"The more complex and diverse the composition of a society's institutions, the richer, more balanced and more resilient it is as a whole."
What do otters and institutions have in common? They each belong to a system in which they are useful and have a specific function. If they fail, the cycle they are part of is disrupted – if not destroyed in the long term. Architect and columnist Eike Becker looks at the complexity of biological cycles and what we can learn from nature research.
As a child, I could wander for hours through the moors and forests of my native northern Germany and look out for the iridescent plumage of the kingfisher or the delicate nests of the reed warbler on the shores of the lakes. Catching sticklebacks from the streams with a pasta strainer and returning them to the water in the evening was considered an age-appropriate pastime.
Today I know that these streams were already part of a canal system to drain the moors and make them arable for the cultivation of corn and potatoes. The fields became larger and the moors and forests, field edges and flowering areas became smaller and smaller. Due to the pesticides and monocultures of industrial agriculture, hares and partridges, skylarks, lapwings and starlings became rarer from year to year until they finally disappeared completely. I never saw foxes or wolves in my youth. It was not an intact, species-rich, healthy nature.
Biologists such as Bob Paine, Mary E. Power, Jim Estes, Tony Sinclair and John Terborgh were pioneers in the study of certain animal species and their importance for the preservation of complex ecosystems. They proved that the absence of just one animal species can destroy an entire species community. In ecosystems, each species has its benefits and a specific function. If only one animal species is eradicated regionally, an intact network of biological cycles in a sometimes huge area is destroyed. In the case of the starfish in the tidal pools on the coast of Neah Bay, Washington, what remains are uncontrolled growing mussel beds, which ultimately lead to the extinction of the entire underwater flora and fauna.
My view of contemporary societies and their cities is similar to a biologist’s view of biotopes. The differences between successful and less successful constellations are obvious to me. A diverse, flourishing society needs a wide variety of institutions, infrastructures and private initiatives: diverse forms of social organization that control each other, rival each other, possibly inspire each other and contribute their creativity in different ways.
The otters off the coast of Alaska, the wildebeest in the Serengeti or the wolves in Yellowstone National Park are examples of keystone species whose absence leads first to the downgrading and later to the collapse of an entire ecosystem.
In contemporary societies, public, inclusive institutions and infrastructures take on the tasks of keystone species. It is only under their qualified influence that the economy can be integrated, builders’ skills can be strengthened, the management of public spaces and infrastructures can be mastered, people can be involved and cooperation between the various social groups can be organized.
The more complex and diverse the composition of a society’s institutions, the richer, more balanced and more resilient it is as a whole. It is precisely in the interaction between public institutions, private organizations and civil society that it becomes clear that bundled diversity can lead to enrichment, mutual control to focus and divergence to progress.
“This is how a whole biotope dies. That’s what happens when the key species are missing.”
The dominance of a few organisms or institutions, or their absence, leads to the impoverishment of the system as a whole. In China, the dominance of the Communist Party is leading to a corrupt, expansive, unjust state, despite great successes in the fight against poverty. In the USA, public institutions have been weakened for decades, the right to strike has been pushed back and the political system has become increasingly corrupt. Sooner or later, the institutions and infrastructures are no longer able to adequately perform their tasks for the system as a whole. The result is self-poisoning, erosion and decline. But even in Berlin, public offices are understaffed, school facades are crumbling, bridges are no longer passable, suburban rail services are subject to constant disruption, and the privatization of public infrastructures leads to price increases and thus to social injustice.
So if humans kill the great whales and the orcas are forced to eat first seals, then sea lions and finally otters, then the otters no longer decimate the sea urchins and these continue to devour the algae forests unchecked. This is how an entire biotope dies. This happens when the key species are missing. Off the Canadian coast it is the otters, in the lakes of Oklahoma it is the perch and in the Serengeti it is the wildebeest. If they are missing, the biotopes become impoverished and die.
“Understanding these cycles can be the key to reversing what humans have destroyed in many parts of the world.”
It is similar in human societies. Public, inclusive institutions are the key species. They need to be nurtured and further developed. If they do not thrive, they will not be able to fulfill their role as regulating forces within the overall system. If they are cut back, not developed further, discredited or abolished, this leads to imbalances, injustice, loss of trust, frustrated anger and a loss of diversity. And thus a loss of quality of life for everyone. Sooner or later, the sea urchins will have eaten up all the kelp forests off Alaska. And the large digital companies that are replacing human workers with their AI technology will no longer be able to find high-earning users to buy their self-driving cars without regulatory intervention from public institutions.
The infrastructures are mostly underground and remain invisible. They only come to light when something doesn’t work – when the internet connection breaks down, when the power grid collapses, when it stinks from the manhole covers. Public institutions and infrastructures create the conditions for good urban and social development. Only they enable the necessary mobility, only they can ensure the successful coexistence of many millions of people. At present, most of the world’s urban growth is unplanned. Today, one billion people live in favelas, slums or marginal settlements. They are created without institutions or infrastructure. But good places to live need water, sewage, electricity, data, mobility, waste recycling, logistics, security, education, health, public spaces and natural areas.
Coordinating, building and maintaining this requires efficient state institutions. These include parliaments, governments and independent courts. But also offices such as the building inspectorate, urban planning, the civil engineering office, the traffic office, the fire department, public utilities, health authorities, air traffic control, the Federal Railway Authority or the land registry office. And so many more.
Security too – without the state’s monopoly on the use of force, there can be no liveable cities and no social urban society. Natural scientists have put together a puzzle of the complexity of biological cycles. Understanding these cycles can be the key to reversing what humans have destroyed in nature in many parts of the world. And it can help to develop institutions and infrastructure so that cities and their societies thrive in social peace and in harmony with the cycles of nature.