A sociology of vegetal life: rethinking ‘harmony’ and ‘nativism’ in Miyawaki forests

In this essay, I trace the genealogy of the “Miyawaki forest” or “Tiny Forest” concept by unpacking Akira Miyawaki’s treatises on natural vegetation and situating it within Zürich-Montpellier school of phytosociology. Drawing from impulses in more-than-human geography, I study Miyawaki projects that vouch to create fast, ‘self-sustaining’, close-range forests of native tree species in urban lands. By examining the maxims and techniques adopted in the Germanic study of plant communities, I showcase how such conservation ecologies align with functionalist-organicist traditions of the early 20th century. I pay particularly attention to the ecological concept of ‘potential natural vegetation’ (PNV) based on which species selection is carried out in the Miyawaki forest model. By tracing the notion of PNV – from its origin as an empirical phytosociological construct to providing ecological reinforcements of constructing a pure German vegetation during the Nazi regime – the article explains how right-wing ideologies were fueled by organicism in plant thinking. I showcase how such provincial epistemologies continue to pose reverberations onto the ‘nativist’ ethos of greening programs and urban forests today.