Modern agriculture has allowed us to dismiss the pastoral landscape. Still, the idea of the pastoral lives on, in folklore, tradition and identity. It has been romanticised through history. It has been the allure for urban audiences with no experience of the pre-industrial revolution rural lifestyle. The human condition in the urban no longer relies on the pastoral landscape and processes involved in it for survival or security. Yet the introduction of grazing livestock, particularly sheep is on the rise. Under what conditions are we re-introducing the grazing animal into our urban environments? Is urban pastoralism the way of recohabiting the landscape with the animal and connecting us to the natural process?
Fig. 1: afnewsagency. (2014) Animal farm with Lambs. Available at: https://pixabay.com/photos/ sheep-lambs-market-farm-animal-678196/ (Accessed: 10 April 2021).
Sustainable pastoralism especially in the urban is a complex issue above the scope of this essay. Some benefits of Urban Pastoralism according to GreenSheep.fr have promoted biodiversity, attractiveness to visitors, promoting a trendy and innovative image of the city, economic – the cost is up to a quarter lower compared to traditional mowing, improved wellbeing of residents. (GreenSheep, n.d.) Though important to mention, the benefits of Urban Pastoralism and eco-grazing are not a part of the question. The most daring promise from Urban Pastoralism is the return of nature into the environment. This is particularly interesting in the case of cities, which have historically been a pastoral landscape.
ENVT1104 Contemporary Theories of Landscape
URBAN PASTORALISM
4
For the purpose of this essay, a survival landscape is a landscape that is a key element in the process of survival and ensuring security for a society that inhabits it. In the specific example of pastoralism, such landscapes include pastures, high and low pastures, migration routes and transhumance routes.
Fig. 2: ILC Rangelands Initiative. (2018) Sheep in the northern mountains of Spain bearing up to winter snows. Available at: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ilri/41050913035 (Accessed: 10 April 2021).
Pastoral societies interacted directly with the landscape they inhabited and moved through. This interaction and action of the movement were key to socio-ecological services. Pastoral societies have created an environment that depended on them, and they depended on it, with the grazing animal a keystone in the affair. This production of socio-ecological services has not only provided the resources needed for the survival of pastoral societies but has created a nomadic culture deeply ingrained in the landscape and biocentric identities. The Landscape was enriched by animal’s manure and by the time the herd returned, it provided all necessary nutrients back. The key in the pastoral landscape has been the co-habitation of the animal and the human within the environment.
Lenka Rajmont, BALA Y2, University of Greenwich
Firstly, let us define pastoralism. Pastoralism is a “way of keeping animals such as cattle, sheep, etc. that involves moving them from place to place to find water and food” (Schoof & Luick, 2018) The movement from place to place, being the key phrase in the definition. The said movement to find food has connected pastoral societies, nomadic or transhumanistic to the survival landscape. The food search is what made the landscape survivalist in the first place.
