That is an incredible presentation. I can't believe there are no comments or discussion in the 8 months since Jennifer put it up there.
I am not getting a very good idea what civic ecology is, though I've been going through the urban threads, and watched Marianne's introduction.
I'd like to understand what civic ecology is.
My first guess is that it's about using
permaculture principles in
city spaces, patterning things within cities to mimic the richness of nature by multiplying the numbers of interconnections. In this TED talk, the presenter points out that in American cities, public spaces to encourage people to come together do not exist.
My second try at a definition is bringing life into the the
concrete cityscape and nurturing it.
This TED talk is vibrant alive and creative. It is about city dwellers taking up the cloaks of autonomy and self direction. The way she describes the apathy of city dwellers, measured by non participation in recent mayoral elections, it's like the people themselves are nonparticipatory, and in a sense "lifeless". The process she is urging is a coming to life of the populace itself.
Being a rural person, who has never loved cities, nor valued what they've created in all the leisure time they have, through the magic of the economic system, it was refreshing to hear her point out that the major challenges the world is facing, pollution, global warming, resource depletion, are all problems created by the existence of cities, and city dwellers' way of life.
So, on the topic of "civic ecology" is the process of city dwellers becoming participatory and becoming self directed, deciding things like "do we want parking lots or schools in this space" part of civic ecology?
Is civic ecology the interactions and interdependency of city dwellers amongst themselves within their city scapes? And in developing civic ecology, are we thinking that city dwellers will become more self sufficient, rely less on the flow of resources into cities, and the flow of trash and effluent out?
Thanks
Thekla
