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 works along the river margins of several river systems in the cities of San José, Costa Rica, and Melbourne, Australia.
Participatory Design and Immersive Methods
This project was developed through a series of participatory workshops designed to explore the relationships and interdependencies between people, waterways, and more-than-human life across three urban micro-watersheds in San José: Tiribí, María Aguilar, and Torres.
Throughout the process, we carried out eight workshops and three initial site visits to the territories. These activities combined guided walks, artistic practices, and spaces for collective conversation.
The initial visits were key moments for connecting with communities, meeting the people who live with and care for these waterways, listening to their experiences, aspirations, and struggles, and understanding the social, historical, and environmental context of each place. These encounters allowed us to build trust, learn from local knowledge, and situate the project within the everyday realities of each biological corridor.
(Photos by Alex Arias)
The first workshop took place at the former Simón Bolívar Zoo, now the first Urban Natural Park of San José. This gathering marked the beginning of our collective journey. Through walks and sensory exercises, we explored a space that had been abandoned for years, moving along its paths and allowing the place itself to speak to us.
We reflected on its turbulent past and practiced an exercise of human decentering—seeking to perceive and understand the more-than-human life that has emerged, that once existed, and that will continue to exist in this site undergoing transformation.
Participatory Design and Immersive Methods (Community Workshops)
In each community, two in-depth workshops were carried out.
Workshop 1 — Memory and Intergenerational Knowledge
The first workshop focused on the historical and intergenerational memories of the waterways. Through guiding questions, participants shared stories, memories, emotions, materials, people, and socio-ecological connections. Together, they reflected on how these landscapes have changed overtime.
These experiences were later expressed as landscapes and artistic representations, giving visual and creative form to collective memory.
Workshop 2 — Connection and Future Imagining
The second workshop invited participants to strengthen their connection with the waterway and to imagine possible futures.
Participants revisited the sites, paying close attention to the forms of life inhabiting the waterways and the relationships between them. From these observations, artistic representations were created, such as letters to the waterways, which opened new spaces to imagine how waterways and their many species could thrive in the future.
This process also helped identify collective actions, opportunities, and responsibilities for the care of these ecosystems.
Final Reflection Workshop
The process concluded with a collective reflection workshop.
This final space allowed participants to look back and recognise everything learned along the journey, while discussing the future steps that each community considers important.
It also became a moment to reflect on how this project can continue to accompany, support, and strengthen local initiatives dedicated to the protection and care of urban waterways.
