Living On the Edge: Why We’re Attracted to Places Where the Manmade Abuts the Natural

This article was originally published on Common Edge as "Living on the Edge."

Living On the Edge: Why We’re Attracted to Places Where the Manmade Abuts the Natural
Upper West Side, Manhattan, Nueva York. Image © Francois Roux | Shutterstock Upper West Side, Manhattan, Nueva York. Image © Francois Roux | Shutterstock

This article was originally published on Common Edge as "Living on the Edge."

I am on the edge. Not emotionally or psychologically—although this could be the case—but literally, physically, spatially, geographically. As I write this, I am sitting on the balcony of a hotel room in Miami Beach, overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Behind me is the whole State of Florida and, indeed, the entire North American continent. In front of me: the boardwalk, a narrow beach, and then a lot of water—and not much else between here and Mauritania, a distance of more than 4,400 miles.

Read more »