Naturalizing the Empire: Urban Nature and Spatial Politics in the Post-Frontier American Landscape

This essay explores the reconfiguration of urban nature in the American post-frontier era, highlighting its role as both a cultural and spatial construct within the framework of imperial politics. In the wake of the frontier’s closure, the United States reimagined its national landscape—not just through territorial expansion, but also through the symbolic reordering of urban natural spaces. By examining the spatial rhetoric of imperialism in the 1893 World Exposition and overseas expansion in the Philippines, the essay demonstrates how urban nature became a critical site for the naturalization of imperial authority. The spatial politics embedded in architectural landscapes and urban construction allowed the urban natural environment to function as both a vehicle for the redistribution of power and a new frontier within imperial discourses. This analysis reveals how cultural practices surrounding urban nature played a crucial role in consolidating power within the geopolitical and cultural landscape of the modern American empire.