Urban Wildscapes – Book Review

Review by Michael Smith (Veshengro)

Urban Wildscapes
Anna Jorgensen (Editor), Richard Keenan (Editor)
272 pages paperback 24.8 x 17.8 x 2 cm
Published by Routledge 24 Oct 2011 1st edition
ISBN 978-0415581066

Urban Wildscapes is one of the first edited collections of writings about urban ‘wilderness’ landscapes. Evolved, rather than designed or planned, these derelict, abandoned and marginal spaces are frequently overgrown with vegetation and host to a wide range of human activities. They include former industrial sites, landfill, allotments, cemeteries, woods, infrastructural corridors, vacant lots and a whole array of urban wastelands at a variety of different scales. Frequently maligned in the media, these landscapes have recently been re-evaluated and this collection assembles these fresh perspectives in one volume.

Combining theory with illustrated examples and case studies, the book demonstrates that urban wildscapes have far greater significance, meaning and utility than is commonly thought, and that an appreciation of their particular qualities can inform a far more sustainable approach to the planning, design and management of the wider urban landscape.

The wildscapes under investigation in this book are found in diverse locations throughout the UK, Europe, China and the US. They vary in scale from small sites to entire cities or regions, and from discrete locations to the imaginary wildscapes of children’s literature. Many different themes are addressed including the natural history of wildscapes, their significance as a location for all kinds of playful activity, the wildscape as ‘commons’ and the implications for landscape architectural practice, ranging from planting interventions in wildscapes to the design of the urban public realm on wildscape principles.

Both valued and feared, urban “wildscapes” evoke contradictory responses; but, in addition to their vital ecological and environmental role within urban green networks, they present the urban dweller with an alternative to the overly homogenous, mono-functional, sanitised and potentially excluding environments that are the mainstay of much contemporary urban development.

The Urban Wildscapes project began in 2007 as a partnership between The University of Sheffield and freelancers Richard Keenan and Katy Mugford.

For some reason I had been expecting the railway yard in Berlin (Südbahnhof) that has returned to Nature since being abandoned some years ago to be featured in this book and I have not been wrong there. Somehow I would have been disappointed, I guess, had it not been thus, as it is such a great ewxample of how resilient Nature is in reclaiming old sites, including industrial ones, and at what speed it can work.

The examples in this book are proof as to Nature's speed and ability of reclaiming derelict (urban) areas even to such an extent that within a decade or two those zones can be productive woodlands, amongst other things.

Urban wild spaces have and can have a number of (different) uses, from amenity, over wildlife to coppicing for firewood, etc., , all at the same time, as neither of them have to be, nor should be, exclusive. They go, in fact, very much together.

Dulwich Upper Wood in Southeast London is a great example here too, with food growing areas also incorporated. It can all be done and can benefit wildlife and us at the same time and on all levels.

Urban wild spaces must become, and Parks too have their place here, also productive if localism is to work, and that not just in regards to wood production. It is possible without interfering in their wilderness and wildlife value.

The book “Urban Wildscapes” should become a manual for all who are involved in Parks and Open Spaces, and especially all who are tasked with greening the urban environment.

© 2011