Abstract

It is common to confront the city with wild nature. Socrates used to urge philosophers to seek truth not in the fields and forests, but in the city. In the city the human culture becomes most prominent. However, the paradox of the city is that at some stage it becomes a hostile to human. History knows the facts of exodus of people from cities. Today, the phenomenon of downshifting is gaining popularity, as people leave cities in search of a simple life. The dystopian visions of the city are typical for contemporary art. However, nowadays, urban population has been dramatically grown. At the same time, in the metropolitan cities, wild animals also find their own place, radically changing their behaviour. When moving to the city, people should be aware of their inseparability from its urban-wild history. The invasion of wildlife to the city enables people to rethink its concept, identifying the life-giving potential of the city and refuting its dystopian inevitability. Only under the condition of a radical rethinking of humans nature, which will change one’s attitude to the rest of the living world, it’s possible to overcome the civilizational challenges of the modern city.