Cities facing the wild

Abstract

Untamed ecosystems and plots of wild nature increasingly constitute large parts of contemporary urban spaces. They are often the unbidden result of a long-standing lack of maintenance as well as of the uncontrolled flourishing of weeds produced by the pesticide absolute ban. But they are also something more. Many recently implemented urban open spaces deal with wild nature to solve some of the most urgent tasks of the contemporary cities: reclaiming areas fallen into disuse, designing sustainable infrastructures, revitalizing valuable public spaces, enhancing the ecological footprint of new developments, suggesting new practices and social ritual, reducing management costs, fighting climate change, and satisfy- ing the biophilic desire of nature of urban dwellers. Thus, some questions arise: why and how can urbanity and wildlife come together? Why and how can we design and manage untamed urban landscapes? Which kind of behaviours do they encourage? Which ethical and aesthetical categories do they entail? This paper aims to inquire the role of wilderness in the urban realm, in a critical perspective. On one side, we will explore the proactive value of untamed landscapes as a priceless resource to improve urban quality. On the other, we will wonder about the risks of a possible ideological status of wilderness, as a fashionable label to renew anti-urban positions.