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15 Organising Nature Through Urban Gardening

  • Bjørn Inge Melås
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De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth
This chapter is in the book De Gruyter Handbook of Degrowth

Abstract

Capitalism is not just an economic system, it is a way of organising nature (Moore, 2015). It depends on an external, cheap nature to grow and a constant search for new spaces to exhaust and dispose of its debris. Nature must work harder and this can be achieved through homogenisation - by transforming rainforests into plantations, but also through a similar flattening of our inner landscapes. Capitalism is not just globalised, it is also integrated in our minds and the way we think, act and relate (Guattari, 2000). The ecological crisis must be approached not just by its physical manifestations, but also its mental and social ecologies. Through artistic research I explore urban gardening as a transversal practice able to work on all three ecologies simultaneously. If capitalism is a way of organising nature, degrowth must have other ways. By using experiences from my research, I will explore how practices of urban gardening involve other ways of relating to and organising nature. The proposition of degrowth might involve what Félix Guattari calls heterogenesis - the production of diversity. Gardens replace parking lots and provide habitats for a variety of species, but also open up for a diversity of ways-of-being, sensing, thinking, knowing, caring, relating and living together. The environments we make, how we make them and who we include in the process matters - not just for the environments, but also for us, since we are reproducing ourselves in the process. Urban gardening might change both material and immaterial production and through practicing and developing alternatives the imaginaries of the future are expanded.

Abstract

Capitalism is not just an economic system, it is a way of organising nature (Moore, 2015). It depends on an external, cheap nature to grow and a constant search for new spaces to exhaust and dispose of its debris. Nature must work harder and this can be achieved through homogenisation - by transforming rainforests into plantations, but also through a similar flattening of our inner landscapes. Capitalism is not just globalised, it is also integrated in our minds and the way we think, act and relate (Guattari, 2000). The ecological crisis must be approached not just by its physical manifestations, but also its mental and social ecologies. Through artistic research I explore urban gardening as a transversal practice able to work on all three ecologies simultaneously. If capitalism is a way of organising nature, degrowth must have other ways. By using experiences from my research, I will explore how practices of urban gardening involve other ways of relating to and organising nature. The proposition of degrowth might involve what Félix Guattari calls heterogenesis - the production of diversity. Gardens replace parking lots and provide habitats for a variety of species, but also open up for a diversity of ways-of-being, sensing, thinking, knowing, caring, relating and living together. The environments we make, how we make them and who we include in the process matters - not just for the environments, but also for us, since we are reproducing ourselves in the process. Urban gardening might change both material and immaterial production and through practicing and developing alternatives the imaginaries of the future are expanded.

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. List of Contributors XIII
  5. Foreword 1
  6. Introduction – Degrowth: Swimming Against the Ideological Tide 7
  7. Part I: Degrowth Agendas
  8. Introduction 23
  9. 1 ‘Without Growth, Everything is Nothing’: On the Origins of Growthism 25
  10. 2 Degrowth: Monetary and Nonmonetary Economies 41
  11. 3 Critiques of Work: The Radical Roots of Degrowth 55
  12. 4 Cultural Political Economy and Degrowth Politics 75
  13. 5 Sustainable Welfare: Decoupling Welfare from Growth and Prioritising Needs Satisfaction for All 89
  14. Part II: Degrowth in Practice
  15. Introduction 107
  16. 6 How and Who? The Debate About a Strategy for Degrowth 109
  17. 7 Translating Degrowth: From Policy Proposals to Praxis 129
  18. 8 Living in Abundance: Tool Libraries for Convivial Degrowth 149
  19. 9 Materialising Degrowth Agrifood Architecture with Earth 167
  20. 10 They Want Us to Live in Caves: Degrowth and the Housing Question 191
  21. Part III: The Urban and the Rural
  22. Introduction 211
  23. 11 The Case for Solidary Degrowth Spaces. Five Propositions on the Challenging Project of Spatialising Degrowth 213
  24. 12 Urban Degrowth 233
  25. 13 Land Commodification: A Structural Barrier to Degrowth Transition 251
  26. 14 Agroecology as Degrowth in Practice: Resistance Rooted in Human- Nature Relationality 273
  27. 15 Organising Nature Through Urban Gardening 291
  28. Part IV: Critical Connections
  29. Introduction 309
  30. 16 Interlocking Crises, Intersectional Visions: Ecofeminist Political Economy in Conversation with Degrowth 311
  31. 17 Dependency, Delinking and Degrowth in a New Developmental Era: Debates from Argentina 327
  32. 18 Degrowth and Psychoanalysis: From Transition to Transformation 339
  33. 19 Degrowth Disagreements with Marxism: Critical Perspectives on the Fetishisation of Value and Productivity 361
  34. 20 Not Just Newer, but Fewer: A Bridge Between Ecomodernism and Degrowth? 377
  35. Part V: Degrowth and the Global South
  36. Introduction 395
  37. 21 From Marxist Development Theories to Their Translation in the Degrowth Discourse: Transforming Unequal International Structures for Environmental Sustainability 397
  38. 22 Radical Ecological Democracy: Reflections from the South on Degrowth 417
  39. 23 Degrowth Beyond the Metropole: Theory and Praxis for a Revolutionary Degrowth 427
  40. 24 Growing Degrowth: Alliances with Environmental Movements in the Global South 447
  41. 25 ‘For the Greater Good’– Green Sacrifice Zones and Subaltern Resistance: The Politics and Potential of Degrowth and Post-Extractivist Futures 461
  42. List of Figures 479
  43. About the Editors 481
  44. Index 483
https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110778359-020

