Objectives
The subproject “Planning with Pathogens aims to chart the spread of Phytophthora ramorum across “Great Britain, Ireland and Faroe Island” urbanised bioregion to grasp the complex reconfiguration of socio-ecological spaces and their politics in West Scotland left in its wake.
Abstract
Champions of Biophilic Urbanism claim planning Nature (back) into cities in the form of biodiversity will increase individual health and well-being while simultaneously providing a techno-fix to existential threats associated with radically changing climates and ecosystems, changes, as some argue, brought about by excessive forms of capitalist production.
Meanwhile, pathogenic fungi and closely related oomycetes are increasingly spreading across managed and spontaneous ecosystems as biomes move, climates change and adaptations take place. Until now, the impact on plant and human health of such undesirable cultures of nature has received little attention in urban and planning studies. The subproject addresses this gap and thinks through the complexities associated with planning in and beyond cities with undesirable forms of life whose home ranges are changing as biomes move and climates are reconfigured.
We ask: what does it mean for our understanding of biophilic urbanism when we take seriously the socio-political and biological processes that extend beyond typical boundaries such as nation, urban and body? And what does this do for our practical knowledge of planning and designing for multispecies health?
