urban jungle

July 6, 2006 7:51 AM

the new urban jungle. . . is a growing movement led by cities like San Francisco, New York, and Leiden to restore active and vibrant natural systems in urban areas. Far from the eden-like depictions of nature of yesteryear, i.e. the garden of earthly delights (nonetheless, still attracting some dynamic new christian converts), the movement has morphed into today's backyard and grassroots environmental movement which is more and more a picture of hybridity, compromise, mixed-use, and ultimately, taking nature out of the walled islands of zoos, aquaria, national parks and other thick-walled institutions and offering a different kind of everyday "unmediated" community experience with the new urban wilderness. VIDEO LINK
posted by huckhound (1 comment total)

In San Diego, the downtown has been going through a tremendous transformation since the new ballpark and convention center expansion. The city planners, however, forgot to include any kind of green space. Is it the loss of money from condo development they are worried about, or is it the fear that the homeless might venture back into the green space to reclaim the areas they were "evicted" from by condo/restaurant developers? Homeless in the city would just be unsightly, ya know. Meanwhile, the long-promised downtown library is still up in the air. Condos, restaurants good. Homeless and libraries, bad.
posted by Sir BoBoMonkey Pooflinger Esquire III at 8:33 AM on July 6, 2006 [1 favorite]