The Problem of Ecological Restoration

Katz, Eric

doi:10.5840/enviroethics199618236

Cited by 55 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In this respect, it should be clear that ecological restoration is not merely a matter of transforming nature, but rather a matter of interpretation or the discourse defining it (Katz, 1996;. Gross (2000) and Gross and Hoffman-Riem (2002) therefore characterise ecological restoration as the social experiment concerning the relationships between humans and nature.…”

Section: Urban Environmentalism: Urban Nature Contested Restoration mentioning

confidence: 97%

“…Ecological restoration as a social experiment reflects the power arrangement among the groups of human agents who emulate each other in signifying the state of nature to be restored (Katz, 1996;. For instance, deep ecologists look at nature as an end in itself and thus translate restoration as 'bringing nature to rights', in the hope that human life will be assimilated in harmony with nature.…”

Section: Urban Environmentalism: Urban Nature Contested Restoration mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The politics of urban nature restoration: The case of Cheonggyecheon restoration in Seoul, Korea

Cho

2010

International Development Planning Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This paper is a critical analysis of the political conflicts behind the restoration of the urban stream called 'Cheonggyecheon' in Seoul. The conflicts arose between the Seoul City government and the coalition of NGOs around different ideologies of nature: environmental managerialism vs. deep ecologism.The paper dissects the process of reinventing Cheonggyecheon into a natural stream and, in doing so, discloses the exclusion of the deep ecologists by the hegemonic environmental managerialists. This process was further reinforced by the subjugation of the restoration project to the political purpose of the initiator and the outcome was a lack of ecological authenticity in the restored stream. This is a historically persisting Cheonggyecheon phenomenon that reflects human attempts to rule over each other through nature.Cheonggyecheon is an urban stream which runs west to east through downtown Seoul. As a locus of the interface between humans and nature, it has been subject to incessant human interference since its incorporation into urban space. The interference arguably culminated with its conversion into an intra-urban double-deck highway in the 1970s, which later caused downtown degeneration. To reverse this degeneration, Cheonggyecheon was interfered with once more in an effort to restore it as an urban natural stream. Proposed for the first time by a Seoul mayoral candidate in 2002, his election led to the eventual revival of Cheonggyecheon into a spectacular civic place by 2005.The restored Cheonggyecheon is now the most attractive cultural civic space in downtown Seoul. Yet, because of the political connotations attached to it, its intrinsic character remains as controversial as it was when it was first proposed. The most controversial issue is the authenticity of restoration rendered on the stream, 1 especially the ecological and historical character of the restored Cheonggyecheon, around which there remains a sharp division of opinion between advocates and critics to this day.This article aims to uncover and dissect the discursive politics involved in the recent attempt at the re-naturalisation of Cheonggyecheon in Seoul.

show abstract

Section: Urban Environmentalism: Urban Nature Contested Restoration mentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Urban Environmentalism: Urban Nature Contested Restoration mentioning

confidence: 99%

The politics of urban nature restoration: The case of Cheonggyecheon restoration in Seoul, Korea

Cho

2010

International Development Planning Review

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…73 Even philosophical critics argue that whilst the rhetoric of restoration may be 'bad', because it is deceiving and perpetuates technological control in the name of 'natural' liberation, the act of restoring is not necessarily 'bad', because it may replace a very contaminated site with a cleaner and environmentally and aesthetically improved version. 74 Yet things are more complex here: restoration was used by one section of government to argue for the destruction of areas designated for protection by another section of government. The very particularities of the Winchester site brought into play contending social capital, ecological and political knowledges and debates focused upon the movement or otherwise of just a few kilometres of road.…”

Section: Faking It?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Faking it? The multiple meanings of environmental restoration near Twyford Down

Eden

2002

cultural geographies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Resistance to the construction of a new motorway link through Twyford Down in the 1990s made the name of this small part of Hampshire, England, symbolic of contemporary environmental protest in Britain. But a little-known part of the story concerns the use of environmental restoration by proponents and opponents of the new road. This paper investigates how the 'restoration rhetoric' was used in the Twyford Down case and also how it was translated into practice on the ground. It shows that environmental restoration is neither necessarily good nor bad for environmental protection, but that its very plasticity can be moulded by different hands and contexts.he Twyford Down anti-road compaign in the early 1990s is often regarded as the cradle of contemporary environmental protest in Britain. The protestors occupied historically and environmentally important sites and, for a time, frustrated attempts to cut a new motorway link through them. National media coverage of these attempts and of the Dongas, the name taken by those who camped on site to describe their 'tribe', brought the passionate commitment of the environmental protestors to millions, and the resulting political alliances, networks and discourses went on to inspire groups like Alarm UK and Reclaim the Streets as well as specific anti-road protests elsewhere in England and Scotland. Although subsequent sites of resistance have been well researched and some activists have put down on paper their own stories about Twyford Down, 1 little has yet been published that academically interprets these events. I find this surprising, because Twyford Down stands now as an icon for the environmental movement, for threatened landscapes and for cultures of protest. As Jonathon Porritt suggests, 'Far from being the final battle, Twyford Down was but the first . . . Long after the Twyford Down campaign was lost, and the Dongas had been brutally routed, Twyford Down continues to work its magic as a symbol of opposition to cultural geographies 2002 9: 313-333

show abstract

“…The natural growth of these trees in that place can teach us about the essence of human evil and its relationship to the healing power of nature. I have also written extensively about the restoration and management of forests, and I have been critical of the human project to assert our technological mastery over the autonomous processes of the natural world (Katz, 1992a(Katz, , 1992b(Katz, , 1993(Katz, , 1995(Katz, , 1996b(Katz, , 1997(Katz, , 2000(Katz, , 2009. Nature may be able to heal the wounds of human evil, but a nature created by human technology and science is an illusion, a mere cheat that hides and covers up the harmful consequences of human activity.…”

Section: Imentioning

confidence: 99%

Anne Frank's Tree: Thoughts on Domination and the Paradox of Progress

Katz

2010

Ethics, Place & Environment

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Consider the significance of Anne Frank's horse chestnut tree. During her years of hiding in the secret annex, Anne thought of the tree as a symbol of freedom, happiness, and peace. As a stand-in for all of Nature, Anne saw the tree as that part of the universe that could not be destroyed by human evil. In this essay, I use Anne's tree as a starting point for a discussion of the domination of both nature and humanity. I connect the concept of domination to the policy of ecological restoration, to national and historical narratives of the connection to forest landscapes, and to the environmental policies of the Third Reich, the specific evil entity that confronted Anne Frank. Domination is also intertwined with the idea of the ''paradox of progress,'' viz., that human progress cannot be separated from acts and policies of domination.

show abstract

The Problem of Ecological Restoration

Cited by 55 publications

References 0 publications

The politics of urban nature restoration: The case of Cheonggyecheon restoration in Seoul, Korea

The politics of urban nature restoration: The case of Cheonggyecheon restoration in Seoul, Korea

Faking it? The multiple meanings of environmental restoration near Twyford Down

Anne Frank's Tree: Thoughts on Domination and the Paradox of Progress

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About