Waste, weeds, and wild food

Paddeu, Flaminia

doi:10.4000/echogeo.16623

Cited by 7 publications

(2 citation statements)

References 44 publications

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“…More recently, spontaneous plants are being integrated into parks’ design, creating safe havens for biodiversity, reducing municipal gardening budget while providing new types of ‘ecological aesthetics’ appealing to the upper-classes (Ernwein, 2020; Foster, 2005; Gandy, 2013; Kowarik, 2018; Weber et al, 2014). These newly desired urban ecologies are shaped by certain spatial practices, such as the recently reinvigorated urban foraging (Nyman, 2019; Paddeu, 2019; Pellegrini and Baudry, 2014; Poe et al, 2014), off-leash dog walking (Foster and Sandberg, 2004), or the rise of community gardens (Cabral et al, 2017; Schmelzkopf, 1995; Tornaghi, 2014).…”

Section: Current Perspectives On Human-weeds Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weeds in action: Vegetal political ecology of unwanted plants

Argüelles

March

2021

Progress in Human Geography

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This paper presents a vegetal political ecology of weeds. Weeds have barely been analysed in the burgeoning field of ‘more-than-human’ scholarship, this despite their ubiquity and considerable impact on human social life. We review how geographical scholarship has represented weeds’ material and political status: mostly as invasive plants, annoying species in private gardens and spontaneous vegetation in urbanized landscapes. Then, bringing together weed science, agronomic science and the critical geography of agriculture, we show how weeds ecology, weeds management and the environmental problems which weeds are entangled have critically shaped the industrial agriculture paradigm. Three main arguments emerging from our analysis open up new research avenues: weeds’ disruptive character might shape our understanding of human-plant relationships; human-weeds relation in agriculture have non-trivial socio-economic and political implications; and more-than-human approaches, such as vegetal political ecology, might challenge dominant modes of considering and practicing agriculture.

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Section: Current Perspectives On Human-weeds Relationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Weeds in action: Vegetal political ecology of unwanted plants

Argüelles

March

2021

Progress in Human Geography

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“…While this research has made useful observations about the social and nutritional benefits of foraging and fishing infrastructures (Davies & Evans, 2019;Galt et al, 2014;Nieman et al, 2021;Paddeu, 2019) and has begun to engage with ideas of commoning (Morrow & Martin, 2019;Parthasarathy, 2011), more work is needed to integrate these theoretical strands and to critically examine relationships between practices of commoning, the production of more-than-human (Braun, 2005;Whatmore, 2006) urban spaces, and the role of infrastructures in commoning and community care practices (Alam & Houston, 2020;Puig de la Bellacasa, 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contested Commoning: Urban Fishing Spaces and Community Wellbeing

Boucquey

Fly

2021

International Journal of the Commons

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This paper analyzes how the more-than-human elements and relationships of urban fishing-piers, bridges, fish, social interactions-constitute spaces that offer the possibility of affecting community wellbeing. In particular, it applies theories of commoning to questions of how urban fishing spaces might affect the social and material dimensions of wellbeing. The paper argues that approaching ideas of community wellbeing from a commoning perspective enables deeper analysis of the 'messiness' and contradictions that can arise in accounting for the complex socio-natural interactions that affect wellbeing. The paper examines these questions via a case study of urban fishing in the Tampa Bay region of Florida. Employing survey, interview, and field research, the paper asks how urban fishing spaces support processes of commoning that could lead to increases in wellbeing, while also highlighting where disruptions in the ecological, physical, or social spaces involved in commoning might decrease wellbeing. The paper finds evidence that commoning can increase community wellbeing in concrete ways (e.g., by contributing to collective food security, knowledge-sharing, exposure to economic and racial diversity, and shared experiences), but that these processes and infrastructures are simultaneously precarious and subject to social strife, changes in legality, and ecological contamination which can decrease wellbeing. The paper suggests that particularly for geographies of urban wellbeing, adopting a commoning lens is useful for better parsing how the elements of and challenges to wellbeing are intertwined, and where possibilities might exist for addressing these challenges. The paper contributes to theoretical discussions about the characteristics of commoning, links between commoning and socionatural wellbeing, and shifting understandings of urban space and infrastructures of care.

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Fruits of the city: The nature, nurture and future of urban foraging

Sardeshpande

Shackleton

2023

People and Nature

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Urban foraging is a global informal phenomenon which has been investigated in the Global North more than other parts of the world. Characterising the nature of urban foraging in the Global South is imperative given the rapid urbanisation and sustainable development priorities in the region. In this study, we interviewed 80 urban foragers in four cities in the eastern coastal region of South Africa, with an aim to understand the nature of urban foraging in a developing nation context. We asked foragers about their initiation to and motivations for foraging, their logistics, yields and associated activities, descriptions of their foraging grounds, and if and how they had changed, and what they envisage as an ideal future for foraging. Many foragers started foraging in their childhood, in the company of friends and family, and, as in the Global North, regarded it as a cultural and recreational activity. Foraging was mostly done within a 5‐km radius of home, on a weekly or fortnightly basis, and very few foragers processed or sold their foraged products. Unlike the Global North, formal green spaces were not foraged in, and were perceived to be poorly provisioned in urban planning. Forests and roadsides were equally used by the foragers, and very few had been discouraged from foraging. Most foragers were enthusiastic about the possibility of more people foraging, having designated spaces for foraging, and foraging‐based businesses such as processed products and ecotourism. We recommend that policymakers and land managers recognise and encourage foraging as a potentially sustainable use for stewardship of urban green spaces. To this end, we list the main wild edible fruit species used by foragers in the area, which could be planted in public spaces. We also suggest harnessing foragers' knowledge of useful species and spaces to develop green spaces and foraging‐based supply chains. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

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Waste, weeds, and wild food

Cited by 7 publications

References 44 publications

Weeds in action: Vegetal political ecology of unwanted plants

Weeds in action: Vegetal political ecology of unwanted plants

Contested Commoning: Urban Fishing Spaces and Community Wellbeing

Fruits of the city: The nature, nurture and future of urban foraging

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