Urban Systems Between the Environment, Human Health and Society: An Overview
This work underlines an analogy between urban and biological systems. The dialogic approach of systems biology showed us that parts constitute a whole and, in turn, the whole constitutes the parts. The development of a biological system such as an animal or a plant does not unfold by means of an aut...
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| Format: | Article |
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MDPI AG
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Systems |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/6/487 |
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| author | Carlo Modonesi Stefano Serafini Alessandro Giuliani |
| author_facet | Carlo Modonesi Stefano Serafini Alessandro Giuliani |
| author_sort | Carlo Modonesi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This work underlines an analogy between urban and biological systems. The dialogic approach of systems biology showed us that parts constitute a whole and, in turn, the whole constitutes the parts. The development of a biological system such as an animal or a plant does not unfold by means of an autonomous internal program. Rather, it stems from the interaction of the organism’s internal response pattern and its external environment. The wide scientific literature on the genome–environment interaction confirms this. Nevertheless, the scientific community still tends to consider the environment as a mere external factor which simply modulates the organism’s program. On the contrary, the environment has a key role in development. For example, when a seed germinates after heavy rain, it does not simply react to an external signal indicating favorable conditions for germination. Rather, it interacts directly with rainwater, which becomes a developmental factor no less important than the seed coat proteins. Similar to what happens during the development of an organism, the interface between any complex system and its environment determines its structural and functional fate. We argue that large cities have blurred the interface with their natural environment and depend on delocalized global sources. They are like organisms kept alive by external devices. Hence, we propose to regenerate a vital interface between cities and their rural and natural environment as the main and promising path towards future urban civilization. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-23888f1f13bc42189a3ab294ffa8fc9a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2079-8954 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Systems |
| spelling | doaj-art-23888f1f13bc42189a3ab294ffa8fc9a2025-08-20T03:27:36ZengMDPI AGSystems2079-89542025-06-0113648710.3390/systems13060487Urban Systems Between the Environment, Human Health and Society: An OverviewCarlo Modonesi0Stefano Serafini1Alessandro Giuliani2Department of Epidemiology and Data Science Fondazione IRCCS Istituto Nazionale dei Tumori, 20133 Milan, ItalyInternational Society of Biourbanism, 00031 Rome, ItalyDepartment of Environment and Health Istituto Superiore di Sanità, 00161 Rome, ItalyThis work underlines an analogy between urban and biological systems. The dialogic approach of systems biology showed us that parts constitute a whole and, in turn, the whole constitutes the parts. The development of a biological system such as an animal or a plant does not unfold by means of an autonomous internal program. Rather, it stems from the interaction of the organism’s internal response pattern and its external environment. The wide scientific literature on the genome–environment interaction confirms this. Nevertheless, the scientific community still tends to consider the environment as a mere external factor which simply modulates the organism’s program. On the contrary, the environment has a key role in development. For example, when a seed germinates after heavy rain, it does not simply react to an external signal indicating favorable conditions for germination. Rather, it interacts directly with rainwater, which becomes a developmental factor no less important than the seed coat proteins. Similar to what happens during the development of an organism, the interface between any complex system and its environment determines its structural and functional fate. We argue that large cities have blurred the interface with their natural environment and depend on delocalized global sources. They are like organisms kept alive by external devices. Hence, we propose to regenerate a vital interface between cities and their rural and natural environment as the main and promising path towards future urban civilization.https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/6/487ecosystemsurbanismcitiespublic healthenvironmental riskcomplexity |
| spellingShingle | Carlo Modonesi Stefano Serafini Alessandro Giuliani Urban Systems Between the Environment, Human Health and Society: An Overview Systems ecosystems urbanism cities public health environmental risk complexity |
| title | Urban Systems Between the Environment, Human Health and Society: An Overview |
| title_full | Urban Systems Between the Environment, Human Health and Society: An Overview |
| title_fullStr | Urban Systems Between the Environment, Human Health and Society: An Overview |
| title_full_unstemmed | Urban Systems Between the Environment, Human Health and Society: An Overview |
| title_short | Urban Systems Between the Environment, Human Health and Society: An Overview |
| title_sort | urban systems between the environment human health and society an overview |
| topic | ecosystems urbanism cities public health environmental risk complexity |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2079-8954/13/6/487 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT carlomodonesi urbansystemsbetweentheenvironmenthumanhealthandsocietyanoverview AT stefanoserafini urbansystemsbetweentheenvironmenthumanhealthandsocietyanoverview AT alessandrogiuliani urbansystemsbetweentheenvironmenthumanhealthandsocietyanoverview |