Streets as new places to bring together both humans and plants: examples from Paris and Montpellier (France)

AbstractGreening public city space is a growing issue in France. With examples drawn from Paris and Montpellier, this article seeks to understand what happens when city-dwellers green the public space outside their door and when policies encourage spontaneous flora on the street. Plants were already part of ancient cities and have been a tool for urban planning since the nineteenth century leading to the development of public green spaces and street-tree planting. Urban ecology sparked an interest for spontaneous flora in the 1980s. Public policies concerning water, climate, and biodiversity have been trying to take this unbidden vegetation into consideration since the beginning of this century. Besides, the social sciences have shown that city-dwellers are interested in plants to embellish their balcony, and in city gardens and parks. We tried to find out if this vegetation can be more than just a tool to plan, to green, to bring biodiversity, and to beautify urban space. We argue that letting planted and unbidden flora colonize sidewalks and allowing people to act directly on it brings residents and plants to co-inhabit and co-domesticate the streets, and challenges the timelessness of a city by introducing a life cycle.Las calles como nuevos lugares para reunir a seres humanos y plantas: ejemplos de París y Montpellier (Francia)Reverdecer los espacios públicos en la ciudad es un problema creciente en Francia. Con ejemplos extraídos de París y Montpellier, este artículo trata de comprender lo que sucede cuando los habitantes de la ciudad crean un espacio verde fuera de su puerta y cuando las políticas estimulan la flora espontánea en la calle. Las plantas ya formaban parte de las ciudades antiguas y han sido una herramienta para la planificación urbana desde el siglo XIX dando lugar al desarrollo de espacios verdes públicos y a la plantación de árboles en la calle. La ecología urbana desató un interés por la flora espontánea en los años ochenta. Las políticas públicas relacionadas con el agua, el clima y la biodiversidad han estado tratando de tomar en cuenta a esta vegetación espontánea desde el comienzo de este siglo. Además, las ciencias sociales han demostrado que los habitantes de la ciudad están interesados en las plantas para embellecer su balcón, y en jardines y parques. Se trató de averiguar si este tipo de vegetación puede ser algo más que una herramienta para planificar, para crear un espacio verde, para traer la biodiversidad y para embellecer el espacio urbano. Se argumenta que dejar que la flora plantada y espontánea colonice aceras y permitir a la gente actuar directamente sobre ella hace que residentes y plantas cohabiten y co-domestiquen a las calles, y desafía a la intemporalidad de una ciudad mediante la introducción de un ciclo de vida.La rue comme nouvel endroit où réunir humains et plantes à la fois: exemples de Paris et Montpellier (France)Ajouter de la verdure dans les lieux publics des villes est un sujet qui prend de l'ampleur en France. Avec des exemples tirés de Paris et de Montpellier, cet article cherche à comprendre ce qui se passe quand les habitants des villes ajoutent de la verdure à leurs portes et quand les politiques encouragent la flore spontanée dans les rues. Les plantes faisaient déjà partie des villes de l'Antiquité et sont un outil d'aménagement urbain depuis le dix-neuvième siècle, ce qui a entraîné le développement d'espaces verts publics et la plantation d'arbres dans les rues. L'écologie urbaine a provoqué un intérêt pour la flore spontanée dans les années 80. Les politiques publiques concernant l'eau, le climat et la biodiversité tentent de prendre cette végétation spontanée en considération depuis le début du siècle. D'ailleurs, les sciences sociales ont montré que les habitants des villes s'intéressent aux plantes pour embellir leurs balcons ainsi qu'aux jardins et parcs. Nous avons essayé de déterminer si cette végétation peut être plus qu'un outil d'aménagement, de verdure, de biodiversité et d'embellissement pour l'espace urbain. Nous soutenons que laisser la flore plantée et spontanée coloniser les trottoirs et laisser la possibilité aux gens d'agir directement sur cette flore permet aux résidents et aux plantes de cohabiter et de co-domestiquer la rue et remet en cause l'intemporalité d'une ville en y introduisant un cycle de vie.Keywords:: city greeningstreet tree gardeningunbidden/spontaneous floraurban florastreetsFranceMots-clefs:: reverdecimiento de la ciudadjardinería de arboles en la calleflora espontáneaflora urbanacallesFranciaPalabras claves:: verdissement de la villejardinage d'arbres de villeflore spontanéeflore urbaineruesFrance AcknowledgementsWe gratefully thank those who accepted to share their practices and knowledge and give us the possibility to carry out this research, to the three anonymous referees for very helpful comments, criticisms, and encouragement in response to earlier drafts and to the editorial board.Notes1. However, some authors like Whitehead (Citation2009) point out that large-scale urban greening initiatives often fail in addressing simultaneously questions of social and ecological injustice. For Swyngedouw, it seems unavoidable that ‘in the process, a socio-spatial fabric is produced that privileges some and excludes many, that produces significant socio-environmental injustices […] Urbanizing nature, though generally portrayed as a technological-engineering problem is, in fact, as much a part of the politics of life as any other social process’ (Citation2006: 35).2. City is capitalized when we refer to the management authorities.3. Here the term ‘unbidden flora’ (Whatmore and Hinchliffe Citation2003) is used to designate