1st Edition

Post-Industrial Urban Greenspace An Environmental Justice Perspective

Edited By Jennifer Foster, L. Anders Sandberg Copyright 2016
    104 Pages
    by Routledge

    104 Pages
    by Routledge

    Post-industrial urban spaces typically include abandoned factories, disused rail lines, old pits and quarries, and de-commissioned landfills. In these places, different visions compete for dominance with respect to current and future land uses. Neighbours often view such urban greenspace as polluted, unkempt and weedy, harbouring undesirable biophysical features and people. These are spaces that often become the focus of some form of revitalization, reinvestment and restoration. From the perspective of civic authorities and urban planners, transforming post-industrial landscapes into disciplined and tended greenspace creates the urban conditions and signals of popular contemporary taste that attract investors, gentrifiers, and tourists. But post-industrial spaces are also places where unique and unpredictable human and ecological associations can emerge spontaneously. Such places may contain considerable ecological integrity and biodiversity and host human populations who find a home and respite in such ecologies. They also tell stories of an industrial and urban past that should be acknowledged, understood and (if suitable) celebrated. This volume explores the environmental justice and injustice dimensions of emerging urban post-industrial landscapes, including the ecological politics, cultural representations and aesthetics of these spaces.

    This book was published as a special issue of Local Environment.

    1. Post-Industrial Urban Greenspace: Justice, Quality of Life and Environmental Aesthetics in Rapidly Changing Urban Environments, Jennifer Foster and L. Anders Sandberg, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada

    2. The Greening of Urban Post-Industrial Landscapes: Past Practices and Emerging Trends, Christopher De Sousa, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Faculty of Community Services, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada

    3. Environmental Gentrification in a Post-Industrial Landscape: The Case of the Limhamn Quarry, Malmö, Sweden, L. Anders Sandberg, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada

    4. Buried Localities: Archaeological Exploration of a Toronto Dump and Wilderness Refuge, Heidy Schopf, Archaeological Services Inc., Toronto, Canada, and Jennifer Foster, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University, Toronto, Canada

    5. Re-Presenting Transgressive Ecologies: Post-Industrial Sites as Contested Terrains, Joern Langhorst, College of Architecture and Planning, University of Colorado, Denver, USA

    Biography

    Jennifer Foster is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies and Coordinator of the Urban Ecologies program at York University. She is a Registered Professional Planner (RPP) with the Canadian Institute of Planners. Recent projects include the contemporary art exhibition Land|Slide: Possible Futures and the critical urban ecology study From Rubble to Refuge.

    L. Anders Sandberg is a Professor and former Associate Dean in the Faculty of Environmental Studies at York University, Toronto, Canada. His two most recent books are The Oak Ridges Moraine Battles: Development, Sprawl and Nature Conservation in the Toronto Region (2013) and Urban Trees, Forests, and Greenspace: A Political Ecology Perspective (2014).