This thesis places the values shared by recreational hikers, backpackers, kayakers, and others within the British Columbia Forest Debate in the second half of the twentieth century. Using the 1985-86 Wilderness Advisory Committee as a case study, it argues that the interpretation of the concept of “wilderness” expressed by these outdoor enthusiasts can only be understood through the study of North American consumer culture. They valued “wilderness” as a commodity, not unlike the ways that forest and mining companies did, yet also expressed environmentalist concerns about protecting “wilderness” areas from resource exploitation and overdevelopment. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

(Re-)Searching for the European Roller retraces the working process of Hillside Projects(Jonas Böttern and Emily Mennerdahl), as they set out to investigate the re-introduction of the unusual the European Roller, a bird that hasn’t been nesting in Sweden in fifty years. The essay brings to surface questions regarding the re-introduction of species, the artificial and the natural and the ambiguity of the real. As Hillside Project gathers material and theories about bird migration and bird psychology they start to question the birds need for departure and the strong national desire for its return.

This thesis foregrounds moments from an early childhood centre’s multispecies inquiry to grapple with the question of what pedagogies and practice might need to look and feel like to create the conditions for new ways of thinking and doing with other species in troubling times. Drawing on post-foundational feminist conceptual frameworks, it takes an interdisciplinary approach to challenging dominant narratives about young children’s more-than-human relations in a rapidly changing world. In the first chapter, I discuss tracking with young children as a generative method for cultivating the arts of awareness and opening up our understandings of place relations. In the second chapter, I reconfigure care as a multispecies achievement to explore the question of what it means to care with and not just for the creatures who thrive inside of an early childhood centre’s worm-compost bin. In it, I juxtapose compost inquiry moments with the material consequences of out-of-sight-out-of-mind approaches to managing our untenable food waste in contemporary Canadian society. In the final chapter, I share moments from an early childhood centre’s unexpected encounter with a dying rat to rethink children’s relations with death in an age of accelerated mass extinctions. What does it mean to care with a creature few want to claim, but with whom we are connected in unsettling ways? / Graduate

