Transdisciplinary approaches to connection, care, and community-building around urban ecological infrastructures

Keywords: care, stewardship, transdisciplinary, green infrastructure
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Tuesday
Session Start / End Time: 3/1/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 3/1/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 35

Abstract

In the face of the “wicked problems” of the Anthropocene, we need new ways to catalyze sustainable and transformational pathways. Urban ecological infrastructures--including forests, parks, and other green spaces--are living, networked systems of relations between human and more-than-human others. Diverse knowledge systems and stewardship practices can form reciprocal relationships with these ecosystems, landscapes, and places. Given this context, how can transdisciplinary practices incubate connection, care, and community-building around urban ecological infrastructure? By centering on care - we can surface and amplify the sometimes less-seen, but albeit crucial everyday practices of residents, civic leaders, and public servants in shaping place. Through transdisciplinary approaches, we can learn from multiple epistemologies and find different ways to understand, envision, and create alternative futures. This talk explores three case studies of how artists, scientists, and land managers affiliated with the NYC Urban Field Station are fostering new relations with urban ecological infrastructures. 1) Matthew López-Jensen’s Tree Love builds connections by sensitizing ourselves to the presence, capacities, and impacts of street trees. 2) The USDA Forest Service’s STEW-MAP and the exhibition Who Takes Care of New York? makes visible the caretaking of civic environmental stewardship groups. 3) Mary Mattingly’s Swale is a floating food forest that serves as a site to build community and enact new forms of stewardship practices. Through these transdisciplinary works, we assert that connection, care, and community-building are three mutually beneficial approaches to reworking human-nonhuman relations and fostering sustainable relationships to place.