Green imaginaries

Abstract

Our current models of urban and rural development urgently require radical rethinking due to the problems caused by rapid twentieth-century urbanisation.The notion of nature as a socio-cultural construct driven by our need to understand and control our environment is a significant argument in the debate of how Western urban planners perceive the dichotomy between the notions of nature and city. In this light, nature, in contrast to culture, is one of the main obstacles to a socio-ecological future. This paper argues that alternative views on the notion of nature and its relationship to culture are needed to imagine radical socio-ecological change. The aim is therefore to discuss how alternative ways of understanding this relationship could provide a practice of sustainable urban planning and design through a series of spatial explorations into socio-ecological processes. Focusing on changing urban and landscape conditions, the paper maps the forces and processes behind their transformations over time to project alternative future scenarios. Departing from the framework for developing these explorations into ‘Green Imaginaries’, their transformative and generative potential as strategies for sustainable futures beyond the dichotomy of nature and culture is discussed.