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{"id":60174,"date":"2026-01-12T23:05:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-13T04:05:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/?p=60174"},"modified":"2026-01-12T23:22:01","modified_gmt":"2026-01-13T04:22:01","slug":"hopes-for-my-hometown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/2026\/01\/12\/hopes-for-my-hometown\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopes for My Hometown"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote\"><blockquote>Perhaps \u201cWhy not here\u201d is the question we should all be asking as we re-imagine urban nature in the places we love. As we contemplate a greener urban future, our cities needn\u2019t be constrained to the mythologies that have characterized their past.<\/blockquote><\/figure>\n<p>\u201cCities have mythologies\u201d, a colleague mentions offhandedly.<\/p>\n<p>There are the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/2018\/02\/20\/smart-cities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>smart cities<\/em><\/a>, turning to technologies to improve essential services and respond to challenges. The <em>global cities<\/em> serve as pivotal nodes in economic networks. There are cities that view themselves as <em>superior<\/em> \u2015 the ones that nobody wants to leave, but that can overlook their own problems, because \u201cthat could never happen <em>here<\/em>\u201d. There\u2019s the scrappy, grassroots urbanism of my own adopted city of Montreal, with its <a href=\"https:\/\/cultmtl.com\/2021\/07\/in-praise-of-public-urban-green-spaces-in-montreal-planners\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">preponderance of small public spaces and local greening projects<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re having this conversation in Windsor, Ontario, Canada\u2019s southernmost city. And maybe it\u2019s Windsor (the \u201cAutomotive capital of Canada\u201d)\u2019s gritty, blue-collar mythology that led so many of my fellow Windsorites to question my choice to leave and study ecology almost 2 decades ago. \u201cThe environment? Really? Not a lot of jobs for that down here,\u201d was a common refrain during visits home, my first few years of university. (I was studying in nearby Guelph, and squarely in line with <em>that <\/em>city\u2019s \u201chippy\u201d mythology, I had arrived a med-school hopeful, and emerged a few months later as a vegetarian, buy-nothing-day-organizing, environmental biology student). A historically significant hub for the car industry with a rich industrial and manufacturing heritage, Windsor isn\u2019t necessarily a sought-after destination for environmentalists. Indeed, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/windsor\/windsor-essex-environment-trees-forest-green-space-1.6965836\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Windsor region<\/a> consistently scores near the bottom of the country in measures such as tree cover and access to nature, feeding the well-meaning concern that my chosen degree wasn\u2019t exactly opening a lot of pathways back home.<\/p>\n<p>To my detractors\u2019 credit, I never did move back after my decision to leave 18 years ago; I am happily settled into a career as an urban ecology professor in Montreal. A choice, however, that has more to do with the vagrancies of the academic job market than either Windsor or Montreal per se. And on this recent visit to my southern Ontario hometown, I was thrilled to discover that the narrative is changing\u2026 I think\u2026 I hope. The Windsor mythology I grew up with seems to be fraying, just ever so slightly, at the seams.<\/p>\n<p>Or maybe it\u2019s me who\u2019s changed, and years of studying the nature of cities have simply allowed me to look at this one with new eyes.<\/p>\n<p>I visit my hometown frequently, but this trip was my first in a professional capacity \u2015 at least since I worked here as a summer research assistant at 20 years old (a job involving a lot of processing of fish samples in a basement lab\u2026 which surprisingly was still not enough to turn me off of my environmental trajectory). I\u2019m here on a brief stop during a year of research leave, visiting the <a href=\"https:\/\/windsorlawcities.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Windsor Law Centre for Cities (C4C)<\/a> and colleagues from the University of Windsor\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwnuph.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Urban Parks Hub<\/a>. It\u2019s over lunch at the C4C that we discuss mythologies \u2015 part of a wide-ranging conversation around housing, nature, and the <a href=\"https:\/\/housingmatters.urban.org\/articles\/small-midsize-legacy-cities-pursue-green-and-sustainable-innovations\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">importance of mid-sized cities<\/a> for moving the needle forward on urban sustainability.<\/p>\n<p>Windsor\u2019s mythology has certainly never revolved around nature, evidenced by the lack of green space for a city located in one of Canada\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/inthezonegardens.ca\/ontario\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">biodiversity hotspots<\/a>. But coming back here wearing my urban ecology hat, I can\u2019t help but wonder <em>why<\/em> that is. Because amidst the roads with too many lanes \u2015 I borrowed my dad\u2019s car to drive to that university lunch on an 8-lane \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.strongtowns.org\/journal\/2018-3-1-whats-a-stroad-and-why-does-it-matter\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stroad<\/a>&#8221; \u2015 and the sprawling new housing developments popping up in former agricultural fields, I\u2019m struck by the incredible natural gems hidden throughout this southern Ontario border town. The Windsor-Essex region is one of North America\u2019s best bird-watching locations and is home to stunning monarch butterfly migrations. It\u2019s situated in the increasingly rare and incredibly beautiful Carolinian forest region. Why isn\u2019t the local nature more central to the city\u2019s vision of itself?<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Monarch Migration at Point Pelee\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PJ6SSI5cRag?