The city is a place of contrasts and diversity. It has been through periods of decline and growth, acting like an ecological entity that has become a parasite on the rest of the world. Its communities have become absorbed in consumerism, draining the worlds resources. Its public spaces have become increasingly privatised with imposed restrictions, controls and barriers that have rendered communities both physically and psychologically isolated from each other and the rest of the world. Yet they remain living and breathing places of wonder and excitement with glimpses of nature that remind us of our connection to it.