Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space

by Matthew Gandy

A study of urban nature that draws together different strands of urban ecology as well as insights derived from feminist, posthuman, and postcolonial thought.

Postindustrial transitions and changing cultures of nature have produced an unprecedented degree of fascination with urban biodiversity. The "other nature" that flourishes in marginal urban spaces, at one remove from the controlled contours of metropolitan nature, is not the poor relation of rural flora and fauna. Indeed, these islands of biodiversity underline the porosity of the distinction between urban and rural.
In Natura Urbana, Matthew Gandy explores urban nature as a multilayered material and symbolic entity, through the lens of urban ecology and the parallel study of diverse cultures of nature at a global scale.

Gandy examines the articulation of alternative, and in some cases, counterhegemonic, sources of knowledge about urban nature produced by artists, writers, scientists, as well as curious citizens, including voices seldom heard in environmental discourse. The book is driven by Gandy's fascination with spontaneous forms of urban nature ranging from postindustrial wastelands brimming with life to the return of such predators as wolves and leopards on the urban fringe. Gandy develops a critical synthesis between different strands of urban ecology and considers whether "urban political ecology," broadly defined, might be imaginatively extended to take fuller account of both the historiography of the ecological sciences, and recent insights derived from feminist, posthuman, and postcolonial thought.

Genres: Urbanism, Environment, Landscape Architecture, Theory, Nonfiction, Cities

432 pages, Hardcover

First published March 8, 2022

About the author

Matthew Gandy is Professor of Geography at Cambridge University. His previous books include Concrete and Clay: Reworking Nature in New York City (2002) and The Fabric of Space: Water, Modernity, and the Urban Imagination (2014). You can find out more about Matthew via his website: http://www.matthewgandy.org/

Reviews

[Owen Hatherley · Rating 4 out of 5]

One for the London parakeet fans.

[Raul · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fascinating exploration of ideas and practices of urban ecologies… Gandy’s overview of so many disciplinary and non-academic explorations of what nature in and of cities means provides a sense of the complex interweaving that proves necessary for action in our times. He uses a clear political compass, denouncing colonial legacies in scientific approaches and unequal exposure to risks, to remind us of distrusting nature-loving slogans and approaches that may seek to brush out historical abuses and ongoing inequalities.

[Josh Medicoff]

a full 170 pages of this book are dedicated to citations and footnotes, to give a sense of how dense it is. but since it’s targeted at my area of academic interest (and only because of this) I got through it. Would literally only recommend if you’re interested in urban ecology / urban political ecology.

[Shad · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are long out of academia like I am, it’s a rough read. If you didn’t go through reading postmodern feminist queer theory in college, it would be even harder.

It was a slog but offers up some interesting insights. I sort of want to do a “translation” into more accessible language. It’s not a book I can share with any of my friends.

[William · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fascinating, and genuinely has changed how I view nature etc especially living in the city. But should really have been rewritten for mass publication. I don’t really care about the theoretical discussions

[Stella Bastone · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was greatly looking forward to reading this. Can't read it. It's the most impenetrable piece of magniloquence I've ever set eyes on.