Send message to Authors

Paper short abstract

Across twelve cities in Europe, Latin America, and the United States, we identify recurring eco-centric urban nature imaginaries in planning and grassroots practices, examining how they become actionable and what political work they perform.

Paper long abstract

A growing body of scholarship calls for moving beyond anthropocentric interpretations of nature-based solutions (NBS) towards more eco-centric understandings of urban nature that foreground the intrinsic and relational values of ecosystems. At the same time, critical research has highlighted the social and political tensions surrounding NBS, including divergent priorities, problem framings, and interpretations of sustainability and justice. Within this broader effort to re-politicize urban nature, this paper examines how eco-centric urban futures are imagined and operationalized across different governance contexts.

While previous research has explored eco-centric imaginaries and nature-positive futures, comparative evidence on how such perspectives are articulated and contested across planning and grassroots practices remains limited. Drawing on planning documents (including master plans, climate plans, and biodiversity strategies) alongside interviews with planners, residents, and NBS practitioners, we analyze urban nature imaginaries across twelve cities in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. We further analyze how these imaginaries become actionable through planning instruments and grassroots experimentation.

We conceptualize urban nature imaginaries as the narratives and discourses through which actors understand, interpret, and emotionally engage with the relationship between cities and nature. The analysis identifies recurring eco-centric imaginaries structured by distinct value orientations and problem framings across regions. We examine the political work these imaginaries perform by tracing how they shape proposed solutions, claims to knowledge and expertise, and competing visions of human and more-than-human justice in urban sustainability transitions.