Urban natures. Renaturing the (post)industrial city, the case of Brescia

Journal title RIVISTA GEOGRAFICA ITALIANA
Author/s Marco Tononi
Publishing Year 2021 Issue 2021/2 Language Italian
Pages 17 P. 102-118 File size 0 KB
DOI 10.3280/rgioa2-2021oa12035
DOI is like a bar code for intellectual property: to have more infomation click here

View article Download Open Access article

FrancoAngeli is member of Publishers International Linking Association, Inc (PILA), a not-for-profit association which run the CrossRef service enabling links to and from online scholarly content.

The contribution examines the process of reintroducing nature into the urban environment through the perspective of social nature and urban political ecology, reconstructing the interaction between city and nature and overcoming the dichotomy that has always characterized them. In particular, following the UPE, the analysis specifically investigates the urbanization of nature and the urban metabolism, with theidea that interconnected socio-ecological processes characterize it. The third section briefly review some urban theories, from the early twentieth century, dealing with what part the nature plays in the different phases of urban development and how it is conceived in Rivista geografica relation to the industrial and postindustrial city. The last section applied this approach to the Brescia case study, as an example of an Italian (post)industrial city, to evaluate how the city has been renaturalized.

  1. AAE (AGENZIA AMBIENTALE EUROPEA) (2006). Urban sprawl in Europe, the ignored challenge. Report n. 10, Copenaghen.
  2. Alberti M., Solera G. e Tsetsi V. (1994). La città sostenibile: analisi, scenari e proposte per un’ecologia urbana in Europa. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  3. Angelo H. e Wachsmuth D. (2015). Urbanizing Urban Political Ecology: A Critique of Methodological Cityism. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39: 16-27. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.12105
  4. Agyeman J. (2005). Sustainable Communities and the Challenge of Environmental Justice. London, New York: NYU Press.
  5. Id. e Evans B. (2004). “Just sustainability”: The emerging discourse of environmental justice in Britain?. Geographical Journal, 170, 2: 155-164. DOI: 10.1111/j.0016-7398.2004.00117.x
  6. Id. e Evans T. (2003). Towards Just Sustainability in Urban Communities: Building Equity Rights with Sustainable Solutions. Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, 590: 35-53. DOI: 10.1177/0002716203256565
  7. Equity Rights with Sustainable Solutions. Annals of American Academy of Political and Social Science, 590: 35-53. DOI: 10.1177/0002716203256565
  8. Bagliani M. e Dansero E. (2011). Politiche per l’ambiente. Dalla natura al territorio. Torino: Utet.
  9. Barua M. e Sinha A. (2019). Animating the urban: an ethological and geographical conversation. Social and Cultural Geography, 20, 8: 1160-1180. DOI: 10.1080/14649365.2017.1409908
  10. Beatley T. (2012). Green Cities of Europe. Washington DC: Island Press.
  11. Bonati S., Tononi M. e Zanolin M. (2021). Social nature geographies/Le geografie e l’approccio sociale alla natura. Rivista Geografica Italiana, 127(2): 5-20.
  12. Bonora P., a cura di (2012). Visioni e politiche del territorio. Per una nuova alleanza tra urbano e rurale. Dipartimento di storia culture civiltà, Bologna: Bradypus.
  13. Braun B. (2005). Environmental issues: Writing a more-than-human urban geography. Progress in Human Geography, 29, 5: 635-650. DOI: 10.1191/0309132505ph574pr
  14. Id. e Castree N., a cura di (1998). Remaking Reality: Nature at the Millenium. London: Routledge.
  15. Bryant R.L. e Bailey S. (1997). Third World Political Ecology. New York: Routledge.
  16. Castàn Broto V., Allen A. e Rapoport E. (2012). Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Urban Metabolism. Journal of Industrial Ecology, 16, 6: 851-861. DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-9290.2012.00556.x
  17. Castree N. (2005) Nature, Key Ideas in Geography. London: Routledge.
  18. Id. e Braun B., a cura di (2001). Social Nature: Theory, Practice and Politics. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