unwanted plants, a notion which cannot be defined separately from a given context and point of view. For instance, it can designate all types of ‘weeds’ which make streets look unkempt or only invasive species, as opposed to ‘spontaneous flora,’ considered by some ecologists as more desirable for biodiversity.4. In each part of the article, the analysis leans on the combination of data collected through various sources: scientific and institutional literature, newspaper articles, websites, and empirical data such as interviews, observations, informal conversations, participation.5. Paris is now constituted of twenty arrondissements (districts), each with a municipal government.6. This was also implemented in 2014 for projects carried out at a City level. Participatory budgeting is used in various cities and viewed as a way to empower residents, for instance in New-York City: ‘Participatory budgeting is a gateway to greater civic participation and leadership in our communities, encouraging collaboration between residents and local elected officials to find creative solutions to neighborhood needs’ (http://pbnyc.org/ accessed 8 September 2014).7. Recent research has shown that lines of trees, while contributing to lowering the temperature can also maintain polluted air particles in the streets due to a lower air flow. As hedges allow air renewal, they are considered even more efficient than lined trees are in narrow streets (Wania Citation2007).8. A national observatory, founded in 2011 by urban ecologist in France, was named ‘wild things of my street,’ (sauvages de ma rue) (Machon and Motard Citation2011). See also Lizet, Wolf and Celecia (Citation1999).9. City Biodiversity Index http://www.cbd.int/authorities/gettinginvolved/cbi.shtml (accessed 20 May 2014).10.http://parcsinfo.seine-saint-denis.fr/spip.php?rubrique4 (accessed 20 May 2014).11. In its literal meaning of to place out of view. See for example pictures on the website of the passed exhibit ‘la Ville fertile’ http://www.exponaute.com/expositions/585-la-ville-fertile/ (accessed 20 may 2014).12. Actual legislation exists only for commercial or collective uses such as restaurant terraces, open markets, or demonstrations, etc. Some behaviors are also entirely prohibited, like urinating, feeding pigeons, and littering.13. Several interviewees who garden flower boxes or street trees explained spontaneously that when they were young, playing in the street was forbidden by their parents because it was considered, among other things, as the dwelling place of the lower classes. Thus, they felt that, through this act, they could claim a space which had been out of bounds in their childhood.14.http://unionnationaledesmoinsvalides.org/unmv-jugement%20paris.htm (accessed 20 May 2014).15. A team of four workers spends fifteen minutes per tree pit. Several teams have to work at the same time.16. The New York City website includes a section entitled ‘Overgrown Grass or Weeds Complaint,’ as does that of the City of Edmonton, Canada.http://www1.nyc.gov/nyc-resources/service/2166/overgrown-grass-or-weeds-complaint (accessed 20 May 2014). http://www.edmonton.ca/bylaws_licences/bylaws/tree-and-plant-complaints.aspx (accessed 20 May 2014). In Italy, the same type of online system exists, for example the website of the City of Pescara (in the Abruzzo region). The regional newspapers seem to be good complaint relays for weed news in cities and weeding solutions experimented on by city dwellers. http://www.cityrumors.it/pescara/politica/via-monte-camicia-pescara-residenti-tagliano-erbacce-35331.html#.UDJZacjPwfV (accessed 20 May 2014).17. According to Douglas (Citation1966), trash is what is out of place, a definition which seems to be relevant in the context of the street.18. ‘Shared gardens;’ these are the equivalent of community gardens, but the term ‘community’ being often deemed in France as restrictive and leading to exclusion, the emphasis has been put on the idea of shared space and activity (Baudelet, Basset, and Le Roy Citation2008).19.http://www.bacsac.fr/en/press/ (accessed 20 May 2014).20. Since the twentieth arrondissement has the second highest population density (more than 300 inhabitants per hectare (10,000 m2), the average being 250), and a wide cultural diversity (25 per cent of people born outside of France with a foreign nationality, the average in Paris being 20 per cent). The socio-cultural center, Archipelia (which aims at promoting social life in the neighborhood, www.archipelia.org (accessed 20 May 2014), in charge of one ‘bacsac,’ organized children workshops to involve new immigrants and their children in the project, to learn about the various species of birds nesting in the city and to build and install in trees appropriate feeders and nests as well as insect shelters.21. Tree pits do not seem to be an important subject for citizens. In the context of this research 68 passers-by were interviewed (43 in Paris and 25 in Montpellier) about their vision of an ideal street. If 44 per cent spontaneously mentioned an interest in street trees, plants and green spaces (51 per cent after we introduced the topic), none of them referred spontaneously to tree pits. After being asked about them, 25 per cent said they were concerned by street tree pits mainly for negative reasons and looked at them only to avoid walking through them.22. The concept of socio-technical device, as defined by Akrich (Citation1989), points out how technical objects cannot be understood and described separately from their context (or culture) of creation.Additional informationFundingThis work was supported by the French National Agency Research (ANR) sustainable cities program [grant number VD08-321105] and by the regional council of Ile-de-France.

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