Conference Agenda

This contribution offers a reflection on the diversity characterising the post-socialist Global East. Specifically, it seeks to discuss the often-overlooked experiences of the Indigenous Peoples in Russia, which can offer insights into the ecological and economic aspects of the region’s past, present and future, as well as invaluable learnings for environmental thought and systemic critique more broadly. Over the past approximately 100 years, many Indigenous communities in the country underwent a transition from traditional land-based economies to the Soviet plan-based economy driven by the ideas of development and modernisation, and eventually to the current-day capitalist economy. These transformations of the economic system affected the relationships of the communities with the land and their values. Indigenous economic scholar Shalene Jobin [2023: 19] argues that the way “we relate to the land has an impact on who we are and the types of responsibilities we claim”.

In this contribution, I would like to reflect on what can be learnt about the interconnections existing between economic practices, ecological values and understandings of the place of the human in the world based on the experiences of Indigenous communities in Russia. Specifically, I will draw on the economic and cultural history of the Ulchi, an Indigenous Nation whose traditional land is located in the Far East of Russia, in the Khabarovsk Krai. Based on literature and in-depth interviews carried out with members of the Ulchi community in 2023–2024, I will explore how the traditional Ulchi worldview, and, particularly, the core ecological values (e.g., the ideas of self-limitation and ecological framings of a good life), transformed and/or persisted under the pressures of the changing economic system. Through the lens of the experience of the Ulchi community, I will also discuss what environmental movements, both in the region and globally, can learn from the Indigenous communities in Russia.

By means of a micro-level study conducted in the arid Western Pamirs of Tajikistan, it will be shown how self-organized management practices, collaborative action, and pragmatic technical solutions fed by local knowledge contribute to addressing the spatiotemporally uneven water supply for irrigation. The findings reveal that local-specific water management and irrigation arrangements prove to be essential not only for local agriculture and food production, but also a means of social organization and a central instrument for the equitable utilization of locally available natural resources, along with balancing interests within the community. The study also shows how collaborative resource use and management contribute to community cohesion and individual survival in a society that is struggling with manifold social and ecological challenges. The empirically based insights contribute to a better understanding of how social and ecological challenges related to societal transitions and global change can be tackled ‘from below.’

The city of Prague today has an unparalleled number of fruit orchards in its territory owned and managed by the city for the benefit of its public, which have been handed down through the many social and political changes of its history. The beauty, productivity and value of these spaces is palpable in their vibrancy and popular usage, maintained as they are by the Department of Environmental Protection according to a clear program and a clear set of perceived sources of value (ecology, recreation, aesthetics, cultural heritage, production). However, due to practical constraints, the city has boundaries to the work it can do to maintain these public goods. Beyond these boundaries, the city department relies on an informal/un-formed network of civil society organizations (CSOs) and private individuals to conduct the remaining work essential to the reproduction of the value of the common goods embodied by its orchards. The city department conducts the foundational ecological work, but relies on CSOs and private individuals to harvest and circulate the fruit, to integrate these places into urban lifeways and civic identity, and so on. Through the coordination of the city, the CSOs and the individuated public, the orchards sustain their value, despite this formal/informal arrangement.

Using the theoretical frameworks of legal-normative pluralism and actor-network theory to analyze ethnographic data collected by the author in support of their Master’s thesis work during the years 2023-2024, this contribution seeks to answer how the multiple stakeholders invested in the many public orchards in the city of Prague co-produce the sustainability of these common goods. How are rights, responsibilities, norms, valuations, and disciplinary practices distributed and performed to ensure the sustainability of these public/common resources? How do actor networks drive transformations in the meanings and management of Prague’s public property?

This paper adapts Petr Jehlička’s concept describing Czech sustainability practices, to an account of how different public and private actors co-produce the productivity and value of these public orchards. Quiet commoning practices emerging in Prague’s public orchards, sustained by a civic-ecological habitus (as in Jehlička’s analyses) and distributed among a receptive actor network, offer an image of democratized agency in the post-socialist urban realm; a model of quiet and sustainable processes which transform public goods into common ones for the common benefit of Prague’s residents; a source of inspiration for ways of organizing resilience despite social disruptions and transformations.

Gardening is integral to urban sustainability, but not all urban gardens receive equal support. Community gardens, often considered more inclusive and efficient sustainable land-use innovations in densifying cities, are frequently prioritized over traditional practices such as allotment gardening. This article uses Prague and Brno, Czechia’s two largest cities, as case studies to introduce the concept of the quiet right to the city, highlighting routine and inconspicuous ways of negotiating quiet sustainability in urban spaces.

Through qualitative content analysis, we explore how municipal actors, gardeners, and activists perceive community and allotment gardening. We compare these perceptions and practices across four dimensions that contribute to both urban sustainability and the right to the city: (1) public access to urban greenery and spatial justice, (2) community building and engagement, (3) food cultivation, and (4) environmental and climate protection.

We argue that worldwide community gardens tend to be preferred by local governments and planners due to their transitory and informal nature, which aligns more closely with capitalist urban agendas. In the Global East, efforts to emulate Western development by replacing traditional gardening practices with community gardens than undermine citizens’ right to the city, urban sustainability, and resilience against future challenges. Amplifying urban sustainability and allotment gardeners’ quiet right to the city requires addressing government biases, fostering alliances between allotment and community gardeners, and supporting initiatives that converge the two gardening practices.