  19. Cavallo F. e Varotto M. (2014). Per un approccio geografico alle dispute territoriali in Italia. In: Fregolent L., a cura di, Conflitti e territorio. Milano: FrancoAngeli.
  20. Comune di Brescia (2016). Relazione proposta Plis Cave Brescia, testo disponibile al sito: www.comune.brescia.it/servizi/urbanistica/PGT/Documents/PGT%202016/DC_DOCUMENTAZIONE%20COMUNE/Relazione%20proposta%20Plis%20Cave%20Brescia.pdf (consultato il 10 dicembre, 2020)
  21. Connolly C. (2019). Urban Political Ecology Beyond Methodological Cityism. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 43: 63-75. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.12710
  22. Cook I.R. e Swyngedouw E. (2012). Cities, Social Cohesion and the Environment: Towards a Future Research Agenda. Urban Studies, 49, 9: 1959-1979. DOI: 10.1177/0042098012444887
  23. Derickson K.D. (2015). Urban geography I: locating urban theory in the ‘urban age’. Progress in Human Geography, 39, 5: 647-57. DOI: 10.1177/0309132514560961
  24. Desfor G. e Keil R. (2004). Nature and the City: Making Environmental Policy in Toronto and Los Angeles. Tucson, AZ: University of Arizona Press.
  25. Faggi P. e Turco A., a cura di (1999). Conflitti ambientali. Genesi, sviluppo, gestione. Milano: Unicopli.
  26. Farinelli F. (2003). Geografia. Un’ introduzione ai modelli del mondo. Torino: Einaudi.
  27. Forsyth T. (2003). Critical Political Ecology. London: Routledge.
  28. Gandy M. (2005). Cyborg Urbanization: Complexity and Monstrosity in the Contemporary City. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 29, 1: 26-49. DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-2427.2005.00568.x
  29. Girardet H. (1999). Creating Sustainable Cities. Totnes: Green Books.
  30. Harvey D. (1993). The Nature of Environment: Dialectics of Social and Environmental Change. In: Miliband R. e Panitch L., a cura di, Social Register. Real Problems, False Solutions. London: Merlin Press.
  31. Heynen N. (2014). Urban political ecology I: the urban century. Progress in Human Geography, 38, 4: 598-604. DOI: 10.1177/0309132513500443
  32. Id. (2016). Urban political ecology II: The abolitionist century. Progress in Human Geography, 40, 6: 839-845. DOI: 10.1177/0309132515617394
  33. Id. (2018). Urban political ecology III: The feminist and queer century. Progress in Human Geography, 42, 3: 446-452. DOI: 10.1177/0309132517693336
  34. Id., Kaika M. e Swyngedouw E. (2006). In the Nature of Cities: Urban Political Ecology and the Politics of Urban Metabolism. Abingdon Oxon: Routledge.
  35. Howard E. (1902). Garden city of To-morrow. London: Swann Sonnenschein & Co. Jacobs J. (1961). The Death and Life of Great American Cities. New York: Vintage Books.
  36. Kaika M. (2005). City of Flows: Modernity, Nature and the City. London: Routledge.
  37. Ead. e Swyngedouw E. (2012). The Urbanization of Nature: Great Promises, Impasse, and New Beginnings. In: Bridge G. e Watson S., a cura di, The New Blackwell Companion to the City. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell. DOI: 10.1002/9781444395105.ch9
  38. Keil R. e Macdonald S. (2016). Rethinking urban political ecology from the outside in: greenbelts and boundaries in the post-suburban city. Local Environment, 21, 12: 1516-1533. DOI: 10.1080/13549839.2016.1145642
  39. Krueger R. e Gibbs D. (2007). The Sustainable Development Paradox. Urban Political Economy in the United States and Europe. New York: The Guilford Press.
  40. Lawhon M., Ernstson H. e Silver J. (2014). Provincializing Urban Political Ecology: Towards a Situated UPE Through African Urbanism. Antipode, 46: 497-516. DOI: 10.1111/anti.12051
  41. Lefebvre H. (1970). La révolution urbaine. Parigi: Gallimard.
  42. Lepawsky J., Akese G., Billah M., Conolly C. e McNabb C. (2015). Composing Urban Orders from Rubbish Electronics: Cityness and the Site Multiple. International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, 39: 185-199. DOI: 10.1111/1468-2427.12142
  43. Marsh G.P. (1864). Man and Nature. New York: C. Scribner.
