At the risk of going against the grain…or the 'green'…there's something beautiful about living life in a big city. The concrete jungle does have charms of its own.

These days everyone trumpets the virtues of getting back to nature, enjoying wide-open spaces, celebrating all that nature has to offer…all with good reason. Our natural landscapes, seascapes, and green zones - and efforts to preserve and enhance them are important. We should continue to do more to ensure their growth. We should continue to develop and enjoy them.

We should do so without looking down on our 'grey zones', our concrete and steel cities where so many live, work, and play. There is much manufactured beauty in the concrete jungle. It may seem a little strange to talk of fabricated beauty, something very unnatural to current thought. However, I developed a new appreciation of city life when I took a morning walk through my city's concrete canyons.

On this walk, I experienced a city waking up for a new day. It's a scene repeated throughout North America seven days a week. Sleeping cities come to life with their own 'natural' sounds, scents, and sights.

To me there's beauty in a small bakery shop nestled in amongst high-finance towers. The smell of coffee wafting through its front doors; the taxicabs parked at curbside; the flow of businesspeople in and out.

There is something wonderful about modern architecture sharing prime real estate with historic buildings. There's the interplay of design in these structures-the old and the new playing off each other in front of a daily audience of millions.

There's a certain simple dignity to a shopkeeper flinging open their shutters for a new day of business. There's decency in the city-worker finishing his overnight street-sweeping shift, climbing off his machine, and nodding a 'good morning' your way.

There's a structured elegance to the rows of newspaper boxes on the street corners. Multi-colored, silently shouting their headlines, they are the 'markers by the way' as workers navigate their jungle paths to their offices.

The sheer numbers of people moving en masse to subways, streetcars, and underground walkways represent to me the vibrancy inherent in a big city. People of all shapes, sizes, cultures and races intermingle and interact with one another.

A walk through a tropical rainforest, a jungle, woodland, or an open plain allows a person to observe nature. A walk in the concrete jungle allows a person to observe human nature in close quarters with one another.

An observant walk through the concrete jungle is a study of humanity. It's a first-hand look at humankind striving to survive and progress in a jungle of their making.

This look is more often than not, breathtaking and beautiful.

Posted by Mike.