<b>From Green to Brown Landscapes—and Back Again: Urban Agriculture, Ecology and Hae-jun Lee’s <i>Cast Away on the Moon</i></b> // De paisajes verdes a marrones—y de vuelta: Agricultura urbana, ecología y <i>Cast Away on the Moon</i> de Hae-jun Lee

Authors

  • Christopher Martin Schliephake University of Augsburg

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37536/ECOZONA.2016.7.2.858

Keywords:

Urban ecology, agriculture, farming, ecomedia, storytelling // Ecología urbana, agricultura, cultivo, medios de comunicación ecologistas, narración

Abstract

      My essay looks at contemporary developments in urbanism that re-negotiate the place of nature in our cities. Looking at the example of bottom-up and top-down models of urban agriculture, two alternative approaches to urban systems will be presented which try to re-embed them in the natural-material cycles of life. Firstly, the changes that have occurred in our urban landscapes (and our cultural images of them) since the age of Industrialization will be discussed to uncover the socio-historical dimension of the subject. The second part will analyze the cultural urban ecology invoked in South Korean director Hae-jun Lee’s film Cast Away on the Moon (2009). As I want to show, the film imaginatively deals with these issues and invites a re-consideration of our urban lifestyles before the background of the question what place nature has in our cities and in how far working with the soil can lead to regeneration.


Resumen

      Mi ensayo contempla los desarrollos contemporáneos en urbanismo que renegocian el lugar de la naturaleza en nuestras ciudades. Observando el ejemplo de los modelos ascendentes y descendentes de la agricultura urbana, se presentan dos enfoques alternativos a los sistemas urbanos que tratan de incorporarlos en los ciclos de vida naturales-materiales. En primer lugar, se debaten los cambios que han ocurrido en nuestro paisajes urbanos (y nuestras imágenes culturales de estos) desde la época de la industrialización, para descubrir la dimensión socio-histórica del asunto. La segunda parte analiza la ecología urbana cultural invocada en la película del director surcoreano Hae-jun Lee Cast Away on the Moon (2009). Tal y como muestro, la película trata estos temas de forma imaginativa e invita a reconsiderar nuestros estilos de vida urbanos ante el trasfondo de la pregunta de qué lugar ocupa la naturaleza en nuestra ciudades y en cuánto puede llevar a la regeneración trabajar con el suelo.

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Author Biography

Christopher Martin Schliephake, University of Augsburg

Christopher Schliephake is a historian and ecocritic at the University of Augsburg, who specializes in the fields of cultural ecology, cultural memory studies, and classical reception studies. His publications include Urban Ecologies. City Space, Material Agency, and Environmental Politics in Contemporary Culture, published in the Ecocritical Theory and Practice Series by Lexington Books, as well as a number of scholarly articles ranging from the interplay of memory and place over the New Materialisms to the reception of the Classical Tradition by African American and Caribbean authors.

contact info: christopher.schliephake@phil.uni-augsburg.de

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Published

2016-10-25

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2016): Urban Ecologies

Section

Articles: Urban Ecologies

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