Urban Political Ecology of Worth and Value: Enacting Allotments in Media Discourse

Abstract

In this article, we propose to expand the field of urban political ecology (UPE) by analyzing the role of discourse in the production of urban nature. We exemplify our case by analyzing media discourses and exploring discursive modes of justification and hierarchies of worth mobilized in socialist and postsocialist struggles over allotments in what is now the Czech Republic. We unravel particular discursive strategies and arguments used to depoliticize the struggle and justify the abolishment of allotments. Using the example of allotments, we argue that incorporating a rigorous analysis of discourse in the scope and practice of UPE and paying close, explicit attention to how worth and value are mobilized might help us not only to better understand the complex processes of the production of socio-natures in (neoliberal) cities but also to empower UPE scholars with tools to further the fight for more just urban environments.