Sowing hopes: types and contexts of agroecological orchards in the West of Montevideo

Abstract

Within the framework of the study on the multi-territorial logics of a contemporary dwelling, we find ourselves involved in the universe of more or less intertwined networks of existing agroecological orchards in the area known as the West of the city and the department of Montevideo more in general. In this paper, we test a possible characterization of different morphological types, in terms of socio-territorial configurations resulting from environmental designs and associative strategies present in cases considered significant for their socio-spatial qualities. In the first place, we make a general introduction presenting the objectives and the framework of activities and then continue with the methodological coordinates and epistemological reflections linked to collaborative experimental ethnographic practice. Then we immerse in five specially selected cases, to lay the groundwork for the discussion on the qualities that define the possible variables to be considered in cartography, always open and in process, of this socio-territorial phenomenon so significant for the local, regional, and international reality. We close with some final considerations about the transformations in the ways of dwelling and the territorialities that this implies, regarding the relationships between environment, city, and territory.