Urban Nature

 Urban Nature is difficult to compare or criticize, especially during these times when so little surrounding me, personally, has not been manmade nature. I grew up and have lived in, now, four locations: Italy, Los Angeles, New York, and now Paris. The majority of those cities force upon their citizen manmade nature.

I am not complaining nor am I saying it is not beneficial, I am just stating that manmade nature can make no stand against natural untouched nature. Manmade nature, like the one we were assigned to this week, had concrete visible; it was even the way to guide and lead you around.

In wild parks, there is no concrete path to lead you, if you are on a hike, perhaps there is a trail from whom past hikers could have left. However, in Parc des Buttes there was the concrete floor and in the distance you could see the concrete from buildings and streets.

Recently, I visited Colorado and from what I saw, their forests and life can grant and please any outdoorsy person. For so long I have forgotten what is was like to see trees with, instead of buildings as their background, simply other trees or mountains as their background. It was breathtaking and relaxing. I understand my scenario, and I am grateful that even a parc could be provided in such a city life environment.

The placement of this Park was as natural as it could be, it actually provided be with a bit of nostalgia, in regards to New York and its Central Park. It fascinates me when I read famous past writers talking about their walks in the park and how it inspires them and such. When in truth what they are looking at is manmade and in fact, not real.

Something else that fascinates me about manmade parks is correlated to a reading I was assigned a few years past. When selecting trees and animals for the construction of parks, not many people took in considerations the choices. If one plant did not mend well with an animal, it could cause a chain reaction of environmental or economical problems. I recall from an article, when building central park, a tree species was selected to be placed, however, there was a problem because one of the animals or plants did not work well with it. So it was either killing them or not allowing them to grow. So every time I go into manmade parks, I always tend lose myself in thought about the selection of trees, plants, and animals and how if not for these parks they might never have been planted or placed near each other.

I understand what the city is trying to accomplish. It is trying to create an illusion or a five-minute escape, and if it were not created some people might have gone mad. I don’t know for other people, but I always need a break from the city. These parks provide it, and they are mildly successful when you are mostly in the exact middle and surrounded by the forced green and tall bushy trees clouding and covering it. I bet, in the summer when plants and trees are more flourished, any hints of city life or outside buildings are entirely blocked.

However, as I walked more and I found myself in a higher altitude, I saw the lands of Paris, and yes, I like my escape from city life, but Paris is an exquisite city. So its look as the background of the “forest” or park was not entirely an annoyance.