The return of nature? Negotiating the ‘renaturation’ of the Isar as an envirotechnical landscape
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: How can we trace differing normative values, and especially in alternative imaginaries of environmentally sustainable futures? To address this issue, this article extends the sociotechnical imaginaries framework by providing conceptual tools to understand the underlying rationale of alternative environmental imaginaries-through an envirotechnical analysis. I analyse an urban river restoration project called the Isar-Plan in Munich, Germany, where the notion of 'renaturation' was at the centre a controversy over designs for the project. By positing the river as an envirotechnical landscape, the normative dimensions of nature, science and technology within environmental transformations can be constructively integrated within co-productionist analyses in science and technology studies. The article shows how existing societal values are shaped by prior systems and regimes, constructing local imaginaries of desirable environmental futures. Envirotechnical analyses also increase our ability to identify differing normative values, and could thus be further applied in cases where the normative assumptions behind opaque notions otherwise would be left underexplored.
Source: Social Studies of Science
Author: Daniel Aditya Tjhin
Institution: Uppsala University
Language: English
Subfield: Nature and Landscape Conservation
Field: Environmental Science
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $3,250
OpenAlex ID: W4389951066