City as Superorganism

This book is written by an artist about science. It describes the ideas of the City as Superorganisms as a lifelong obsession that has led the author to develop a series of paintings and drawings related to the subject that are used as illustrations throughout the work. He text of the work explores the way in which a city may be described as an organism; it looks at the systems of the city, the digestives system, the form and skeleton of the city, the membranes, specialist tissue, vascules and valves of the city. It examines the way language, signs, cultural structures, traditions etc. constitute the nervous system of the city. It suggests that a parallel to the endocrine system in complex multicellular animals can be seen in the financial and banking system of the city. It examines the way cities reproduce by forming colonies, how cities can develop sickness and die. There is a section in the book that looks as some aspects of the history of city development and the part played by religion and politics in this story. The author is especially interested in the part played by the individual human beings in this organic development. He takes into account the recent work of the neurobiologists and the discovery of the limits of free will. This book has its origins in a catalogue to accompany an exhibition of paintings held in Plas Glyn Y Weddwl in North Wales in 1985 entitled 'City as Parasite'.