Urban Natures Living the More-than-Human City

About this book

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.

Contents

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
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 Cassu, 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

Conclusion: Reflections and Future Directions for Researching Urban Natures / Ferne Edwards
Index

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Biography

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).

Lucia Alexandra Popartan is a Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral researcher at LEQUIA – Institute for the Environment at the University of Girona. Her research interests are political ecology, critical urban geography, degrowth, food, water and energy nexus.

Ida Nilstad Pettersen is a professor at the Department of Design, Faculty of Architecture and Design, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology.