Thinking-with-moss: a multi-species approach to participatory processes of city-making

Buck, Hester 2025. Thinking-with-moss: a multi-species approach to participatory processes of city-making. PhD Thesis, Cardiff University. Item availability restricted.

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Abstract

The Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 describes the importance of participatory processes to improve environmental and human health for future generations, through cultural changes (Welsh Government, 2015b). Participatory processes, drawing on the knowledge of residents, highlight social agendas, which can have an immediate and tangible effect (Blundell Jones et al., 2005). This thesis argues that a socially engaged architectural practice can address the interdependence of plants, animals and people by highlighting ecofeminist relationships of more-than-human care. As a PhD-through-practice, it presents the learnings from embedding multispecies approaches to participatory science within an architectural project (Kirksey, 2014, van Dooren, 2014). Collaborative workshops, using moss to understand our shared reliance on air quality, provided tangible, relevant and engaging methods of embedding an environmental agenda within an architectural co-design process, as a relational, feminist spatial practice (Aiken, 2023, Andreasson et al., 2017, Frichot, 2016, Frichot et al., 2017). The research was delivered through three live case studies, thinking-with-moss as a disruption to existing socially-engaged work, as part of the collective, public works. Narrative analysis of this research used an autoethnographic diary, project material and semi-structured interviews (Esin, 2011, Bruce et al., 2016). This highlighted the role of care, as an affecting relational interaction and a practice of close observation in establishing relationships of ethical responsibility with the environment (Bellacasa, 2017). The Breathing Moss workshops provided a focused investigation, within the closed environment of the Grange Pavilion Youth Forum, establishing a reciprocal concern for the entangled interdependence between plants and people. This focus supported the broader, participatory design process of the Play Lanes project, collaboratively learning about the existing natural environment and imagining how it could be changed. Embedding this environmental agenda established resident-led maintenance practices, where leaving existing moss within gardens signalled a cultural shift (Frichot, 2019). Developing a toolkit with the Child Friendly Cardiff team highlighted the relevance of developing participatory approaches to maintenance. Encouraging an environmental cultural shift, through resident-led participation, when considered across departments with multiple agendas remains a challenge for the future.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Date Type:	Completion
Status:	Unpublished
Schools:	Schools > Architecture
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	17 April 2025
Last Modified:	28 Apr 2025 15:28
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/177769

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