Avec l’actuelle crise de la biodiversité, nos modes de vie de plus en plus urbains diminuent nos opportunités d’expériences de nature. Cependant, une relation intime avec la nature a de nombreux bénéfices, que ce soit pour le bien être individuel, la santé ou la restauration de l’attention, mais aussi les enjeux environnementaux. De nombreuses recherches ont exploré le degré auquel les citoyens se sentent faire partie du monde naturel, et se sont ainsi intéressées plus récemment à l’importance de reconnecter les citoyens – en particulier urbains – à la nature et aux enjeux de conservation, à travers les expériences de nature. Au travers de ce travail de thèse, nous avons exploré si les zoos pourraient participer à une telle reconnexion. Pour cela, une approche interdisciplinaire a été adoptée, avec des concepts et méthodes issus de la biologie de la conservation, de l’anthropologie, de la psychologie sociale et psychologie de la conservation, de la psycho acoustique, et de l’économie environnementale. Nous avons tout d’abord exploré si les zoos étaient considérés comme des espaces de nature. Puis, nous nous sommes intéressés plus particulièrement à la perception de la nature dans le zoo, d’un point de vue visuel et sonore. L’analyse comparative entre des visiteurs de zoos et des utilisateurs de parcs urbains nous a permis d’explorer l’impact de la visite au zoo sur le sentiment de connexion à la nature et sur les attitudes envers la conservation. Enfin, nous nous sommes intéressés aux comportements pro-conservation au zoo, au travers de l’analyse du choix de l’animal et du montant de la donation chez des participants à un programme de parrainage d’un animal au zoo.Ce travail démontre que même si le zoo est considéré et utilisé comme un espace de nature, il n’affecte pas le sentiment de connexion à la nature des visiteurs. Cependant, en comparaison à une visite d’un parc urbain, la visite au zoo a le potentiel de promouvoir les attitudes envers la conservation, au travers de la connexion à la nature. De plus, même au zoo, si l’accent est largement mis sur les espèces captives, exotiques, les visiteurs semblent aussi percevoir la biodiversité urbaine. Néanmoins, à l’inverse des attitudes pour la conservation, il reste incertain que le zoo promulgue les comportements pro-conservation. Pour conclure, ce projet de thèse a mis en évidence que dans le processus de reconnexion des citoyens à la nature et aux enjeux de conservation, les zoos offrent indubitablement un type d’expérience de nature aux citoyens urbains, qui devrait être pris en considération au même titre que d’autres types d’expériences de nature (e.g. forêts), notamment puisque les zoos sont des institutions qui accueillent une très large et diverse proportion de la population dans le monde. / With the on-going biodiversity crisis, growing urban lifestyles decrease opportunities to experience nature. However, an intimate relationship with nature has various benefits, for individual well-being, health or attention restoration, but also for environmental issues. Much research effort explored the extent to which people feel being part of the natural world, and thus focused more recently on the importance of reconnecting people – especially urban dwellers – with nature and conservation issues, through experiences of nature. In this work, we investigated whether zoos could participate in such reconnection. We used an interdisciplinary approach, with concepts and methods from conservation biology, anthropology, social and conservation psychology, psychoacoustics, and ecological economics. We first explored whether zoos were considered as natural places. Then, we looked more closely at people’s perception of nature at the zoo, from both visual and auditory perspectives. Comparative analysis between zoo visitors and urban park users allowed us investigate the impact of the zoo visit on sense of connection to nature and conservation attitudes. Finally, we focused on pro-conservation behaviors at the zoo through the analysis of animal choice and amount of donations of participants to an animal adoption program at the zoo. This work demonstrates that although the zoo is considered and used as a natural place, it does not affect sense of connection to nature. However, compared to a visit to an urban green park, the zoo visit has the potential to raise conservation attitudes, through connectedness to nature. Additionally, despite an emphasis on captive, exotic species at the zoo, visitors also seemed to perceive urban wildlife. Nevertheless, unlike conservation attitudes, the contribution of the zoo in enhancing pro-conservation behaviors remains doubtful. To conclude, this PhD project highlighted that in the process of reconnecting people to nature and conservation issues, zoos undoubtedly provide one type of experience of nature to urban dwellers, that should be considered along with other types of experiences of nature, e.g. woodlands, especially because zoos are institutions that target a very large and diverse part of the population, worldwide.

This project assesses the impact of traditional Bedouin agricultural gardens on biodiversity within the St Katherine Protectorate, South Sinai, Egypt. The Bedouin harvest rainwater from intermittent flash floods, allowing them to cultivate a wide range of trees and crops throughout the year. Rainwater harvesting techniques such as these can improve crop yields and enhance food security in arid regions, but this is one of the first studies to address the impact upon dependent wildlife. The results showed that the irrigated gardens support a more diverse plant community than the surrounding unmanaged habitat, providing an abundance of floral resources which in-turn enhance pollinator abundance and species richness. The inclusion of a diversity of culturally important minority crops had a dramatic effect upon the structure of plant-pollinator visitation networks, with cultivated plants supplementing the resources provided by wild flowers. The presence of simultaneously flowering crops also had a positive effect upon pollination services to the primary crop (almond), by attracting higher densities of wild pollinators into the gardens and facilitating enhanced fruit set. The higher abundance of resources within the gardens also had a positive impact upon birds in the region, with gardens supporting higher densities and species richness than the unmanaged habitat. Gardens were particularly important for migratory species, providing an important stop-over for numerous small passerines. In conclusion this study provides evidence that irrigated agriculture in arid environments has the potential to increase biodiversity above that found in the un-managed environment. The implications on a local scale are that traditional Bedouin practices can have a positive influence on wildlife within the Protectorate, thus initiatives to fund and support gardeners should be encouraged. On a wider scale the results suggest that rainwater harvesting may provide a sustainable mechanism for increasing food security in arid regions, offering a low-cost strategy for increasing agricultural productivity that does not undermine the biodiversity on which it depends.

