Rutherford, J. orcid.org/0000-0001-5779-3185 and Marvin, S. orcid.org/0000-0001-5538-5102 (2024) Climate‐controlled conservation: remaking ‘the botanical metropolis of the world’. Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers. e12701. ISSN 0020-2754
Abstract
This paper examines the understudied relationship between nature conservation and climate control in botanic gardens. Drawing on research conducted at Kew Gardens in West London, we analyse how the relations between climate control, techniques that allow the creation of particular microclimatic conditions in volumetric enclosures, and ex-situ—out of nature—botanical management have changed over time. The paper shows how climate-controlled conservation works through three spatial-technological modes—acclimatisation, climate simulation, and climate security—that reconfigure in-situ and ex-situ relations. These modes increasingly transcend local environmental conditions, creating the possibility of conservation without natural climate. The paper extends existing geographies of climate control by focusing on the role of technology in permitting plant life to be moved between different geographical contexts, in enabling ex-situ and in-situ natures to become increasingly entwined, and in constructing enclosed conditions decoupled from local climate. Secure climate-controlled conservation now strategically transforms ex-situ botanic gardens into the actual sites, and in some cases the last remaining sites, of these natures.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 The Author(s). Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Royal Geographical Society (with The Institute of British Geographers). This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not used for commercial purposes. |
Keywords: | artificial environments; botanic garden; climate control; Kew Gardens; nature conservation; plants |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Faculty of Social Sciences Research Institute The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Social Sciences (Sheffield) > Sheffield Urban Institute |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 05 Aug 2024 15:58 |
Last Modified: | 05 Aug 2024 15:58 |
Status: | Published online |
Publisher: | Wiley |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1111/tran.12701 |
Sustainable Development Goals: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:215711 |