So it's no surprise that Jane Jacobs was a systems thinker.
To see complex systems of functional order as order, and not as chaos, takes understanding. The leaves
dropping from the trees in autumn, the interior of an airplane engine, the entrails of a dissected rabbit,
the city desk of a newspaper, all appear to be chaos if they are seen without comprehension. Once they
are understood as systems of order, they actually look different. xiii
Her 1961 topic was an attack on conventional city planning and a perfect illustration of systems
thinking. Jane recognized cities as problems in organized complexity, a jumble of parts interre-
lated into an organic whole. She believed good cities foster social interaction at the street level.
They support walking, biking, and public transit over cars. They get people talking to each oth-
er. Residential buildings have porches. Sidewalks and parks have benches. Safe neighborhoods
are mixed-use with “eyes on the street” all day. Jane's vision was hopeful, and she made an im-
pact. Her text is required reading in urban studies. Her ideas have become conventional wis-
dom. Our world is more livable because of her.
Sadly, not all cities got the message. As my black Uber car cruises the freeways of San José, I'm
besieged by the image of urban sprawl. It's hard to feel at home in a place like this. But it's not
just the office parks and strip malls that are making me uncomfortable. I'm worried about meet-
ing Sophie. Part of the reason I don't participate in the sharing economy is I'm an introvert, and