Let the Trees ‘Talk’: Giving Voice to Nature through an Immersive Experience

Rob Roggema ()
Additional contact information
Rob Roggema: Tecnológico de Monterrey, School of Architecture, Art and Design, Campus Monterrey, Monterrey 64849, Mexico

World, 2024, vol. 5, issue 2, 1-12

Abstract: Current decision-making regarding urban design, architecture, and spatial planning often emphasizes existing power balances, which historically have excluded other humans, such as indigenous people, and nature from conversations and decision-making. The purpose of this study is to explore if and how an empathic experience could give insights into how nature can be given a voice, and, more concretely, how a group of trees on the TEC campus in Monterrey would feel about a sudden change in their direct environment. The methodology is divided into three parts. The first is the explanation of the case study and immersion of the (human) participants in the site. The second stage consists of deep listening and reproducing the imagined expressions of the trees. In the third stage, the participants return from the site, evaluate, and formulate a manifesto. The experience suggests that it is possible to inspire human beings to imagine what trees would have to say if we only imagined their language. It also shows that it is possible to gain access to a formerly hidden environment. The conclusion is that the empathic access to these formerly muted worlds, such as those of nature or socially marginalized peoples, can strengthen our understanding of, and our ability to resolve, the current environmental crisis.

Keywords: nature speaks; immersion; voice to trees; empathic practice; Monterrey (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: G15 G17 G18 L21 L22 L25 L26 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 R51 R52 R58 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/5/2/17/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2673-4060/5/2/17/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jworld:v:5:y:2024:i:2:p:17-324:d:1393381

Access Statistics for this article

World is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Hu

More articles in World from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().