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I have always loved complexity. My brain gets excited when things are not straightforward, when a problem has multiple variables, when we can choose to look at a phenomenon from multiple angles to find new insights, and when the concept requires creativity and imagination to understand. That’s what drew me to learn about urbanism.

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In its essence, urbanity is a culmination of different activities, infrastructures, systems, people, organizations, and natural environments, all of which are happening and existing in the same approximate area. Some urbanists use the metaphor for cities as organisms with multiple functioning organs. We can imagine the streets and public transportation systems as arteries and veins, the sewerage system as a lymphatic system, workplaces as muscles to keep us strong and active, the smart city monitors and automated systems as our nerves and brains directing different organs to function properly, and so on. As an organism of sort, we also must acknowledge that if a major organ fails, the sum of its parts can crumble and fall. Yet, internal and external factors are also pushing and pulling these “organs” one way or another and also impact the whole of the “organism” (the city) accordingly.

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Then I got a taste of marine ecology through ATMEC’s citizen science programs, and my mind got excited again because of the similar complexity that it offers. Multiple factors interplay but also act together as a whole unit of existence. In my mind, a whole coral reef acts like an organism of sort similarly to a city. While a reef is a metaphorical organism that holds its parts together much more loosely, more decentralized, and less intact and static as a whole, but if a key organ fails (i.e. keystone species), the sum of its parts can also crumble and fall. Each biotic and abiotic factor on a reef has its role to play, some more than others, but they all are contributing to how a reef can continue to survive and thrive.

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As I interact more with the ocean, my urbanist brain has also begun to make a connection between the urban and marine spaces—economy and ecology, waste and sediment, tourism and disturbances, real estate development and encroachment, and the list goes on. As you might have guessed, when two complex systems co-exist, they do not cancel one another out but rather make things even more complex. And that piqued my interest as well.

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A research led by professors at the National University of Singapore (Todd et al, 2019) is one of a few at the forefront in the field of urban marine ecology—in other words ways in which urbanism is affecting the underwater world. (You can also listen to Eliza Heery’s TED Talk on this topic). The research inspired me to look deeper into this complexity and learn more about marine ecology so that I can become a bridge between these two seemingly unrelated fields of knowledge.

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There is still much to learn in this knowledge frontier at the border of the two complexities. I intend only to stay curious and allow the ocean to inspire me in ways I might not expect it to.

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