The Botanical City

Plant life is a subject frequently ignored in the context of urban theory, and the essays in The Botanical City offer a fresh perspective into new ecological forms that continue to emerge in cities across the world. Much like the unique adaptive strategies of city-native animals, urban plants often become distinctively intertwined with their cities’ human infrastructure, and this book explores both the scientific approaches to understanding these new ecologies and attempts on the part of writers and artists to engage with urban flora. Edited by the British cultural geographers Matthew Gandy and Sandra Jasper (and in part the result of their research together at the University of Cambridge) the book comprises ecological reflections on city design, history, art and mapmaking, alongside philosophical excursions on the meaning of urban ecology in the Anthropocene. Case studies include Berlin, London and Lahore.