“I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

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“For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;..
 
-William Wordsworth
 

In this excerpt from the poem ‘Daffodils’, William Wordsworth, a renowned nature poet, revisits his memory of a long field of daffodils beside a lake. In the course of the poem, he emphasizes on how joyful he was in the company of flowers. Even today, whenever he feels “vacant” or “pensive”, these memories sparkles in front of his eyes and it’s all happy again. Written in 1802, the poem is a proof of how nature has inspired human beings in restorative ways and has been a constant source of motivation, especially for poets. But will the William Wordsworth of 2057 have enough of such experiences to write about? Or will there be any William Wordsworth even?

The natural world on earth has entered an unusual age of deep transformation since the industrial revolution. Humans have started to assume nature to be not more than ‘a source of raw materials’ and duly believe that through science and technology they have overcome their dependence on nature. They don’t remember their biological characteristic is still rooted in nature. The global issues like climate change, environmental degradation and deforestation amalgamate at the roots of human’s lack of affiliation with nature and immense fondness for a fabricated world where the human and nature are two separate entities. The cities are slowly turning concrete, disregarding the fundamental value of human, being a part of nature, rather than apart from it. The domains of eco-friendliness and sustainability are only fancy if they are only based on technologies and methodologies. In order to be unfailingly operational, these must balance on human’s relationship to the natural world. As the world now inclines towards urban surroundings, there is a dire need for the cities and buildings to become nature-centric. For architects, planners and government authorities it is crucial to understand that, a city is mesh; people and landscapes weave into it in order bring about a pragmatic creation. And the weave is complex, as it has threads of culture, communities and environment in it.

Exemplarily, below is an excerpt William Wordsworth would put together in 2057- 

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“I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er skyscrapers and mills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A traffic jam of billion dollar automobiles ”

“For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
The concrete jungle flashes upon my eye
Which only adds to my solitude;..”
 

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