  44. Marta M. (2010). Rischi e potenzialità ambientali per la città in crisi. Semestrale di Studi e Ricerche di Geografia, XXII, 1: 73-90.
  45. McLean H. (2018). In praise of chaotic research pathways: A feminist response to planetary urbanization. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 36, 3: 547-555. DOI: 10.1177/0263775817713751
  46. Mumford L. (1963). La città nella storia. Milano: Edizioni di Comunità.
  47. Owen D. (2010). Green Metropolis. Milano: Egea.
  48. Pietta A. e Tononi M. (2021). Re-Naturing the City: Linking Urban Political Ecology and Cultural Ecosystem Services. Sustainability, 13, 1786. DOI: 10.3390/su13041786
  49. Robbins P. (2004). Political Ecology: A Critical Introduction. New York: Blackwell.
  50. Ruzzenenti M. (2001). Un secolo di cloro e… PCB. Storie delle Industrie Caffaro di Brescia. Milano: Jaca Book.
  51. Scaramellini G. (2012). Città e aree metropolitane in Italia. Riflessi nella geografia e nella cartografia italiane. In: Mastropietro E., a cura di, Città e aree metropolitane europee. Fra trasformazioni urbane e progetti per la sostenibilità. Milano: Mimesis Edizioni.
  52. Schmidt A. (1971). The Concept of Nature in Marx. London: NLB.
  53. Schmidt di Friedberg M. (2004). L’arca di Noé. Conservazionismo tra natura e cultura. Torino: Giappichelli.
  54. Selavafolta O. (2000). Temi e luoghi della Città-Giardino in Italia nei primi decenni del Novecento. Ciudades, 6: 75-97. DOI: 10.24197/ciudades.06.2000.75-97
  55. Shutkin W.A. (2001). The Land that Could be: Environmentalism and Democracy in the Twenty-first Century. Cambridge: Mit Press.
  56. Smith N. (1984). Uneven Development. Oxford: Blackwell.
  57. Soja E.W. (2000). Postmetropolis: Critical Studies of Cities and Regions. New York: Wiley.
  58. Spaargaren G. (1997). The Ecological Modernization of Production and Consumption. Wageningen: Thesis Landbouw Universiteit Wageningen.
  59. Swyngedouw E. (1996). The City As a Hybrid: On Nature, Society and Cyborg Urbanization. Capitalism Nature Socialism, 7, 2: 65-80. DOI: 10.1080/10455759609358679
  60. Id. e Heynen N.C. (2003). Urban Political Ecology, Justice and the Politics of Scale. Antipode, 35: 898-918. DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8330.2003.00364.x
  61. Tallone O. (1976). Brescia città industriale. Pisa: Giardini.
  62. Tinacci Mossello M. (2009). Politica dell’ambiente. Analisi, azioni, progetti. Bologna: Il Mulino.
  63. Tononi M. (2015). Immaginare, misurare e realizzare la sostenibilità urbana. Come le città europee diventano più verdi. Rivista Geografica Italiana, 122, 3: 283-304.
  64. Id. e Pietta A. (2020). Città in transizione. Un’analisi geografica delle relazioni socioecologiche a scala urbana. Milano: Mimesis.
  65. Id., Ead. e Bonati S. (2017). Alternative spaces of urban sustainability: results of the first integrative approach in the Italian city of Brescia. The Geographical Journal, 183: 187-200. DOI: 10.1111/geoj.12207
  66. Turco A. (1988). Verso una teoria geografica della complessità. Milano: Unicopli.
  67. Turri E. (2004). La megalopoli padana. Venezia: Marsilio.
  68. Tzaninis Y., Mandler T., Kaika M. e Keil R. (2020). Moving urban political ecology beyond the ‘urbanization of nature. Progress in Human Geography. DOI: 10.1177/0309132520903350
  69. Virilio P. (1986). Speed and Politics: An Essay on Dromology. New York: Semiotext(e).
  70. Whatmore S. (2002). Hybrid Geographies: Natures Cultures Spaces. London: Sage.
  71. Wheeler S.M. e Beatley T. (2004). The Sustainable Urban Development Reader. Abingdon Oxon: Routledge.
  72. Zimmerer A. (2010). Urban Political Ecology. Theoretical concepts, challenges, and suggested future directions. Erdkunde, 64, 4: 343-354. DOI: 10.3112/erdkunde.2010.04.04

  • Urban Forests and Green Areas as Nature-Based Solutions for Brownfield Redevelopment: A Case Study from Brescia Municipal Area (Italy) Mauro Masiero, Anna Biasin, Giulia Amato, Fabrizio Malaggi, Davide Pettenella, Paolo Nastasio, Simone Anelli, in Forests /2022 pp.444
    DOI: 10.3390/f13030444

Marco Tononi, Nature urbane. Rinaturalizzare la città (post)industriale, l’esempio di Brescia in "RIVISTA GEOGRAFICA ITALIANA" 2/2021, pp 102-118, DOI: 10.3280/rgioa2-2021oa12035