Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia
Urban trees are considered to be essential and integral to urban environments, to contribute to the biodiversity of cities as well as to the well-being of their inhabitants. In addition, urban trees may also serve as living memorials, helping to remember major social eruptions and to cement continui...
| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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University of Tartu Press
2019-08-01
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| Series: | Sign Systems Studies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/15994 |
| _version_ | 1818948625955291136 |
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| author | Riin Magnus Heldur Sander |
| author_facet | Riin Magnus Heldur Sander |
| author_sort | Riin Magnus |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Urban trees are considered to be essential and integral to urban environments, to contribute to the biodiversity of cities as well as to the well-being of their inhabitants. In addition, urban trees may also serve as living memorials, helping to remember major social eruptions and to cement continuity with the past, but also as social disruptors that can induce clashes between different ideals of culture. In this paper, we focus on a specific case, a Ginkgo biloba specimen growing at Süda Street in the centre of Tallinn, in order to demonstrate how the shifts in the meaning attributed to a non-human organism can shape cultural memory and underlie social confrontations. Integrating an ecosemiotic approach to human-non-human interactions with Juri Lotman’s approach to cultural memory and cultural space, we point out how non-human organisms can delimit cultural space at different times and how the ideal of culture is shaped by different ways of incorporating or other species in the human cultural ideal or excluding them from it. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-20T08:49:47Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-49665679d4114f629ca53967660ab19a |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1406-4243 1736-7409 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-20T08:49:47Z |
| publishDate | 2019-08-01 |
| publisher | University of Tartu Press |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Sign Systems Studies |
| spelling | doaj.art-49665679d4114f629ca53967660ab19a2022-12-21T19:46:10ZengUniversity of Tartu PressSign Systems Studies1406-42431736-74092019-08-01471/210.12697/SSS.2019.47.1-2.09Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, EstoniaRiin Magnus0Heldur SanderDepartment of Semiotics University of Tartu Jakobi 2, 51005 TartuUrban trees are considered to be essential and integral to urban environments, to contribute to the biodiversity of cities as well as to the well-being of their inhabitants. In addition, urban trees may also serve as living memorials, helping to remember major social eruptions and to cement continuity with the past, but also as social disruptors that can induce clashes between different ideals of culture. In this paper, we focus on a specific case, a Ginkgo biloba specimen growing at Süda Street in the centre of Tallinn, in order to demonstrate how the shifts in the meaning attributed to a non-human organism can shape cultural memory and underlie social confrontations. Integrating an ecosemiotic approach to human-non-human interactions with Juri Lotman’s approach to cultural memory and cultural space, we point out how non-human organisms can delimit cultural space at different times and how the ideal of culture is shaped by different ways of incorporating or other species in the human cultural ideal or excluding them from it.https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/15994urban greenerycultural memoryhuman-plant interactionsGinkgo bilobacultural space |
| spellingShingle | Riin Magnus Heldur Sander Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia Sign Systems Studies urban greenery cultural memory human-plant interactions Ginkgo biloba cultural space |
| title | Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia |
| title_full | Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia |
| title_fullStr | Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia |
| title_full_unstemmed | Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia |
| title_short | Urban trees as social triggers: The case of the Ginkgo biloba specimen in Tallinn, Estonia |
| title_sort | urban trees as social triggers the case of the ginkgo biloba specimen in tallinn estonia |
| topic | urban greenery cultural memory human-plant interactions Ginkgo biloba cultural space |
| url | https://ojs.utlib.ee/index.php/sss/article/view/15994 |
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