Abstract
Recent years have seen an influx of research on the metabolism of urban ecosystems and the related environmental impacts of resource consumption and waste generation of urban life (see: Amenta & van Timmeren, 2018, Song et al, 2018, Shafie, 2013 Dias, 2013). The CENTRINNO research project adopts and builds upon this urban metabolism approach by integrating a historical dimension, including unheard voices and unseen phenomena of the past into the analysis of city ecologies. In CENTRINNO, ecologies are seen as the complex webs of relationships between humans, their environment, and their material cultures that are not ‘given’, but reinforced through cultural practice. Bringing a heritage focus into urban metabolism analysis allows for a deep reflection on how traces of linear metabolisms (with their remnants present in factories, waste, pollution, trauma or nostalgia) continue to shape a site’s ecology until today. CENTRINNO shows that ‘waste’ is a cultural concept: the ‘waste’ of cultural narratives becomes just as reusable as manufacturing waste. Using the Emotion Networking methodology (Dibbits & Willemsen, 2019), the project digs deeper into the histories of the complex set of human and non-human (f)actors who impact their respective urban ecologies. Case studies from Tallinn, Paris, and Blönduós indicate how ethnographic fieldwork and interviews can help to discuss the different perspectives on the interlocking current, past and future urban ecologies. Finally, the authors reflect on how working in the intersection between heritage and urban metabolism allows us to explore new visions and narratives for more sustainable, inclusive, and circular futures.
Presenters
Harry ReddickResearch, Cultural Heritage Research Group, Reinwardt Academy, Netherlands Frenzi Ritter
Researcher, Metabolic Institute, Netherlands Pablo Muñoz
Fundación Educacional Oportunidad, Chile
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
Multiple Legacies: Heritage, Traditions, Local Ecologies, Knowledge, Values, Protection
KEYWORDS
Urban Metabolism, Urban Ecologies, Heritage, Ecology, History, Sustainability, Community, Industry
