Urban nature, ecology and art

A visual artist and urban ecologist collaboration

With greater awareness of human influences on ecology and greater numbers of humans living in cities, a potentially profound change is occurring in how nature is being defined and valued, how it challenges and confronts humanistic perspectives, how it is appreciated aesthetically.

Cities – rich in culture, skills, history, and varying experiences and attitudes toward nature. This synthesis is not only a global mix of humanity but in ecological terms it creates a diverse changing nature it gives us urban nature.

Urban ecology, a sub-field of traditional ecology, bases its interest in the reality of the infinite number of relationships and connections that exist between the myriad of species that make up ecosystems. To think of a city as an ecosystem, as urban wildlife as having “natural” lives, was once a difficult concept for traditional science.

We need to “see” these connections if we are to manage our influence. We can no longer assume that humans – us – are separate from nature. The evidence of humanities activities is ubiquitous. Meanwhile, the evidence of natural processes on the human world is similarly everywhere, though somewhat more subtle. Traces rather than tracts.

Through the cross fertilization of my studio research with urban ecology, I am developing a studio practice which will elevate interest and change perceptions of urban nature, to represent the unexpected interface between the built and the natural realm, and the connections coexisting out of disparate conditions and materials.