John Dixon Hunt described three “natures”: first (pristine), second (agricultural), and third (ornamental gardens and parks). The notion of a fourth nature—expanded by Ingo Kowarik—refers to novel ecosystems emerging in disturbed sites, especially post-industrial and urban wastelands. These ecologies are not remnants of pristine nature but hybrids, assembling species under new conditions. Kowarik’s studies in post-war Berlin showed that such habitats can be rich in biodiversity and meaningful for urban residents. Yet policy and design often dismiss them as weeds or waste. Fourth nature offers a way to re-value disturbed sites—not as degraded leftovers but as new forms of wilderness. It opens space to rethink conservation, aesthetics, and public engagement in cities under ecological pressure.
When we speak of Nature in cities, the question we want to stress is, is nature in cities natural or in fact an artefact? When we speak of natural processes, they of course take place but apart from spontaneous nature, left to random succession, emerging in spaces that Gilles Clément calls the third landscapes, there […]
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