Magister Educationis - MEd / This research explores the learning journey that was traveled by the two administrators who joined a non-governmental organisation as novices over ten years ago almost fresh from school and are now regarded as experts in their respective positions. The research attempts to describe the nature of their learning and analyse how they became the knowledgeable in their respective posts.The research is a qualitative study that analyses data obtained through interviewing the key subjects (the administrators) and the chief executive officer (CEO) of the organisation as well as the self narrative as compiled by the administrators.This research questions formalised learning as the only form of acquiring knowledge and accordingly adopted workplace learning as a theoretical framework for the study. Workplace learning stresses that knowledge is not limited to formalised settings such as schools, colleges and universities. Rather, knowledge is also constructed in informal and non-formal settings such as work-places and in families.The study found that the administrators drew on many learning strategies to acquire their knowledge and skills related to administration which includes learning through:·The teachings and support of their supervisors and peers;·Collaboration with peers and working as a team;·Seeking advice from their mentors, coaches and peers; ·Modeling ·Workplace affordances.The study concluded that indeed formalised learning has not been the only form of acquiring knowledge for the subjects but workplace learning has played a vital role in their career development.

Master of Landscape Architecture / Department of Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning / Anne E. Beamish / Landscape architects have an opportunity to design outdoor environments that promote exploration and physical activity for elementary school students in an effort to combat childhood obesity and nature deficit disorder, while reinforcing the importance of reading. By layering themes from classic children’s literature into the landscape surrounding the Andover Public Library, a landscape was designed where children can explore physically and intellectually while being active in the outdoor environment. Research has identified the importance and benefits of outdoor exploration, activity and reading for elementary school students. Interviewing teachers and librarians about classic children’s literature and how they commonly use it helped inform my research efforts in choosing timeless and well-known pieces of children’s literature. Completing a site inventory and analysis of Andover Central Park, which surrounds the Andover Public Library, informed my site design process. The intent of my site design is to explore ways of incorporating children’s literature into a play landscape that provides opportunity for exploration and physical activity in nature.

