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Urban Nature and Sense of Belonging: Photo-Narrative Exploration of Socio-Spatial Disparities in New York City.

By J. M. Pipitone and S. Jović, published in 2022 in Ecopsychology.

Drawing from a participatory action research (PAR) project in the South Bronx that used photography, writing, and mapping (through photo-geotagging) as diverse platforms for storytelling, this article explores the role that urban nature may play in Bronx Community College students' sense of belonging to their surrounding communities and to New York City in general. 

In bi-weekly workshops over an academic year, seven students (also referred to as participant-researchers) received training in, and engaged with, PAR methodology, photography, and visual analysis. 

Analysis of the ways in which participant-researchers engaged with photographic and narrative processes over time allowed for exploration of master narratives that the students affirmed, objected, or challenged through their storytelling about their own communities. 

One common dichotomy in students' stories was nature and concrete jungle. Through visual and narrative analysis, we interrogated this dichotomy by exploring the ways in which socio-spatial exclusionary practices were enacted in students' narrating about urban nature. The contrasting ways in which the young people positioned urban nature, joined with their perception of themselves and their communities as one side of the two cities, raise questions about the role of nature as yet another vehicle that promotes othering between privileged and underprivileged communities. 

Interpreting our findings through an urban green equity framework, we suggest that to promote equity in multicultural urban settings, it is not enough to increase accessibility to nature. Improving access to urban nature should be joined with initiatives that aim at fostering a sense of community and belonging to these spaces, and to the broader city- and society-wide structures.

Urban Nature and Sense of Belonging: Photo-Narrative Exploration of Socio-Spatial Disparities in New York City

September 11, 2025 • YouthREX

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