ABSTRACT
In 1994, a 400-year-old meadow was about to be replaced by a large-scale urban development. Acres of socially and ecologically disconnected land have been turned into ecologically functional ‘learning zones’ filled with native plants, flowers, vegetables, organic fruit trees, and perhaps most importantly, with local schoolchildren, parents, and political officials. In the Western world, the academic fields of ecopsychology, deep ecology, traditional ecological knowledge, and some branches of physics, are also striking similar chords both in their philosophy and in clinical, or real world, practice. In a small empty lot in a low-income neighborhood of Osaka, tucked between century-old homes, warehouses, and small factories is the pint-sized Branch Pocket Farm. Inspired by the Pocket Parks of Patrick Geddes and initiated by two eco-artists – himself and partner Suhee Kang – the garden exists to help visitors cultivate relationships between them and the plants and living things in the soil.
