Urbani izziv Volume 19, No. 2, December 2008
: 129–132
(Thematic articles)
UDK: 712:911.375.1
doi: 10.5379/urbani-izziv-en-2008-19-02-001
Author
Drago KOS
University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences, Ljubljana, Slovenia
drago.kos@fdv.uni-lj.si
Title
Nature in the city or the city in nature?
Abstract
The discussion on urban green spaces opens up the old paradigmatic question on the relationship between the city and nature. At the common sense level, the answers are simple and one-dimensional, but a more elaborate analysis necessarily runs into the archetypical conflict relationship between “nature and culture”. The present text deals with different, more or less successful examples how to reconcile this relationship. In modern societies, people’s dissatisfaction with the mere symbolic presence of nature in the cities has had a substantial impact on suburbanisation processes, which are themselves environmentally rather problematic. The conclusion argues that the question of nature in the city should be replaced by that of the city in nature. Urban green spaces should be treated as part of the ecosystem at the regional level, not as an exclusively internal city problem.
Key Words
nature, green spaces, urban space, postmodern society, reflexivity