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter I
  2. Acknowledgements VII
  3. Contents IX
  4. List of Contributors XIII
  5. Foreword 1
  6. Introduction – Degrowth: Swimming Against the Ideological Tide 7
  7. Part I: Degrowth Agendas
  8. Introduction 23
  9. 1 ‘Without Growth, Everything is Nothing’: On the Origins of Growthism 25
  10. 2 Degrowth: Monetary and Nonmonetary Economies 41
  11. 3 Critiques of Work: The Radical Roots of Degrowth 55
  12. 4 Cultural Political Economy and Degrowth Politics 75
  13. 5 Sustainable Welfare: Decoupling Welfare from Growth and Prioritising Needs Satisfaction for All 89
  14. Part II: Degrowth in Practice
  15. Introduction 107
  16. 6 How and Who? The Debate About a Strategy for Degrowth 109
  17. 7 Translating Degrowth: From Policy Proposals to Praxis 129
  18. 8 Living in Abundance: Tool Libraries for Convivial Degrowth 149
  19. 9 Materialising Degrowth Agrifood Architecture with Earth 167
  20. 10 They Want Us to Live in Caves: Degrowth and the Housing Question 191
  21. Part III: The Urban and the Rural
  22. Introduction 211
  23. 11 The Case for Solidary Degrowth Spaces. Five Propositions on the Challenging Project of Spatialising Degrowth 213
  24. 12 Urban Degrowth 233
  25. 13 Land Commodification: A Structural Barrier to Degrowth Transition 251
  26. 14 Agroecology as Degrowth in Practice: Resistance Rooted in Human- Nature Relationality 273
  27. 15 Organising Nature Through Urban Gardening 291
  28. Part IV: Critical Connections
  29. Introduction 309
  30. 16 Interlocking Crises, Intersectional Visions: Ecofeminist Political Economy in Conversation with Degrowth 311
  31. 17 Dependency, Delinking and Degrowth in a New Developmental Era: Debates from Argentina 327
  32. 18 Degrowth and Psychoanalysis: From Transition to Transformation 339
  33. 19 Degrowth Disagreements with Marxism: Critical Perspectives on the Fetishisation of Value and Productivity 361
  34. 20 Not Just Newer, but Fewer: A Bridge Between Ecomodernism and Degrowth? 377
  35. Part V: Degrowth and the Global South
  36. Introduction 395
  37. 21 From Marxist Development Theories to Their Translation in the Degrowth Discourse: Transforming Unequal International Structures for Environmental Sustainability 397
  38. 22 Radical Ecological Democracy: Reflections from the South on Degrowth 417
  39. 23 Degrowth Beyond the Metropole: Theory and Praxis for a Revolutionary Degrowth 427
  40. 24 Growing Degrowth: Alliances with Environmental Movements in the Global South 447
  41. 25 ‘For the Greater Good’– Green Sacrifice Zones and Subaltern Resistance: The Politics and Potential of Degrowth and Post-Extractivist Futures 461
  42. List of Figures 479
  43. About the Editors 481
  44. Index 483
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