Pests in Town - Cockroaches in the Bucharest Urban Imaginary - Ruxandra Paduraru

What are the ‘more-than-human’ experiences of life in a city? While modern urban planning policies focus on the need for green spaces in cities, these are usually controlled environments. However, nature encompasses ecosystems that may include elements often considered disruptive. The creatures we call pests have violated such notions of modernity as long as we have underestimated their disobedience, their relationship to urban politics, and the niche created for them by social inequality. The study of cockroaches offers insights into social dynamics, discourses, and political strategies. Different species of cockroaches, their ecosystems, and their interactions with humans and urban infrastructure co-evolve and mutually influence each other. Cockroaches are integral to broader ecosystems, and their survival and behavior depend not only on self-r ...