Edited by Ferne Edwards, Lucia Alexandra Popartan and Ida Nilstad Pettersen

About the 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.

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 University of Girona. Her research interests are political ecology, critical urban geography, degrowth, food, water and energy nexus.

Ida Nilstad Pettersen is an Associate Professor in Transition Design at the Department of Design, Faculty of Architecture and Design, NTNU – Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Her research addresses sustainability transitions, practice transformation, participation, consumption, and urban natures.

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 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 John-Henry 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

To pre-order a copy, please visit the Berghahn Books website.