What is Urban Wilderness and how do you envision it? : there are lots of people in urban places. that’s what makes them urban. the wilderness is where there are few or no people, and therefore nature instead. Urban places are awash with commercial messaging, and wilderness areas are devoid of commercial messaging. Urban places have civilization and human-ordered structure, wilderness spaces have organic chaos.
What type of interventions would love to see to help shape Urban Wilderness? We’re interested in both the practical and the fantastically impractical.: To bridge the two seeming opposites, all you have to do is scale down: very small parcels of land in an urban area (such as a crack in a sidewalk that’s growing weeds), is still ‘undeveloped’ and ‘uninabited’ and therfore essentially wild. Such spaces only need a little help to reach their potential for recognizable “wilderness” appeal.
To create a form of ‘urban wilderness’ readily accessible to a truly urbanized population, communication about ‘urban wilderness’ spaces should be commercially messaged.
there should be urban wilderness real-estate agents selling off super small plots of what is generally regarded as negligeable public space to well-meaning urbanites interested in gardening projects, and who don’t want a big commitement of time or money but still want to experience “urban wilderness”. Parcels could be sold affordably as undeveloped land with property improvement provisions included: seeds/seedlings and gardening tools suitable to the super small parcels – like forks and spoons. Sellers would post for sale signs, and have buyers sign sale contracts.
You could even give people like plastic tie-collars (like the ones dogs use) so that then they could just put their face up close to their parcel, block out everything around them, and be “in” their new wilderness.
How would you practically teach and perform such an intervention? (and Would you be interested in leading it?): i would find a crack in the sidewalk, put a lawn chair next to it + a beer, put up a for sale sign, probably plant a plant in it while i wait for it to sell, then sell it, help them plant a plant maybe, then give the new owner my plastic dog collar hoop, and also ask to check out the view with them.
for sale
San Francisco, California, USA
What is Urban Wilderness and how do you envision it? : there are lots of people in urban places. that’s what makes them urban. the wilderness is where there are few or no people, and therefore nature instead. Urban places are awash with commercial messaging, and wilderness areas are devoid of commercial messaging. Urban places have civilization and human-ordered structure, wilderness spaces have organic chaos.
What type of interventions would love to see to help shape Urban Wilderness? We’re interested in both the practical and the fantastically impractical.: To bridge the two seeming opposites, all you have to do is scale down: very small parcels of land in an urban area (such as a crack in a sidewalk that’s growing weeds), is still ‘undeveloped’ and ‘uninabited’ and therfore essentially wild. Such spaces only need a little help to reach their potential for recognizable “wilderness” appeal.
To create a form of ‘urban wilderness’ readily accessible to a truly urbanized population, communication about ‘urban wilderness’ spaces should be commercially messaged.
there should be urban wilderness real-estate agents selling off super small plots of what is generally regarded as negligeable public space to well-meaning urbanites interested in gardening projects, and who don’t want a big commitement of time or money but still want to experience “urban wilderness”. Parcels could be sold affordably as undeveloped land with property improvement provisions included: seeds/seedlings and gardening tools suitable to the super small parcels – like forks and spoons. Sellers would post for sale signs, and have buyers sign sale contracts.
You could even give people like plastic tie-collars (like the ones dogs use) so that then they could just put their face up close to their parcel, block out everything around them, and be “in” their new wilderness.
How would you practically teach and perform such an intervention? (and Would you be interested in leading it?): i would find a crack in the sidewalk, put a lawn chair next to it + a beer, put up a for sale sign, probably plant a plant in it while i wait for it to sell, then sell it, help them plant a plant maybe, then give the new owner my plastic dog collar hoop, and also ask to check out the view with them.
This post was submitted by isellitwild.