Reading the city

As a political movement, environmentalism is often associated with the protection and preservation of pristine and valued ‘rural’ landscapes. However, there is growing realisation of the importance of urban environments in planning a more sustainable future. Cities are becoming (if they are not already) the dominant context for living (Whitehead 2007). This has important implications for teaching about environmental issues, which can seem distant problems to children who inhabit a predominantly urban culture. Children in urban schools need to be supported to consider their own environment as relating to concepts of nature and sustainable living. English teaching can be an important source for such reflection. Brannigan (2002) argues that ‘Literary texts help to give imaginative coherence to the city, to bring the city into consciousness as a navigable, readable space’ (p. 10). Although, as an approach to studying literature, ecocriticism has tended to focus on literature about ‘natural’ landscapes, the representation of urban environments is now emerging as an important focus (Garrard 2004; Bennett and Teague 1999). Literary and cultural texts can support the process of understanding the city as a complex environment linked to nature and to global processes.