The making of a beach : Ecosystem services as mediator in the Anthropocene

• In the Anthropocene, it becomes problematic to imagine a sustain-able balance between society and the environment. This calls for post-sustainability modes of articulating human/non-human rela-tionships. As an attempt towards an Anthropocenic understanding of society and the environment, we analyse how ecosystem services are mobilised in marine spatial planning in the south of Sweden. The study investigates how ecosystem services are understood and narrated in environmental strategy and interviews with environ-mental planners. We focus on seaweed and sand. These are two kinds of materials and potential resources that materially circulate   Volume2635The making of a beachFilippa SäweJohan HultmanCecilia Fredrikssonacademicquarterresearch from the humanitiesakademisk kvarterAAUand force together society and the environment in planning dis-course and practice. Our findings show that although ecosystem services are readily understood as an anthropocentric construc-tion, when mobilised in planning to manage an unruly nature they can be re-storied as an ontological mediator in human/non-human relations.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Annan samhällsvetenskap -- Tvärvetenskapliga studier inom samhällsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Other Social Sciences -- Social Sciences Interdisciplinary (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Anthropocene

ecosystem services

environmental plan-ning

post-sustainability

ontology

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

art (ämneskategori)