Introduction

For centuries, science and technology have envisaged the relationship between humans and nature as unidirectional, nature being the passive protagonist serving as background for human agency. A decade later, more or less unintentionally, the Anthropocene hypothesis dealt a new blow to the notion of pristine, wild or, in general, independent nature. This chapter contributes to the interdisciplinary debate on the Anthropocene by bringing together a group of researchers from the arts, humanities and social sciences around a common case study – gardens – that acts as the starting point for reflecting on the relations between human beings and nature. Hygiene, education and art: Roberto Burle Marx’s 1930s early modern gardens in Brazil” – Aline de Figueiroa Silva approaches the early public gardens designed by the Brazilian landscape architect Roberto Burle Marx in the 1930s, in the city of Recife (Brazil).