NATURICITY: Everyday narratives of urban futures

The Incubator funded project NATURICITY: Everyday narratives of urban futures, aims to work as an interdisciplinary team and contribute to new imaginaries of cities, where nature is viewed as an integral part of environmental, social resilience and social justice, with changing perceptions driving its uptake through culture, markets and policies.

To meet this goal, the project team are conducting explorative, collaborative research, teaching and impact work through two comparative case studies in the Netherlands and Colombia, thus taking into account the diverse imaginaries, narratives, policies and future visions that NBS generate in the global South and North.

To date, the project team have carried out a range of activities to achieve their project goals. This includes but is not limited to the following;

  • Several students have been analysing policy and planning documents, commercial/marketing materials (e.g. ads, websites) and cultural/artistic domain, using physical/cultural materials (e.g. literature, film, popular/folk songs).
  • A research assistant has been hired to organize NATURICITY events.
  • An introductory workshop took place to inform MSc students about the team's research.
  • Two hybrid workshops are being planned (one in the Netherlands and one in Colombia) to gather and collectively interrogate urban nature narratives and imaginaries.
  • An academic publication is planned.
  • The team are developing a Naturicity Field Course among Sustainable Development MSc students, both in the Netherlands (Rotterdam) and Colombia (Cartagena).
  • A reading group about (Non) Fictions of Urban Natures has been started with meetings taking place in March and April.
  • A breakout session workshop was planned with Future Food Hub at the PtS 2023 conference.