“Cities are organisms. They have metabolisms. They are linked to their regions through complex networks, both natural and cultivated, that circulate biological nutrition-food, wood, fiber, water-and technical nutrition-the hardware and software of the 21st century. These flows of nutrients are the twin metabolisms of the living city.” William McDonough & Michael Braungart in The Living City.

I had never thought of New York, or any city for that matter, truly as a living organism.  I always took this concept as an environmental one, that a city, just as a living thing, must be part of balanced and sustainable networks, consumption, and waste practices. As a young tourist visiting the city, I saw big buildings, glamorous and diverse people, fast moving vehicles, man-made objects all around me, and chaos. I saw no order, no rhythm, and it overwhelmed me absolutely.

This time, I am approaching the city as something to study and critically observe its networks and connections though an internship with the New York City Department of Transportation. And this time, I feel part of the organism. The trains pump people into the heart of the city, dropping thousands off in the center and streaming many into the outer boroughs. The rhythm of life fluctuates, pulsating rapidly in the morning and evening and waning throughout the day. This steady pulse of people feeds the city’s vital organs located throughout midtown and downtown Manhattan.

But I also find this cliche metaphor far too simplified. Even from my extremely minimal wanderings and conversations, I can see the fierce pride in the differences between the boroughs, and even the neighborhoods within. To name these merely appendages to the central body of the city is severely underselling these distinct districts. Though true that most New Yorkers commute from the outer boroughs into  Manhattan, evident in the readings I have done on DOT plans for train and bus upgrades (PlaNYC), each borough seems to have its own center, or many centers, teeming with life, and is no more peripheral than Manhattan itself. And I suppose that these are each organisms on their own, changing to meet the needs of their inhabitants, growing and shrinking as they take in and spit out, consuming and expelling waste just as any natural ecosystem. This is a process Jane Jacobs deemed dynamic and synergistic, something that helps human organisms understand how to create cities that benefit us as a species. This is also a concept that drives many DOT plans; the idea that cities can be constantly changing to best fit the population of the time and facilitate all human needs.

To touch briefly on my initial observations of the DOT, it is a well run, VERY large machine. Each branch under the Commissioner, and each sub-committee within each branch, works together on countless initiatives and projects to improve New York streets for pedestrians, cyclists, drivers, and, importantly, commuters. PlaNYC focuses much of its effort on the latter, as this seems to be the largest transportation problem facing New Yorkers. Plans to expand and improve trains, buses, ferries, walkways, and bike paths are all directed towards helping the commuter, the lifeblood of the city.

In Here is New York (1948) E.B. White describes the impact of the commuter very differently, describing “…the New York of the commuter–the city that is devoured by locusts each day and spat out each night.”  White’s commuter, perhaps a product of the time, uses and abuses the city during the day and leaves it at night to lay still until it is assaulted again the next day.  This commuter has no connection with the city other than to wring money out for personal use. The only city they know is the inside of their cars or trains and their cubicle, they know nothing of the streets or life outside of their office building.  This is, I believe, the stigma that the DOT is struggling to fight, one of its many battles. If the commuter can come into contact with the city through their chosen means of transport, the city will no longer be merely something to consume. Whether traveling from the outer boroughs or within Manhattan, whether traveling by subway, bus, bicycle, foot, or car, the DOT strives to make this commute a positive experience. Their goals to improve urban transportation are not only necessary from an efficiency and sustainability standpoint, facing the predicted population growth and climate crisis, but from a psychological standpoint as well, aiding in the formation of a communal city. By reducing the amount of individual automobile travelers, a community is formed. I feel this unspoken community of travelers, all going different places for different reasons, but all using the same machines, all subject to the same delays and whims of the system.

To help orient myself, I drew a quick mental map of the city based on my experiences over the first 5 days in the city, from Dec. 30 to Jan. 3. It is inaccurate and incomplete, but nonetheless a visual narrative of the lines and nodes that have created my experience in the city so far. I will try to create these mental maps every so often throughout my month here to visually and geographically track my understanding of the city.