by Hugh M. Lewis

Whether we are in Shanghai, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, London, Berlin, Moscow, the problems we are likely to encounter--the congestion of cars and traffic, the pollution, the crowding, the anonymity of city life, the noise, the crime, are all likely to be very similar in profile to one another. We might be right in saying that the skylines of the world are converging together in design, in profile, and in terms of the things they hold.

The future I see is one in which more and more people the world over will be driving some kind of car, commuting to work places in urban or post-urban locations, driving back home in increasing dense and stratified suburban regions, shopping at large malls where they will find the most modern material conveniences available upon a global market, etc.

How vertical our living spaces become, through building more and more high-rises, or alternatively, tunneling deeper into the bowels of the earth, remains to be seen. Suburban sprawl of super cities will continue until their effective limits are reached. Once all the habitable zones and areas are used up, the likelihood seems to be that there will occur vertical expansion processes as the "inner" cities creep out.

Vertical our skyline will increasingly become, as the sprawl and congestion of horizontal spread reaches its feasible limits of growth. But I think we will see the rise of another phenomenon, what I will call the "interiorization" of global human culture and civilization. I believe that human beings will increasingly come to build for themselves man-made, carpentered environments that are increasingly enclosed and increasingly controlled in relation to the interactions with the larger world, and in relation to maintaining certain optimum internal conditions. I see modern malls as examples of this, where basically entire markets that would occupy entire streets, have been moved indoors by the construction of large coverings or awnings over the buildings, and providing inside safe and comfortable, if usually somewhat crowded, conditions inside for people to walk, talk and shop.

I can see an extension of this mall into a larger mini-city that is basically under a single roof--perhaps in parts a structure similar to Buckminster Fuller's expandable glass-geodesic domes. I can see internal transportation systems allowing people to conveniently commute from one place to another within such a mini-city, and even the linking up of such mini-system by commuter rail lines so that one may expand one's compass of adventure without leaving the network.

I find in conventional air travel especially another demonstration of this concept of interiorization--people leave their cars, often in large covered parking structures, to walk a short distance to terminal check-in counters, and then taking the long concourses, either by foot, by conveyor belt, or by electrical mini-car, to the main terminal lobbies where they wait to board their passenger aircraft by walking down long accordion ramps that stretch to the door of the craft. The passenger will make a 5 or 15 hour flight, and most likely end up in another International or large airport, to deboard the plane in a manner very similar to their boarding, walking down a completely enclosed ramp, into the terminal lobby, down long concourses to the outside waiting and baggage claim areas, where they will soon be picked up by hosts or taxis or buses waiting outside. I can see a similar process developing for local and regional air-traffic with increasing decentralization of air-transport and increasing utilization of air-transport for local and areal trips. 

I think the interiorization of humankind can be understood in a relative way in terms of the average number of hours people will spend in interior and controlled environments, whether this is in a vehicle, usually a car, or this is in an office or other work setting, or at home in front of the television, cleaning or sleeping, at school in a classroom or library, or shopping at a store or eating out in a restaurant. Even fast food places that allow cars to order and then pick up their express meals provide a means for people not having to leave the comfort and safety of their own vehicles.

We may see interiorization in personal terms of the clothes we where and feel comfortable with. I do not think that modern humans are more over-dressed or shrouded with material than were people of ancient times or in the middle ages. Of course, with environmental control systems, efficient heating and air-conditioning systems, people do not need to bundle themselves up in the winter-time like they used to have to do to stay half-way comfortable. That is the point--people are not "over dressing" for any occasion, for the greater percentage of the time of their day that they can spend comfortably in controlled, interiorized settings, the more their clothing can be made in a manner streamlined for multiple settings with an emphasis upon fit and comfort and an optimization of mobility.

We may look at interiorization in terms of the fitness regimes people maintain. Many health clubs provide completely indoor facilities, even tracks for running, where climate, temperature and weather can be controlled in safe surroundings. Football stadiums, basketball, swimming are all increasingly done in completely enclosed environments. 

In entertainment and in the communications media, as well as in transportation, I see increasing degrees of such interiorization being exemplified. The worldwide web and the computer, almost invariable set up indoor settings for privacy and protection of the equipment, invites people to spend prolonged periods of time in-doors in front of the monitor or television screen. And if they get tired of being on the computer in their room or their apartment, they can always drive down to their local "web cafe" and sit in another setting surfing the Internet and chatting long distance with people they've never met face-to-face before.

There is a price that I believe that is being paid for increasing interiorization of modern human systems. I would attribute a large part of modern neurosis simply to the fact of long term confine in unnatural contexts--all cave and no sunshine makes Mike Neanderthal a dull boy. I would even attribute the increase in prevalence of a number of psychopathologies to the same fundamental consequences of interiorization. There are as well other health related issues of too much confinement--it leads to poor diet, over-consumption, lack of exercise, heart problems, high blood pressure, as well as possibly a host of other syndromes.

I think human beings have an inherent and natural need to experience nature and the great outdoors, albeit in a safe and non-threatening manner, and without having to drive miles in the cars to do so. This has been rooted in our evolutionary past, and though we spent some time in caves weaving our cultural worlds, we also had to periodically leave the safety of our dwelling places to find food, mates and new knowledge from the larger natural world. Recently on jury duty, on the 11th floor of a 15 floor building, we would be allowed 1.5 hours, mandatory, every day, and it became the prerogative of most of the jurors to take strolls in the sun outdoors and visit on foot the local sites in the downtown area. This was a very refreshing anti-dote for rather intensive episodes with the evidence in relative dark and totally windowless interiors.

Thus, as the average rates and levels of interiorization increases as a function of the development of modern human civilization, there must arise at the same time an increasing and proportionate need for human beings to "exteriorize" their periodic involvements in the world, with other people, but especially in relation to nature and the outdoors, and without the problems of crowding, stress and congestion that comes to accompany many outdoor places that are beset with too many people in too small an area. While our interiorized contexts increase in our lives, in a somewhat propinquitous manner, it seems that the availability, access and relative quality of our exteriorized contexts are being systematically reduced, and the costs of accessing high-grade contexts can become prohibitive. 

I would suggest that as a general antidote to the neurosis and increasing psychopathology of becoming modern human beings, that we need to reinvent and reconfigure for ourselves our relationship with nature in the outdoors, and to develop alternative anti-structural contexts that permit and promote healthy forms of exteriorized play and activity. Bringing exterior and interior, or externalized and internalized frameworks, into balance and into effective harmony must be the goal of any regime toward improving adaptive behavior and psychological well-being.

General Systems Essays, Vol. I