Re-Naturing the City: Linking Urban Political Ecology and Cultural Ecosystem Services

Abstract

In the last few decades European industrial cities have experienced major transformations which have implied the need to rethink the role of nature. Re-naturing the city, reconnecting urban planning and nature and enhancing sustainability, means taking into account ecosystems and biodiversity through a social approach to nature which reconsiders nature as a social product and re-examines city–nature relationships, the way Urban Political Ecology (UPE) suggests. This paper focuses on the Brescia Quarry Park, a suburban space that until just a few years ago was characterized by mining activities. This area has now been transformed into a re-naturalized area and is projected to become one of Europe’s largest re-naturalized protected urban areas. These transformations are signs of a profound change in the urban metabolism. In fact, the community has struggled for many years for the recognition of the value of the area in ecological and cultural terms. Therefore, an approach was adopted based on Urban Political Ecology, which is useful to study how the socio–natural relationships change and how an exploited and degraded land can become a relevant natural area from the local community’s point of view. This approach also allowed us to study conflicts due to unequal power relations and strategies developed by the community to reduce these conflicts. Particular interest was given to the participatory processes which have driven these transformations and to the role played by the different actors involved through top-down and bottom-up approaches. So, we decided to combine UPE and participatory action research—PAR and create a participatory map of the Cultural Ecosystem Services (CES) in the Park. Attention was given to understanding the practices of the stakeholders and benefits for the community. This involvement allowed us to represent the complexity of the re-naturalized urban landscape which was analyzed through the changes in natural, urban and rural features that emerged. During the process, the interaction between citizens and experts was fundamental in co-producing an analysis of the placemaking of urban landscapes and in revealing the socio–ecological interactions of the stakeholders with these places. The results of the mapping process represent a first step towards promoting sustainable environmental planning and management based on the involvement and empowerment of the local population.

Landscape-Based Transformation of Young Industrial Landscapes

“…Transformation of former industrial landscapes has mostly focused on older industrial areas and harbours, which are often close to inner cities and lend heritage values and visual significance to transformation projects [9][10][11][12]. Many of these old industrial areas are now redeveloped and re-urbanised, and a similar process is encompassing industrial areas in the suburbs [13,14]. Due to continued urban growth, the YILs in the suburbs or outskirts of large cities are next in line [15].…”

“…These principles also shaped the suburban context across Europe and North America. Other studies have identified, investigated or mentioned similar post-industrial landscapes in Belgium, Italy, Germany, Great Britain, and the USA [14,[21][22][23][24][25]. Given that YILs cover vast expanses of land-up to 25% of the total area in some Danish suburbs-our understanding of these landscapes is astonishingly limited [15,26].…”

“…Re-naturing is a term used to describe certain types of transformations of former industrial areas and wastelands [14,56]. Recently, Bartolini and DeSilvey explored different ways of re-naturing post-industrial materiality in peri-urban developments [56] and Pietta and Tononi focused on the re-naturing of former industrial areas situated in the suburbs [14]. Re-naturing largely overlaps with greening, although re-naturing places greater emphasis on natural processes, rather than cultivation.…”

Nature urbane. Rinaturalizzare la città (post)industriale, l'esempio di Brescia

“…L'osservazione partecipante, condotta in seno alla Consulta, ha permesso di ricostruire le dinamiche di potere sottostanti le politiche intraprese nell'area. Le diverse azioni progettuali, in particolare le interviste e laboratori per una mappatura partecipata dei valori ecologici dell'area del Parco delle Cave (Tononi e Pietta, 2020;Pietta e Tononi, 2021), hanno coinvolto la popolazione e la loro conoscenza ecologico-culturale dell'area svelando le relazioni socio-ecologiche.…”

“…Una parte della cittadinanza vede alcuni laghi come luogo per attività escursionistiche o sportive, vivendo il parco come grande area di intrattenimento e contatto con la natura. Un'altra parte punta invece sulla necessità di proteggere la biodiversità di tali luoghi e ritiene eccessivamente impattanti su flora e fauna le azioni di rinaturalizzazione portate avanti (Pietta e Tononi, 2021).…”