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What
is Wilderness?
There is much disagreement over what constitutes a wilderness it is very much a cultural concept, there are two main schools of thought:
However this legal definition has its grounding
in the opinions of past scientists and academics, this too will be marginally
subjective.
The perspective of what is a wilderness environment is partially based upon where we have grown up. The Yorkshire Dales to the left may be viewed as wild be a typical urban inhabitant but not by a well accomplished traveller.
It is the wilderness as a quality that attracts people to more exotic locations, but ironically their very presence demeans that which attracted them in the first place.
As is clearly shown by this footpath running
along side a creek in the Rocky Mountains.
This is the basis of thought behind:
That there is a continuum of
characteristics that constitutes how wild a location is, from the totally
modified landscape of an inner city area to the peaks in the Arctic for
example.
However the problems arise from the definition
of wilderness itself which has been stated above as extremely subjective.
The following ideas should be considered:
The
most important factors to consider:
We devised a survey based upon some of the issue that we felt were related to the issue of wilderness in urban areas. The questions were opinion based and were designed to reveal whether or not certain aspects of wilderness environments could be applied to urban areas, cities and towns. We asked a relatively small sample of 50 people to complete our questionnaire. The results are shown in the graphs below.
The results show that many of the criteria which define wilderness areas can be applied to urban areas. Despite some obvious management in urban areas and the fact that they are by no means ‘untouched’ by humans, feelings of wildness and isolation could be identified within these areas. The most popular definition for a wilderness environment was shown to be ‘An unspoilt area, untouched by man’ with 46% of respondents choosing this definition. Despite this however, it was also shown that over half of respondents were able to identify an area of natural beauty in and urban area and also 68% of respondents agreed that parks could be viewed as wild. These results show that although urban areas clearly have had major human impacts and influence, they are still able to achieve some level of wild state and display characteristics which could be defined as 'Wilderness'.
If, as Nash explained, wilderness
can be defined as places in which people call wilderness, then surely it
can be argued that just about anywhere can be wilderness.
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Does urban wilderness exist?
Examples of wilderness within urban areas:
PARKS & WOODLAND AREAS
These environments are sometimes thought to be natural, or at least appear natural to less informed onlookers. The roads are quiet and usually inaccessible to motorised transport.
People can find solitude
and enjoyment in areas of beauty, but which also offer a vast array of
opportunities for outdoor recreation. Arguably more than more hostile,
remote mountainous areas in that there are fewer restrictions in place.
A visitor can enjoy access to all areas, ball games are permitted, cycling
and pony-trekking are not limited and carrying capacities are rarely regulated.
ABANDONED WASTE LAND
GHOST TOWNS
Eerie atmospheres
surround these now uninhabited areas, making them hostile and barren, but
despite this visitor interest and curiosity is no less intense.
CITIES AT NIGHT
Some may argue that cities are natural, since they are created by man. Architectural designs and urban landscapes may be "aesthetically agreeable" to some but, combined with eyesores and areas of graffiti and crime, regarded as an unwelcoming and hostile environment by others.
Visibility is reduced by buildings and infrastructure, and solitude can be sought at night and in the early hours when the busy cities empty.
The examples suggested above can all be described by terms used to define wilderness, so in effect, without any concrete universally accepted definitions, these environments could equally qualify for wilderness classification, can they not?
Hendee (1990)
states: ‘Wilderness management is complex. When a problem arises, many
solutions might be possible; seldom are there single unequivocal answers
at hand.’ This statement summarises the challenge, which is faced by authorities
when addressing an issue. Instead managers are required to devise and choose
from alternative solutions. It is therefore imperative that the final solution
and decision making rationale produces solutions that are compatible with
the wilderness idea (Hendee, 1990). This particular aspect is incredibly
difficult for managers, particularly when urban wilderness is concerned.
As we have mentioned throughout this study the context of urban wilderness
is heavily dependent upon the individuals perspective. It is therefore
difficult and may indeed be naive to assume that mangers of urban wildernesses
consider the same principles as authorities dealing with management of
the highland, national parks or even isolated areas of the polar regions.
This section will therefore underline some of the principles highlighted by Hendee (1990) – that may assist managers to make decisions with a high degree of consistency. Hendee (1990) suggests that these principles offer perspectives on the nature of the wilderness resource, its use and its place in the spectrum of land uses.
Principle 1: Manage wilderness as one extreme on the environmental modification spectrum.
Principle 2: Manage wilderness as a composite resource, not as separate parts.
Principle 3:Manage wilderness and sites within, under non-degradation concept.
Principle 4: Manage human influences, a key to wilderness protection.
Principle 5: Manage wilderness to produce human values and benefits.
Principle 6: Favour wilderness-dependent activities.
Principle 7: Guide management with written plans that state objectives for specific areas.
Principle 8: Set carrying capacities as necessary to prevent unnatural change.
Principle 9: Focus management on threatened sites and damaging activities.
