Contested Ecologies

by Clemens Hufeld

Supervisor: Dr Gesa Lüdecke

Contested Ecologies: Munich is a project that tries to shed new light on parts of Munich. If you've ever walked down the city's streets and felt like there must be more of a story behind the building facades, this story map is for you. This project is a collection of sites around the city that tell a story of social, political, and/or environmental conflict. Starting from the airport in the north, through the city's heart in the Glockenbachviertel to the eastern bounds in the Ebersberger Forst, there are many instances of discontent among Munich's citizens. Each site is illustrated with pictures and a text, explaining the contested issue faced by inhabitants.

For example, the Schlachthof München is located just south of the city center, within minutes of the location of the Oktoberfest. In this location, cows and pigs are transformed to beef and pork on a daily basis, along with all accompanying smells and sights. It has been reduced steadily in size and there are now discussions on whether the location in the city is still appropriate and what shall happen with the new space.

The initial idea for this project came from Prof. Rob Gioielli, a second-time Rachel Carson Center fellow. I approached him about taking part in the project and was interested immediately. Finding out more about the city I am living in was a fulfilling and challenging experience at the same time. With a background in law and linguistics, this type of research was exciting to me and perhaps a bit frustrating. Since each story can only portray a small snapshot, the bigger picture remains unseen. The environmental history of Munich has yet to be told.

This was, however, also the main challenge of this project: its scope. There were many more sites to chose from than could be included. For each interesting story that made it into the storymap, many more remain untold and even more are yet to be discovered. If you have a site that you think should be included in such a map, please do not hesitate to write an email to Rob or me.

To see the full project, please visit https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/dfa1ad422e8e49cf8293a7d0082d5d81
or read more about it here http://www.en.envstudies.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/student-broadcasts/final-projects/index.html.