“Ruderal gardens, urban parks, and the aesthetics of nature”
by Jackson Freeman Mumper
Since my arrival in Tbilisi in June, I have become a regular at Mziuri Park in Vake. I go there often to escape the city’s busy streets, meet with a friend, or just sit for a while to rest. Each step I take walking down from the hectic Chavchavadze Avenue into the park, the calmer I feel, as though I’m entering an oasis in a concrete city. I don’t seem to be alone in this either, as every time I go I find the park filled with life. People use the space as a place to meet, to socialize, to recreate, or to relax. Mziuri Park has become an integral part of the neighborhood’s social life.
Spaces like this serve countless purposes for urban residents. Parks and urban greenery help cities with pollution and preserve biodiversity, they encourage recreation, and they have been tied to improved mental and physical health outcomes such as stress reduction and decreased respiratory illness (Sadeghian and Vardanyan 2013). They also serve an important cultural purpose in a city, as a gathering place and a meeting ground. Several times this month I have stumbled across an event or protest at Mziuri Park, and I’ve never seen any of Tbilisi’s parks empty.
Unfortunately, however, these parks are shrinking. As cities grow, there is increased pressure for land to be developed. In Tbilisi’s case, post-Soviet planning has left more power in the hands of private actors, which has allowed more green space to be repurposed to built-up land and parking (Gogishvili 2020). As a result, the amount of park land in Tbilisi has been steadily declining since the 1990s (Kharebava et al. 2022). Even Msizuri Park is not as large as it once was, with new housing development looming over its paths. How then, can the city strengthen its networks of greenery?
I would argue that nature is still flourishing in Tbilisi, just in new ways with untapped potential. In addition to its parks, Tbilisi is home to many abandoned lots and buildings that are flourishing with ecosystems of ruderal vegetation. Ruderal species constitute a unique type of urban wildlife, neither fully natural nor fully cultivated (Del Tredici 2010). Instead, they consist of plants that have grown spontaneously in abandoned or degraded urban land. These plants are generally a mix of native and exotic species, and are naturally equipped to grow in conditions such as poor soil quality, human disturbance, and increased temperatures, allowing them to grow in the lands urban society has forgotten. This gives them an advantage as they require little to no maintenance to grow in the cityscape. Because they are typically in abandoned places, however, they are often outside the public eye, as decaying infrastructure is condemned, avoided, or ignored.
I have visited several ruderal spaces in Tbilisi. They range in size from a simple fig tree growing in a staircase to a large empty lot filled with complex flora and fauna. Ruderal sites are often home to grasses, trees, and even flowers, among trash, litter, and debris. Some host animals like snails, butterflies, and insects. One site that I found even had a small pond with algae growing in it. Many were easy to spot and access, but there are likely many others that are closed off completely from the public.
With this presence of ruderal wildlife, Tbilisi’s past status as a city of gardens might not be in danger after all. Rather, a new ruderal garden aesthetic is emerging. The question, then, is how to define and embrace this aesthetic. Some, such as anthropologist Bettina Stoetzer, have examined the links between ruderal vegetation and social issues such as migration and social inequity (Stoetzer 2018). She examines Berlin through a ruderal lens in order to highlight the empowerment of survival amid ruin, and of finding a space for oneself in the cracks of society. She notes how ruderal vegetation growing in the ruins of the Berlin Wall exemplifies growth amidst decay, and how ruderal gardens now serve as meeting grounds, uniting a once divided city.
In daily life, however, ruderal vegetation is rarely given such significance. Ruderal plants are instead written off as weeds – plants that are growing “where they shouldn’t.” Ruderal vegetation is given little value in terms of what forms of urban nature people think ought to be preserved (Mathey and Rink 2010). In addition, ruderal vegetation is associated with trash, dirt, and danger due to its presence in abandoned structures, which further causes people to be wary of allowing ruderal plants to take hold. More than anything, though, people like to view their cities and nature as two separate entities, and like to imagine they have complete control over what nature enters the urban realm (Gandy 2013). In reality, however, nature and natural processes occur everywhere, urban and rural. Examining how we value certain forms of nature is an important first step in reimagining how it exists in a city. Is a bush growing in a graffitied alley any less worthy of preservation as one in a park or in a forest? Can the bush in the alley not provide the same benefits to the viewer?
