Are we heading towards overstimulated vital systems in the city?

When we talk about vital systems, we often use the metaphor of the human body. If a vital function in the human body fails, this affects all other functions. It often has immediate consequences and an impact on human health. Failure can even have disastrous consequences.

Over the past year, as a result of (or rather, thanks to) my personal situation, I have delved into neurodivergence. Increasingly, I notice parallels with urban systems: how we work on systems, what is actually being asked of systems, how our current responses do not yet align well… and how the city is becoming increasingly overstimulated, with vital systems shifting from a given to a critical factor in keeping our cities running.

In this reflection, I pause to consider what this overstimulation of urban vital systems means, how it manifests itself, but also what the perspective for action is, and how this differs from current practice and governance.

Vital systems under pressure

The pressure on vitale systems is increasing due to all the ambitions and challenges we want to realise, as well as the transitions our cities are facing. Over the past year, the challenge of resilience has been added, bringing yet another perspective on vital systems in cities.

(Global) urban needs are rising explosively. Demand for water and food is growing by more than 50%, and energy demand could potentially triple by 2050. This creates structural pressure on all vital systems in the city.

The language of vital systems

To map urban vital systems, TNO Vector and its partners have developed the vital systems analysis method. This method helps to identify the vital systems, the challenges within those systems and the connections between them. In addition, the method provides language, a shared language that enables strategists from both policy development and implementation in our cities to better understand each other’s systems, and thus to recognise potential synergies and conflicts, in both the short and the long term.

It is this search for language that has inspired me to explore further in this reflection which parallels and lessons can be drawn here.

‘If we see the city as a human body, then neurodivergence is not a ‘flaw in the blueprint’, but a variation in wiring and operating systems.’

^{Geiske Bouma, Principal consultant}

A neurodivergent city

No two brains are the same. Yet we organise society around a ‘standard brain’. This is where I see the parallel: no two cities are the same, and the vital systems within cities call for a different way of designing and organising our urban environments. How do we arrive at new design mechanisms and organizing principles for our cities?

If we see the city as a human body, then neurodivergence is not a ‘flaw in the blueprint’, but a variation in wiring and operating systems. In a neurotypical city, the neural pathways (infrastructure) and organs (functions) are tuned to average efficiency. A neurodivergent city, by contrast, operates with a different intensity and logic.

Overloaded systems

Urban systems become ‘overstimulated’ when demand, variability, risks and interdependencies increase faster than their capacity to respond. Analysis of vital systems shows that these systems are increasingly intertwined, meaning that overload in one system directly affects others.

Water and Energy examples: causes of overload and impacts of overstimulation on vital systems

Regulating cascading effects

An overstimulated city is more than the sum of overstimulated systems; this is what we refer to as cascading effects. For example, heavy rainfall can lead to flooding when overflow cannot be absorbed by surface water or other water retention locations. Water then accumulates on the streets, affecting mobility and accessibility. Roads become blocked, household waste cannot be collected. Additional electricity is then required for pumping, which can lead to imbalances in grid capacity and consequences for the overall energy supply.

By thinking in terms of cascading effects, we implicitly also address the question of how the city can regulate itself by allowing space for these deviating dynamics, rather than viewing them as a nuisance.

Slowing down, deepening and connecting to accelerate

The analysis method is a first step in slowing down and deepening. What do we already know about our vital systems? Where do they intersect? Where are they under pressure? Where can they reinforce one another? The greatest insights arise in the connections between systems, where we force ourselves to look beyond our own expertise, sector and silo.

It is above all the connections between people, the experts, that make the difference. This certainly comes with frustration, impatience and aha moments, where conversations emerge that otherwise would not have taken place. Together, we seek the right energy and flow to engage in meaningful dialogue. By slowing down, space is created to recognise patterns, from which new strategies can emerge and acceleration becomes possible.

Beyond the overstimulation and overload of our urban vital systems, towards a city in balance, preferably also in connection with the natural and social system.