Abstrakt v angličtině:
Informed by the concepts of diverse economies (Gibson-Graham/Dombroski 2020), everyday agency (Jokinen 2015, Selimovic 2019) and quiet sustainability (Smith/Jehlička 2013) and inspired by the empirical heterogeneity of alternative agri-food practices in Central and Eastern Europe, my contribution explores everyday configurations of informal care for urban green spaces in Czechia. I draw from ethnographic encounters with urban dwellers who practically engage with green sites in the surroundings of their homes, such as public parks, backyards or green stripes along roads. What links my interlocutors and makes their example important for debates on social change and environmental governance is their pragmatic, hands-on approach to the (green) space that surrounds them and their low level of collective organization. Whereas their actions arguably have rather significant material effects that contribute to creating, preserving and transforming urban green spaces, they present them as unspectacular, self-evident and matters-of-course practices, which are not primarily driven by ecological motivations. They also do not consider themselves part of an initiative or a social movement. I argue for the importance of inconspicuous practices of care and their effects on social and environmental sustainability in urban environments. I further highlight that the call for taking seriously the transformative agency enacted through mundane practices must go along with an extended concept of political participation in CEE and beyond. The study is part of the project “Inconspicuous innovations and resilience in the urban context” (lead: Slavomíra Ferenčuhová) that explores the transformative yet largely overlooked potential of mundane practices in contemporary urban environments.

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