Engaging with nature through the dwelling practices in garden landscapes

Abstract

Based on an empirical study in Copenhagen, Denmark, this article investigates whether and how a more diverse nature can be integrated in the dwelling practices of garden owners and users. Is concern for biodiversity part of the engagements inherent in gardening practices? And are such engagements integrated in the embodied competences of garden owners? Drawing on and discussing the theoretical approaches applied in affordance theory, Tim Ingold’s dwelling perspective, relational geography and practice theory, the article analyses the affordances and affects that are maintained in common gardening practices and how these practices sustain or hinder the integration of a broader variety of species in suburban gardens. The study finds that concern for biodiversity and a deeper care for wildlife do not appear to play a significant role in gardening practices. But concern for wildlife and biodiversity does have a latent presence among the affects, conceptions and ideals that are – or potentially could be – enacted in the constitution of gardens landscapes. Based on its empirical findings and theoretical discussions, the article furthermore suggests that we need to consider how secondary experiences and media representations are an integral part of the co-constitution of landscape and dwelling.

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