Best regards, Andrew Stewart
Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <[email protected]> > Date: February 19, 2021 at 10:58:22 AM EST > To: [email protected] > Cc: H-Net Staff <[email protected]> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-Environment]: Alesi on Mathis and Pépy, 'Greening > the City: Nature in French Towns from the 17th Century' > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Charles-François Mathis, Émilie-Anne Pépy. Greening the City: > Nature in French Towns from the 17th Century. Cambridgeshire White > Horse Press, 2020. 340 pp. $95.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-1-912186-13-6. > > Reviewed by Danielle Alesi (University of Nebraska-Lincoln) > Published on H-Environment (February, 2021) > Commissioned by Daniella McCahey > > Greening the City: Nature in French Towns from the 17th Century, by > Charles-François Mathis and Émilie-Anne Pépy, is a fascinating and > comprehensive walk through the changing relationship between France > and its public green spaces. While many of us take for granted the > presence of greenery and "the vegetal" in cities and public places, > Mathis and Pépy show a much more purposeful evolution of integrating > plant life into urban ecosystems, playing their own critical role in > blurring the artificial line between nature and culture in > scholarship. A clear strength of the text is that the authors chose > to begin with the seventeenth century, thereby creating a > comprehensive timeline that truly highlights the ways that green > urban spaces were culturally, socially, and politically constructed. > Further, while the geographical analysis is confined to French > cities, the overall conclusion feels applicable for other places, > encouraging similar inquiries and inviting complementary scholarship. > > _Greening the City_ shows the progression of plant life used to map, > decorate, enhance, and manipulate urban space. The book shows that > the inception of using the vegetal in urban spaces, "greening" the > city, started with purely human-centric motivations and goals. > Interest in nature for nature's sake is only a very recent phenomenon > and still rather niche compared to practices of using plants for > anthropocentric intentions. Starting with the seventeenth century, > and to an extent the eighteenth century as well, situates the book's > argument in time, providing the first moments where, though not > always purposeful or uniform, plant life was incorporated in cities > to address the anxieties brought on by increased urbanization, with > an overwhelming focus on aesthetics and hygiene. Urban green spaces > are thus reflective of a human-driven desire for order, where the > seemingly "wild" elements of nature are curated, manipulated, and > controlled to match aesthetic ideals. As the authors so eloquently > state, "to ask questions about nature _in _the town is basically > asking questions about the nature _of _the town" (p. 11). > > While aesthetics played an important role in enhanced plant life in > urban spaces, this book points out the other key factors at play. By > the eighteenth century, much of the city "greening" came from > investments in public health. Health discourse increased dramatically > by this point, adding to a general push for public gardens, > promenades, and air-purifying trees. As doctors increasingly > prescribed and touted the benefits of mild outdoor activities, > emphasizing the positive effects of fresh air and consistent, light > exercise, interest in urban green space increased accordingly. This > was particularly a preoccupation of the social elites, who had not > only the interest but also the time and resources to invest in health > and hygienic practices. > > Greening urban spaces was intended to foster the physical well-being > of city dwellers and to employ order in response to social anxieties > about race, disease, and poverty. The vegetal was another response to > the perceived problems of urbanization. As the authors point out, > vegetation was employed to "both police and cleanse the urban fabric" > (p. 30). Of course, this entire process was also largely imperial. > The majority of the "vegetal" was imported from foreign places deemed > "exotic" and fashionable, adding to the demonstration of cultural > taste and access elites craved. In the seventeenth and eighteenth > centuries specifically, plants from the Americas were particularly > popular and implemented in French urban gardens at great expense and > effort. In more recent times, however, ecology has played a role in > urban green spaces, with an increased awareness of the importance of > biodiversity and the detriment of invasive species. > > Other fascinating points the book brings to light include the > nineteenth-century use of small, personal gardens, in attics or > terraces, to improve the lives of poor women. The sale of inexpensive > flower seeds encouraged women to green their own homes as a pastime, > reinforcing beauty, health, and parochial values in the urban home. > One cannot help thinking of the vast increase in the popularity of > similar apartment gardens in urban spaces during the 2020 COVID-19 > lockdowns. > > _Greening the City_ includes many more interesting and worthwhile > lines of inquiry, like the overwhelming efforts cities had to employ > to protect and preserve urban green spaces vulnerable to disease, > parasites, or vandalism, or requiring staggering amounts of water and > care to survive. As early as the seventeenth century, for examples, > cities put in place large-scale watering systems in the form of > horse-drawn wagons holding pierced barrels in order to efficiently > spread water. The concern about efficient watering techniques has > only grown more serious over the centuries in the face of increasing > environmental concerns, reinforcing the political nature of urban > greenery that this book highlights. > > Citation: Danielle Alesi. Review of Mathis, Charles-François; Pépy, > Émilie-Anne, _Greening the City: Nature in French Towns from the > 17th Century_. H-Environment, H-Net Reviews. February, 2021. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=55633 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Groups.io Links: You receive all messages sent to this group. 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