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Efforts to create greener urban spaces have historically taken many forms, often disorganized and undisciplined. Recently, however, the push towards greener cities has evolved into a more cohesive movement. Drawing from multidisciplinary case studies, Urban Natures examines the possibilities of an ethical lively multi-species city with the understanding that humanity’s relationship to nature is politically constructed. Covering a wide range of sectors, cities, and urban spaces, as well as topics ranging from edible cities to issues of power, and more-than-human methodologies, this volume pushes our imagination of a green urban future.
“This vibrant essay collection takes the study of urban nature in new directions. A series of questions concerning agency, ethics and subjectivity within the more-than-human city are examined through a rich array of interdisciplinary and international contributions.” • Matthew Gandy, University of Cambridge
“This is an admirably wide-ranging collection of case studies … providing a broad state of knowledge snapshotting the politics of the urban green from a critical social science perspective, focusing on the diverse lived experience.” • Franklin Ginn, University of Bristol
Ferne Edwards has conducted research on sustainable cities across Australia, Venezuela, Ireland, Spain, Norway and the UK. Her books include the edited volumes, Food for Degrowth: Perspectives and Practices and Food, Senses and the City (both Routledge, 2021), and the monograph, Food Resistance Movements: A Journey into Alternative Food Networks (Palgrave, 2023).
List of Illustrations and Tables
List of Abbreviations
Glossary of Key Terms
Acknowledgements
Preface
Ferne Edwards
Introduction: Mapping the Multispecies City in Theory, Methods and Practice
Ferne Edwards, Lucia Alexandra Popartan and Ida Nilstad Pettersen
Part I: Making Visible Diverse Urban Natures
Chapter 1. Life After Dark: Multispecies Encounters in the Nocturnal City
Nick Dunn
Chapter 2. Making Urban Nature Visible (With a Focus on Insects)
Ferne Edwards
Chapter 3. Let the City Walls Go Wild: Finding Safety in Urban Edgelands
Hannah Cowan and Sam Knight
Chapter 4. A Bear and Those Things Beneath my Knees: Nature in Settler-Colonial Los Angeles
Chima Michael Anyadike-Danes
Chapter 5. East End Jam: A Multi-Sensory Urban Foraging Artwork
Clare Qualmann and Amy Vogel
Chapter 6. Illuminating the Worlds We Produce: A Reflexive Approach to Urban Natures Research
Lisa de Kleyn, Brian Coffey and Judy Bush
Part II: (Re)Connecting Urban Natures
Chapter 7. Layering Identity, Place and Be-longing Between Nature and Urbanity
Tracey M. Benson
Chapter 8. A ‘Democracy of Compost’: Neo-materialist Encounters in Urban Spaces
Monique Wing and Emma L. Sharp
This chapter is available Open Access with support from the Food, Food Production and Nutrition Research Network in the Faculty of Science, University of Auckland
Chapter 9. Caring for Foxes at a London Allotment: Tales from a Contested Interspecies Playground
Jan van Duppen
Chapter 10. Relational Growing: Reimagining Contemporary Aboriginal Agriculture in Colonialized Cityscapes
Dominique Chen
Chapter 11. ‘War on Weeds’: On Fighting and Caring for Native Nature in Auckland, Aotearoa New Zealand
Jeannine-Madeleine Fischer
Chapter 12. Designing with Bees: Integrating More-than-Human Knowledges in Brussels’ Cityscapes
Jolein Bergers, Bruno Notteboom and Viviana d’Auria
Part II: Politicizing Urban Natures
Chapter 13. Reducing Vulnerability Through Gardening? The Mobilization of Urban Natures during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Port Vila, Vanuatu
Andrew McKenzie and Ginny Stein
Chapter 14. ‘I don’t care about tomatoes’: Building Situated Urban Commons in Girona
Lucia Alexandra Popartan, Josep Pueyo, Enric Cassú, Richard Pointelin, Joana Castellar, Joaquim Comas
Chapter 15. Urban Fog Oasis Conservation: Endangerment, Invasiones and Informal Urbanization in Lima
Chakad Ojani
Chapter 16. Haunting Natures: The Politics of Green Reparations in Baltimore, MD
Mariya Shcheglovitova and JH Pitas
Chapter 17. Urban Trees as ‘Furniture’? The More-than-Human Politics of Moving Gothenburg’s Mature Trees
Mathilda Rosengren
Chapter 18. ‘There’s a Strong Green Wind Blowing’. Drawing the Politics of Street Trees in Practice
Hanne Cecilie Geirbo and Ida Nilstad Pettersen
This chapter is available Open Access with support from Oslo Metropolitan University.
Conclusion: Reflections and Future Directions for Researching Urban Natures
Ferne Edwards
Index