Spatializing the Ecological Leviathan: Territorial Strategies and the Production of Regional Natures

This paper explores a dual absence – the absence of the state within contemporary geographical analyses of nature; and the absence of nature within contemporary explorations of state power. We argue that the modern state continues to play a crucial role in framing social interactions with nature, while nature is still vital to states within their realization of different forms of material and ideological power. In order to reconnect analyses of the state and nature, this paper combines work on the production of nature and state strategy with Lefebvre’s recently translated writings on state space and territory. By focusing on the production of territory (or state space), we explore the interaction of the state and nature in the context of the political management of social and ecological space. We unravel the spatial entanglements of the state and nature through an analysis of the British state’s territorial strategies within the West Midlands region. By considering three key historical periods within the history of the West Mid-lands we reveal how the emergence of the regional space called the West Midlands is a product of the ongoing spatial dialectics of state and nature therein

On the History and Potentials of Evolutionary Metaphors in Urban Planning

This article looks at the history of evolutionary thought in urban planning. It classifies the use of evolutionary metaphors in three broad theoretical streams. The first stream of thought considers the existence of vital forces and energy flows (vitalism) in an urban form. The second stream provides a holistic-organic (organicism) perspective to the city. The third stream, contemporarily very popular in social sciences, is based on the natural evolutionary theories of Lamarck and Darwin to look at urban dynamics. It is suggested that the flexible-adaptive and self-regulatory nature of evolutionary metaphors can support a holistic-integrative perspective to urban and regional planning