Governing agroecological dispositives together.

This contribution seeks to analyse the development of values within two artistic and civic initiatives dedicated to the stewardship of neglected urban wastelands. These initiatives aim to promote biodiversity or agroecological planting practices that support biodiversity, and they rely on two modes of highly local, inclusive governance carried out with local residents.

The talk examines how agroecological and civic values and forms of knowledge are generated or shared, and how they are connected to transformative action. It hypothesises that these initiatives could be relatively easily disseminated across Western cities in order to foster new relational ontologies and ethics that encourage change beyond the initiatives themselves.

The first dispositive is Democracy of Organisms, developed by the group Club Real in Berlin (Germany). It proposes a method for collectively governing an urban wasteland by inviting anyone who wishes, to represent a group of organisms. These representatives put forth actions to be voted on, with the aim of supporting the life of one or several creatures. The artistic group acts as the executive body tasked with carrying out the actions approved through voting.

The second initiative, Cross Fruit, is proposed by the collective Least in Geneva (Switzerland). Over the course of three years, it establishes an orchard with local residents on an abandoned plot of land. The project unfolds in multiple stages designed in collaboration with the arborist artist Thierry Boutonnier, who introduces residents —through various approaches— to tree planting and orchard care.

Both projects foster forms of biological learning that cultivate respect for all forms of life, their interdependencies, and their needs, while also encouraging more human-oriented values such as inclusion, knowledge-sharing, debate and collaborative governance skills. They combine theoretical discussions about plants and agroecological or civic know-how with gestures carried out collectively and with the implementation of the practices tested or the measures adopted. As a result, they generate embodied forms of knowledge —both agroecological and civic.

Beyond the collective experience, long-term implementation (over several years, potentially indefinitely) helps anchor these values and fosters attachment to initiatives that become para-institutions within the city.