From control to cohabitation: Social-ecological insights on urban wildness narratives

Narratives surrounding urban green space management have experienced significant shifts in recent years. While

the command-and-control approach to urban green space management was once a dominant narrative, alternative

understandings have emerged over time. The emerging narrative on urban wilding presents a unique

opportunity to expand on our current understandings and approaches to urban green space management. This

research explores how participation in experiential workshops that engage with urban wild spaces (UWS)

through deliberative methods may influence our narratives of urban green spaces and their management. This is

achieved by examining the human-nature dynamics of the workshops, which employ methods of wild transect

walks, storytelling, and multispecies role-playing, framed by social-ecological traits to facilitate the translation of

perceptions and values. The workshops gathered data on the interplay between the participating human

stakeholders. Based on a narrative analysis, the findings suggest that an initial disconnect between humans and

ecology appears during engagement with UWS. Throughout the sense-making and sharing process, participants

begin to connect with the spaces through sensory effect traits, such as auditory elements, tactile sensations, and

visual characteristics, as they recount childhood memories and stories about the ecosystem's ecology. Narratives

then shift as the workshops progress; participants move from descriptions of practical management and control

toward a more ethical understanding of cohabitation. The article concludes by suggesting directions for future

research to further understand the driving factors behind these shifting narratives.

Plain language summary: This research examines how people’s ideas about managing urban green spaces are

evolving. In the past, management often focused on control, maintaining order and tidiness in nature. Recently,

new approaches have emerged, such as urban wilding, which promotes allowing nature to grow and evolve more

freely. This study tested whether workshops could alter people’s perceptions of urban green spaces. During the

workshops, participants explored urban wild areas through activities like wild walks, storytelling, and role-

playing as different species. These activities encouraged individuals to notice sensory details (such as sounds,

textures, sights), and to share personal memories and stories. At first, many participants felt disconnected from

the wild areas. But as the workshops progressed, they began to connect more deeply, moving away from seeing

nature as something to control towards seeing it as something to live alongside and share. The study concludes

that these kinds of participatory workshops can help people develop more ethical and coexisting relationships

with urban nature. It also suggests that more research is needed to understand what drives these shifts in perspectives.