Principle 10: Apply only the minimum regulation or tools necessary to achieve wilderness area objectives.
Principle 11: Involve the public as a key to long-term wilderness management.
Principle 12: Monitor wilderness conditions and experience opportunities as a key to long-term wilderness.
Principle 13: Manage wilderness in co-ordination with management of adjacent lands.
Ultimately, these principles by themselves, do not ensure quality wilderness management, but they do provide basic concepts to guide that management. At the very least they do provide a basis for reviewing and evaluating solutions to problems (Hendee, 1990). However, it first needs to be recognised that the urban area under management does provide a wilderness for certain individuals. Thus the basic concepts provided by these principles should be considered when managing specific urban locations.
Example
1: The creation of an urban wilderness
There are many different ways in which urban wilderness it is possible to try and recreate urban wilderness. One example of how it can be attempted is the example of the Leslie Street Spit.
The Leslie Street Spit is a man-made
peninsula (or "Spit"), which extends 5 kilometres into Lake Ontario from
the base of Leslie Street, in Toronto's East end.
The Toronto Harbour Commissioners (THC), a federally chartered body, began construction of the Spit in the late 1950's with the aim of trying to recreate some urban wilderness. Over the years, the Spit has become a significant urban wilderness on Toronto's shoreline. The raw site has become well-vegetated through seeds in the fill, washed ashore, airborne and bird-borne. The protected Outer Harbour peninsulas, with their sandy soils, now host a tall cottonwood and poplar forest, while the wave-washed heavy rubble areas of the endikement and armouring have been far slower to vegetate. Botanically, the Spit has become an outdoor classroom demonstrating pioneer plant communities and their succession.
The Leslie Street Spit has also become well-known for its importance for migratory birds. Over 290 species have been observed, 45 of which are known to breed. As the Spit became more vegetated and started to change from the lifeless pile of rubble to one with a wide variety of life, more and more people became fond of it as a place to get away from it all right at the centre of the city.
However, the managemnet of the spit has
caused much controversy since it was built. In order to try to manage this
urban wilderness sustainably, a citizen's advocacy group called "Friends
of the Spit" was formed in the early 1960's.
During the late 1970's the Ontario
Government determined that the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation
Authority (MTRCA) was the appropriate body to develop the Spit as a public
park. It was assumed that the planning of the Spit would produce a multi-use
park sanctioned by a public participation process. The MTRCA was putting
forward a $22 million Aquatic Park, which included a hotel, an amphitheatre,
government docks, private yacht clubs, parking for 2,000 cars, a water
skiing school, camping and many other amusement facilities.
By the end of January 1978, the steering committee of Friends of the Spit had prepared a brief to the MTRCA, calling for the abandonment of the proposed plan.
"Our commitment is to 'passive' recreational use of the Spit (e.g. hiking, cycling, jogging, etc.), while the Spit develops naturally into a near wilderness in the heart of the city. The Spit is our last chance for an undeveloped, peaceful area where city-dwellers can be in harmony with nature", FOS stated in its brief.
The FOS were partly successful. Nevertheless from 1985 on, life became frantic for the Friends as threat upon threat hit the Spit. The MTRCA started a five-phase planning exercise, which included a large number of public meetings. Two options were retained for consideration by the MTRCA:
Since then, plans and development ideas for the spit have been never ending. Management of this urban wilderness is in constant competition with development plans. The Spit is land in evolution. In another 20 or 30 years its physical appearance will be much different than it is now. In opposition to one MTRCA senior staffer's desire that he wanted to go down to the park and see it "finished", Friends of the Spit hope that the park and its natural component will be ever-changing and evolving.
Example 2: Preservation of existing urban area
While to many urban areas are not considered to be areas of wilderness, to others it is important that urban environments are managed sustainably in order to preserve the existing environment for future generations who may consider the urban environments today as their wilderness. Various measures can be implemented to try to preserve the current environment, the example of trying to clean up urban transport can be used to illustrate this.
Urban transport contributes considerably to global warming. More than 10% of all carbon dioxide emissions in the EU come from road traffic in urban areas which is also the main source of carbon monoxide and fine particulates in European cities. These emissions pollute the immediate area and pose serious health hazards. The Kyoto protocol calls for an 8% cut in total EU carbon dioxide by 2008–2012 with respect to 1990 levels, but if current trends continue, carbon dioxide from transport will be some 40% higher in 2010 than it was in 1990.Clean Urban Transport
In order to try to maintain areas of urban
wilderness it is necessary to try to control road traffic and reduce pollution
of the atmosphere.
The aim of the Oxford Traffic Strategy
(OTS) is to achieve environmental improvements in Oxford city centre. The
strategy is based on an 18 month study of the city which took place 1992-1993.
Increasingly poor conditions in the city centre led to the necessity to
implement such a scheme. The scheme has various aims including reducing
pollution levels and the number of road accidents occurring.
In the past 10 years progress has been made by the implementation of the strategy. Some of the improvements are listed below:
