About
What are urban novel ecosystems?
They are human-disturbed landscapes that have been abandoned or unmanaged for some time and this has allowed for a new combination of species to emerge. These ‘forgotten’ or less managed landscapes are composed of a spontaneous nature with a species composition and ecosystem functioning that tends to self-organize and is self-sustaining.
They can be found almost everywhere, like in vacant land, an unmanaged corner of a street, an overgrown derelict site, on the banks of rivers or creeks, or a steep area that is too difficult to manage. They tend to be undervalued because they can be contaminated and polluted, are perceived to have low ecological value, or serve no purpose. This project wants to challenge this view and explore the role of these ecosystems in providing habitat for biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate adaptation and improve people-nature relations.
A multispecies justice approach to understanding urban novel ecosystems
The project takes a critical stand of the ways in which geographies (elements, organisms, human-nature relations) are represented through urban planning discourses, legislation, maps, ordinances. This is significant as it has direct effects on space and the spatial relations in which these representations are enacted. This research argues that the ways in which urban novel ecosystems (as specific, but also global geographies of urban space) are understood, represented (e.g. mapped) and governed influences how they are perceived, governed and cared for. This has deep implications on justice. The erasure or misrepresentation of these ecosystems not only invisibilises and destroys the lives and relations that are entangled in that space, but also fails to recognise the contributions of these geographies as places sustaining life (biodiversity) and spaces that are already addressing climate and multispecies injustices.
About the Project
The research’s central theoretical framework is based on theories of justice and as such is focused on understanding, exposing and reframing local power relations and inequalities that result from planning and design processes and narratives in the study sites.
The project takes an inclusive approach to collaborate with a diverse group of stakeholders, with a particular focus on local community groups and more-than-human residents that use and interact with these spaces. This will bring to the project voices that tend to not be as present or included in land-use and city-making processes when dealing with abandoned spaces, such as nonhuman lifeforms.
The project will use counter-mapping methodologies (deep mapping, photography, photovoice, and film as methods) and traditional methods (e.g. interviews and focus groups) to explore new ways of caring for these spaces in a way that enhances life, offers opportunities for multispecies flourishing and visibilises the potential of these spaces.
Exploring riverine novel ecologies
This project will work along the river margins of several river systems in the cities of San José, Costa Rica, and Melbourne, Australia.
Río Tiribí and Río María Aguilar, San José, Costa Rica
Waterways of the West, Melbourne, Australia