L’observation des productions actuelles fait apparaitre une tendance à l’hybridation des disciplines. Ce constat touche en particulier un type de pratique design, qui s’oriente de plus en plus vers la conception d’objets en petites séries ou en pièces uniques, interrogeant le rapport de l’usager aux espaces familiers et plus spécifiquement à la sphère intime. Bien que la plupart des designers refusent le rapprochement de leur travail avec les Arts Plastiques, il n’en demeure pas moins que certains d’entre eux adoptent des démarches analogues à celles des plasticiens. La formulation de cette hypothèse interroge la validité des catégories en vigueur et la légitimité des lois qui président à leur constitution. Par ailleurs, la production des designers qui intègrent une démarche similaire à celles des artistes se construit sur un mode évolutif, faisant croître l’objet vers l’installation, une forme de pénétrable que peut expérimenter le spectateur/usager. Il suffit d’examiner les variations d’échelles et la répétition modulaire créant une architecture mouvante chez Ronan et Erwan Bouroullec pour comprendre les glissements opérés entre l’unité et l’environnement qu’elle construit. La manipulation des échelles questionne, au cœur de l’espace même (qu’il s’agisse du cadre institutionnel de l’exposition ou de la sphère personnelle de chaque individu), la classification des objets, ainsi que leur hiérarchisation. Ces problématiques sont propres à un type de pratique, dont la poïétique use du détournement des produits de la nature et, notamment, des trois règnes animal, végétal et minéral. La transposition de pratiques naturalistes visant à établir un dépaysement par l’objet (au sens d’un déplacement hors d’un contexte habituel) découle d’une réflexion autour des modalités de l’hybridation. Ainsi, lorsqu’on se penche sur les textes jalonnant l’histoire naturelle et, en particulier sur ceux traitant des problématiques de classification, d’Aristote à Pline l’Ancien, en passant par la nomenclature de Carl von Linné, on remarque la récurrence (ou « survivance » pour reprendre la formule initiée par Georges Didi-Huberman), d’éléments situés dans l’entre-deux. Ces « types », que nous pouvons qualifier d’« aléatoires » révèlent un déplacement constant de la norme et questionnent la détermination du monstre. À partir de quel moment pouvons-nous juger du caractère anormal de tel élément ? N’existe-t’il pas des objets, qui, tout en présentant tous les « symptômes » du monstre coïncident malgré tout avec les modèles établis ? L’analyse des pratiques actuelles convoquant des démarches de création à la croisée des Arts Plastiques et du design révèle une influence profonde de ce type de fabrique pour un imaginaire scientifique, qui prend sa source dans le theatrum mundi des cabinets de curiosités. D’ailleurs, on observe, depuis le début des années 1990 (et surtout suite à la constitution de la collection d’art contemporain Curios & Mirabilia par Jean-Hubert Martin en 1993, visant à confronter un lieu chargé d’histoire, le château d’Oiron à la production d’artistes divers) une recrudescence des expositions empruntant la forme des cabinets de curiosités, afin de susciter un intérêt renouvelé pour l’objet d’art et en particulier les échos foisonnants entre les artefacts (œuvres et objets d’art, même s’ils prennent l’apparence d’installation) et l’univers poétique de la nature, manifestation viscérale d’un retour aux origines. Ainsi, l’emprunt symbolique de la figure des « zoophytes » ou plantes-animaux, mentionnés dans les traités d’histoire naturelle les plus anciens nous permet d’interroger la transversalité des pratiques artistiques qui cherchent à provoquer un décloisonnement des disciplines, en faisant de l’objet une entité située à la croisée des démarches de création. / The observation of the actual artistic productions shows a trend towards a hybridization of disciplines. This statement concerns particularly a type of design practices which is increasingly shifting towards objects manufactured in small quantity, even in unique pieces questioning the relations between the users and their familiar spaces and more specifically their intimate sphere. Even though most designers reject the comparison of their production with plastic arts, we can see that some of them have adopted approaches similar to those of plasticians. The formulation of this hypothesis brings up the questions of the validity of classifications and the legitimacy of the laws presiding to their constitution. Furthermore, the production of designers who integrate similar approaches to those of artists is built on an evolutive mode, the object being developed towards art installation, a form of penetrability a spectator/user can experience. By examining the scales variations and the modular repetition creating a fluid architecture in Ronan and Erwan Bouroullec design, we can understand the shifts operated between the piece and the environment it builds. Scales manipulation questions at the heart of the space itself the established objects classifications as well as their hierarchization (in domestic space and in exhibitions too).These issues are specific to a type of practice, which the poetic uses, of diverted natural products and especially the three systems : vegetal, animal and mineral. The transposition of naturalistic practices aiming at bringing a change through the object ( in the sense of placing it out of the usual context ) derives from considerations around the processes of hybridization. Thus, when one looks at natural history writings, and, in particular, those of Aristotle, Pliny the Elder or the nomenclature of Carl von Linné, we notice the recurrence ( or” survivance” to use the expression initiated by Georges Didi- Huberman) of elements located in an in-between space. Those types that we can describe as “random practices” reveal a constant displacement of the norms and question the determination of the monster. At which moment, can we designate an element as being abnormal? Aren’t there objects which, while presenting all the characteristics of the monster, coincide nonetheless with established models ? The analysis of actual practices standing at a crossroad between plastic arts and design reveals a profound influence from this type of process for a scientific imaginary inspired by the theatrum mundi of the curiosities cabinets. Moreover, we can observe since the beginning of the 1990ies (in particular, following the constitution of the contemporary art collection “Curios & Mirabilia” by Hubert Martin, aiming at confronting a place charged with history , Oiron Castle, to the production of various artists) a resurgence of exhibitions using curio cabinets forms. The aim is to renew the interest in artifacts and especially the relations of those manufactured objects and the poetic universe of nature, a manifestation of visceral attachment to primitive origins. Thus, the symbolic use of the figure of “zoophytes” or animal-plants, mentioned in the most ancient natural history treaties helps to show the transversality of artistic practices trying to dismantle the partitions between disciplines by placing the object as an entity at the crossroad between the creation processes. Through artists, designers and actors of institutions interviews, we can identify too major types of practices inscribed in a fertile prolongation of nature : a type of art which uses the formal aspects of flora and fauna to create a common vocabulary for art and design, alongside with a type of production transposing natural mechanisms which become creation protocols applied to the conception of objects.

Please read the abstract in the section 00front of this document / Thesis (DPhil)--University of Pretoria, 2007. / Geography, Geoinformatics and Meteorology / DPhil / Unrestricted

Man and nature...captured within a relational existence. Theoretically this document disputes the man-nature-relationship with the emphasis on architectural participation, in an at tempt to redefine their interdependency. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2010. / Architecture / unrestricted