Paper Short Abstract:

This paper explores whether more-than-human entanglements in urban gardens are a precondition of caring ecosystems. Are they important in creating condensed urban spaces of biodiversity? Are de-anthropocentric gardens a speculation or a possible way of coexistence of diverse species in the cities?

Paper Abstract:

I am on my early morning slow being in one of my fieldsites, a suburban plot garden colony near Helsinki, Finland. Confrey is adorned in purple and white flowers that pleasantly vibrate and buzz in the sultry July air. Bumblebees, honeybees, and hoverflies go in rounds and visit each flower. It might be one of the top plants in the garden loved by different pollinators. However, it is not considered a ‘useful’ or ‘garden plant’ from a human perspective. Nevertheless, it is acknowledged as a ‘useful weed’. At least. Some human gardeners of my research have acknowledged its usefulness in several ways. It is a pollinator magnet, and it is also a great weed for making green fertiliser.

The multispecies entanglements of different scales are not uncommon in urban gardens. They are necessary for creating even more complex and overlapping entanglements in which gardeners of different species engage in reciprocal relationships. In my post-doctoral research and this conference presentation, I explore whether the clusters of such entanglements are a precondition of caring ecosystems. Can they be important in creating small islands of biodiversity in the cities? Are urban gardens the ‘perfect’ places of naturecultures in which the conceptual and practical divide between culture and nature is blurred? What happens when we imagine gardens where all entangled species are seen as gardeners in their own right? Are de-anthropocentric gardens a speculation or a possible way of coexistence of diverse species in the cities?