I am not in a position to answer these questions from a biological or psychological perspective. But as a user and lover of green space, I think there is opportunity here. Even though I had to be cautious not to step on any sharp objects as I approached, I felt more at ease in a ruderal garden than walking along the adjacent road. The background noise of the city became quieter, and I felt my heart rate decrease. I got to see plants and animals coexisting in unique ways that are difficult to find even in a park, which can be stiflingly maintained. My experience of ruderal nature was no less complete than my experience of nature in Mziuri.
So is it time to schedule our next meetings amidst the wildlife of abandoned lots? Well, not exactly. The difference between a ruderal garden and a park isn’t in its nature, but in its infrastructure and maintenance. Ruderal sites are often littered, unsafe, and odorous, making them unideal for extended stays. In addition, they lack a lot of the infrastructure that makes a park function, such as footpaths, benches, and lighting. In some ways, ruderal spaces are more wild than parks due to their inaccessibility. A park is not wild, but cultivated and constructed to be inviting to people. Grasses are mowed, bushes are trimmed, flowers are watered, and any plants that lack cultural value are removed. It is, after all, a place for people to be a part of their nature. Art installations, cultural events, lighting are all factors that go into this. And in particular, parks with good locations are important as well.
But with enough political will and action, the barriers of entry in ruderal spaces are not impossible to overcome. A good example of this is Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord in Germany. Through most of the 20th century this was the site of a massive ironworks plant until it closed in 1985. Four years later, it fell into the hands of landscape architect Peter Latz, who converted the plant and the ruderal vegetation that had grown in its ruin into a multi-use recreational site and green space. Today, in addition to being a 180 hectare public park, the space hosts markets, guided tours, climbing and diving.
But with enough political will and action, the barriers of entry in ruderal spaces are not impossible to overcome. A good example of this is Landschaftspark Duisburg-Nord in Germany. Through most of the 20th century this was the site of a massive ironworks plant until it closed in 1985. Four years later, it fell into the hands of landscape architect Peter Latz, who converted the plant and the ruderal vegetation that had grown in its ruin into a multi-use recreational site and green space. Today, in addition to being a 180 hectare public park, the space hosts markets, guided tours, climbing and diving.
This project is quite large in scale, but a similar project in Tbilisi wouldn’t need to be as grand to have remarkable impact, and a network of small projects could vastly improve the city’s green infrastructure. In many cases, the only changes needed to the land could be cleaning the site of rubbish, building some trails and benches, adding some lighting, and giving the space a name. Once built, a ruderal park would require even less maintenance than a traditional park, since ruderal species occur spontaneously, and were never cultivated to begin with.
But even without intervention, ruderal spaces have a lot to teach us about the city, its history, and our relationship to nature. Ruderal species have emerged as a passive green network throughout the city, improving air quality, reducing noise pollution, and allowing us to reconnect with the natural world. They are also uniquely wild, in contrast to the intentional design of a park. They demonstrate the interwovenness of society and wilderness, and how attempts to control nature only hide it from sight. Ruderal sites to some may signify a failure to control nature in the urban setting, but upon reexamination, they contain flourishing ecosystems and untapped potential. Working with nature rather than against it could be the solution to not just increase the number of green spaces in the city, but to make the city itself green. Tbilisi is a city of greenery hidden in plain sight
Works Cited:
Del Tredici, Peter. “Spontaneous Urban Vegetation: Reflections of Change in a Globalized
World.” Nature and Culture, vol. 5, no. 3, 2010, doi:https://doi.org/10.3167/nc.2010.050305.
Gandy, Mathew. “Marginalia: Aesthetics, Ecology, and Urban Wastelands.” Nature and Society,
vol. 103, no. 6, 2013, doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/00045608.2013.832105.
Kharebava, Nino, et al. “Cartographic Retrospective of spatial and temporal changes of gardens
and parks in Tbilisi.” EGU General Assembly, 2022, doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu22-9924.
Landschaftspark Duisburd-Nord, www.landschaftspark.de/en/.
Mathey, Juliane, and Dieter Rink. “Urban Wastelands – A Chance for Biodiversity in Cities?
Ecological Aspects, Social Perceptions, and Acceptance of Wilderness by Residents.” Urban Biodiversity and Design, 2010.
Sadeghian, Mohammed, and Zhirayr Vardanyan. “The Benefits of Urban Parks, a Review of
Urban Research.” Novel Applied Sciences, 2013.
Stoetzer, Bettina. “Ruderal Ecologies: Rethinking Nature, Migration, and the Urban Landscape
in Berlin.” Cultural Anthropology, vol. 33, no. 2, 2018, doi:https://doi.org/10.14506/ca33.2.09.