The Social Construction of City Nature: Exploring Temporary Uses of Open Green Space in Berlin

Lossau, Julia; Winter, K. G.

doi:10.1007/978-3-642-17731-6_12

Cited by 7 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…This is a curious, but revealing, omission. It suggests that the design of the app has been strongly framed by old-fashioned notions of 'beautiful nature' (Lossau and Winter 2011) and where it is to be found. This is particularly surprising given Berlin' s reputation as a site of pioneering research into spontaneous vegetation, described above.…”

Section: Meanings and Representations Of Urban Naturementioning

confidence: 99%

Digital urban nature

Moss

Voigt

Becker

2021

City

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Within policy and research debates on the smart city, the urban environment has become an arena of contestation. Claims that digitalisation will render the city more resource-efficient are countered by criticism of the tensions between smart and sustainability practices. Little attention has been paid, however, to the role of nature in digitally mediated urban environments. The flora, fauna and habitats of a city are a void in research and policy on digital urbanism. This paper provides one of the first conceptually grounded, empirical studies of 'digital urban nature' in practice. Taking the empirical example of Berlin, the paper demonstrates how a single city can spawn a rich variety of digital nature schemes, develops from this a typology to guide future research and analyses two schemes in depth to illustrate the aspirations and limitations of digital technologies targeting urban nature. The empirical findings are interpreted by bringing into dialogue pertinent strands of urban research: first, between smart environments and urban nature to explore ways of representing nature through digital technologies and, second, between digital and urban commons to interpret changes in the collective and individual use of urban nature. The paper reveals 2 City XX-X that digital platforms and apps are creating new ways of seeing and experiencing nature in the city, but often cling to conventional, anthropocentric notions of urban nature, with sometimes detrimental effects. More broadly, it suggests that exploring practices of digitalisation beyond the remit of conventional smart city policy can enrich scholarship on digitally mediated human-nature relations in the city.

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Section: Meanings and Representations Of Urban Naturementioning

confidence: 99%

Digital urban nature

Moss

Voigt

Becker

2021

City

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“… It creates economic value by contributing to the quality of a city's landscape (its location, scenic setting, built environment, quality of life, recreational value, image, and level of identification) and by qualitatively improving urban areas or upgrading neglected areas. As such, urban gardening initiatives may also influence real estate prices (Lossau & Winter, 2011). By realising different potential uses in a small area through civil engagement and public accessibility, urban gardens represent a new form of open green space in the city.…”

Section: Urban Gardening In Transforming Cities: Changing Meanings Hybrid Functions and New Actorsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban Gardening and Green Space Governance: Towards New Collaborative Planning Practices

Nikolaidou

Klöti

Tappert

et al. 2016

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In the context of urban densification and central urban areas’ lack of open spaces, new forms of small-scale urban gardening practices have emerged. These gardening practices respond to urban pressures and open new modes of green space governance, presenting alternative and multifunctional ways to manage and revitalise cities. Focusing on the case of Geneva, the article unfolds two levels of discussion. On the one hand—and with reference to the theorist Habermas—it examines how multiple actors with different interests interplay and cooperate with each other in order to negotiate over open space, while discussing implications for local politics and planning. On the other hand, it describes how these negotiations result in new, innovative, and hybrid forms of public green space. The main findings indicate emerging forms of collaboration, partnerships, and governance patterns that involve public and private sectors and increase participation by civil society actors. Cooperation amongst several interested groups and the collective re-invention of public urban spaces increase these spaces’ accessibility for multiple users and actors, as well as present possibilities for alternative and diversified uses and activities. This might underline the hypothesis that future cities will be governed in less formalised ways, and that urban forms will be created through spontaneous, temporary, mobile, and adaptive negotiation processes.

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“…In cities where transitional spaces, otherwise known as wastelands, exist in abundance, due to natural, economic or other man-made disasters such as wars, deindustrialization or racialized abandonment, it is hard to deny their influence on the surrounding social and natural environment [7]. If order consists of elements that one expects to see together in certain places, then Detroit, like Berlin, consistently disrupts that expectation with its broad and shifting tableaux of surprising combinations of natural and human elements [47]. Hoalst-Pullen, Patterson, and Gatrell refer to this as Detroit's "green paradox" [48] (p. 430).…”

Section: Discussion: Detroit's Contested Futuresmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wastelands, Greenways and Gentrification: Introducing a Comparative Framework with a Focus on Detroit, USA

et al. 2020

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Vacant, abandoned or unproductive land parcels, sometimes called “wastelands”, offer opportunities to create new green spaces in cities. Such spaces may be utilized to add to the stock of urban nature, expand recreational green space, promote real estate or commercial development, or simply remain undefined. These various trajectories have significant implications for population health, ecosystem services and real estate values. However, they may also contribute to inequitable outcomes. Are disadvantaged communities, which may be paradoxically rich in wastelands, more advantaged when green space redevelopment occurs, or are they more at risk of green gentrification and associated displacement? To address this question, we first review some of the literature relative to wastelands, especially as they relate to processes of urban change such as depopulation, land use planning, regrowth and gentrification. We utilize historical redlining maps, the Detroit Master Plan and projected land use scenarios from the Detroit Future City (DFC) Strategic Framework Plan to identify areas of vulnerability or possibility within walking distance of the proposed Joe Louis Greenway (JLG). Finally, we consider how wastelands situated along the JLG may be reframed as flexible opportunity spaces, their potential leveraged to advance environmental justice, economic opportunity, and social equity, especially as the City of Detroit takes socioeconomic and racial equity as a key orienting principle—an alternative to green gentrification that we call green reparations.

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The Social Construction of City Nature: Exploring Temporary Uses of Open Green Space in Berlin

Cited by 7 publications

References 4 publications

Digital urban nature

Digital urban nature

Urban Gardening and Green Space Governance: Towards New Collaborative Planning Practices

Wastelands, Greenways and Gentrification: Introducing a Comparative Framework with a Focus on Detroit, USA

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