L’extension du domaine des herbes hautes : itinéraires croisés dans la gestion des prairies urbaines

• Main Authors: Marine Legrand, Léo Martin
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Éditions en environnement VertigO 2018-12-01
• Series: VertigO
• Subjects: environmental anthropology; ecological landscaping; lawn; meadow; environmental esthetics; rabbit
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/vertigo/25028

In ecologically managed urban parks, professional tensions often occur around the place given to meadows. This article aims at examining the crossing point between the esthetical relations with gardened spaces and the transformation of management practices. It draws on a case study based on two ethnographic studies conducted from 2012 to 2016 : Georges Valbon park, in the northern suburbs of Paris (Seine-Saint-Denis, France) gathers 400 acres of meadows and lawns, pond and woodlands, and is nowadays, a protected area, classified Natura 2000. Here, the ecologisation of urban parks management involves a transformation of the “theatrics” of landscape design, leading to different kinds of frictions. The negotiation of the limits between laws and meadows leans on contrasted opinions about corresponding practices : those who appreciate meadows value an experience based on immersion and movement, seeking moments outside the city. But from the part of some landscape designers and gardeners, letting grow the grass means abandoning control over nature. Here comes the shadow of uncultivated lands, symbol of banality and disappearance of landscape drawing. Keeping a hand on grass growing process involves, then, a complex play with ecological dynamics that goes far beyond plants and landscape closure.