"Landscape Scars"

Toronto’s ravine network is one of the city's best features (Pics by Adam Kuplowsky) - from the Independent

Among many themes in urban greenspace exploration and scholarship is the significance of remnants of the past. Decaying and abandoned spaces are places of rich historical significance, both on small and large scales. They represent the history of the landscapes themselves, from early urban development, gentrification, and gradual decay. As well as the communities that inhabited these spaces - their culture, relationship with peers and the land, and their deindustrialization. Jennifer Foster describes these histories marked by geographic spaces as "Landscapes scars". Even though they are abandoned, deteriorated, or otherwise ugly spaces, they hold rich meaning that local communities may cherish. Foster emphasizes that these spaces also represent future prospects of what the community could be again. "Landscape scars" are entangled with complicated emotional responses and attachments, not just history worth analyzing. They are living spaces that are still very much in a state of transformation.

When considering these abandoned spaces we cannot look at them as if they exist in a vacuum. Urban green spaces are the product of past urban development and relationships, and the decay of these spaces is equally attached to social, cultural, and political ties that facilitated their erection. These larger social relationships with the spaces we occupy are representative of the ideals that we, as a global community, tend to hold in higher regard. They reveal our values and the hierarchical ways we structure human-centric spaces, including how we marginalize certain groups and reinforce elitism.

These "Landscape scars" become narratives of the past and present. Narratives that may be solemn and full of toil while also representing the places were communities built resilience together. However, they can also become beacons of hope for the future, rather than indicators of a continually unchanging story and deteriorating space. There are two primary ways I can envision this happening. Firstly, by re-thinking ideas of urban decay, abandonment, and the unattractive. Secondly, by considering what aesthetic politicization can mean for these spaces.

These ideas require a significant amount of space and dedication and can be read in the next part of this blog series.

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Next part here

Commentary inspired from Introduction of Post-Industrial Urban Greenspace Ecology, Aesthetics and Justice by Jennifer Foster (2023).