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_60177\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60177\" style=\"width: 604px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-60177\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5251-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"A photograph of a vibrant outdoor mural depicting several orange monarch butterflies flying over a city skyline with a river and bridge under a swirling blue sky. The mural features bold colors, dynamic brush strokes, and includes a signature or text at the bottom right corner.\" width=\"604\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5251-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5251-747x560.jpg 747w, https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5251-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5251-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-60177\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">A mural in downtown Windsor, Ontario depicts the monarch butterflies that famously migrate through the region each fall. Photo: Carly Ziter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Consider the Ojibway Prairie Complex. As I\u2019m guided through a remnant patch of tallgrass prairie with my friend and colleague Catherine Febria (of the <a href=\"https:\/\/healthyheadwaterslab.ca\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Healthy Headwaters Lab<\/a>), I can\u2019t help but marvel at this expanse of late-fall goldenrod, punctuated by scattered oak trees in the adjacent savanna. These plants grow precisely where their ancestors have always lived. There used to be a <a href=\"https:\/\/tallgrassontario.org\/wp-site\/grassland-remnants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">million square km of tallgrass<\/a> in North America. What we\u2019re left with now is a small fraction of one percent. I often attribute my personal love of prairies to my time in Madison, Wisconsin, during graduate school \u2015 a city whose own mythology includes a strong ethic of prairie conservation \u2015 or to summer days in Saskatchewan visiting my in-laws. As the late-morning light streams through the orange-brown leaves of Ojibway\u2019s oak trees, I\u2019m not sure how I\u2019ve largely overlooked that some of Canada\u2019s most important prairie sites are right here in Windsor, just a few km from my childhood home.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_60178\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-60178\" style=\"width: 604px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-60178\" src=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5271-2-1-scaled.jpg\" alt=\"Photograph of a sunlit forest scene during autumn, showing trees with green, yellow, and orange leaves. Sunlight filters through branches, casting shadows on a grassy and leafy forest floor.\" width=\"604\" height=\"453\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5271-2-1-scaled.jpg 2560w, https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5271-2-1-747x560.jpg 747w, https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5271-2-1-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/IMG_5271-2-1-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 604px) 100vw, 604px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-60178\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The edge of a tallgrass prairie remnant in Ojibway Nature Park (Windsor, Ontario). Photo: Carly Ziter<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>This site \u2015 part of the land hopefully slated to become one of Canada\u2019s inaugural <a href=\"https:\/\/thenarwhal.ca\/windsor-ojibway-national-urban-park\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Urban Parks<\/a> \u2015 is home to <a href=\"https:\/\/wildlifepreservation.ca\/blog\/ojibway-prairie-celebrates-national-distinction\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">plants and animals<\/a> no longer found anywhere else in the country. It is also a place of deep history for many communities in the region and has been heralded as a potential \u201cspringboard for Indigenous-led conservation, and the poster park for sustainable development against all odds\u201d. What better place to achieve the nascent <a href=\"https:\/\/parks.canada.ca\/pun-nup\/politique-policy\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">National Urban Park<\/a> policy goals of furthering connection to nature, conservation, and reconciliation?<\/p>\n<p>As I reflect on the nature still left in this city, I also can\u2019t help but also think about the <em>need<\/em> for this nature in a city that already experiences 20 days per year over 30\u00b0C and is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbc.ca\/news\/canada\/windsor\/windsor-city-heat-report-1.6427236\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">barreling towards 80 such days in my lifetime<\/a>. A city subject to the same inequities with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/roots-of-cool\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">respect to trees and shade<\/a> that we see in cities globally. I see this sentiment that nature must be protected reflected back to me the next morning from an article in the local Windsor Star \u2015 \u201cAdvocate seeks renewed action on Ojibway park\u201d \u2015 staring up at me from my parents\u2019 kitchen table.<\/p>\n<p>Will this much-awaited and strongly supported park actually materialize? And can a new National Urban Park help reshape a city\u2019s mythology?<\/p>\n<p>Over the course of my two weeks here, I\u2019m struck by the growing number of people fighting not only for lasting protection of the Ojibway Prairie Complex, but for Windsor\u2019s nature more broadly. I visit the stunning <a href=\"https:\/\/www.uwindsor.ca\/glier\/205\/freshwater-ecology-restoration-centre\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Freshwater Restoration Ecology Centre<\/a> on the shores of the Detroit River, where endangered freshwater fish species are prepared for re-introduction to Windsor\u2019s waterways. As I play outside with my 3-year-old nephew, my brother points out the new sapling outside his house \u2013 planted under the city\u2019s very <a href=\"https:\/\/letstalk.citywindsor.ca\/ufmp\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">first urban forest management plan<\/a>. Following a talk on \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/windsorlawcities.ca\/event\/belonging-in-the-city-repair-resistance-and-reimagination\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><em>Repair, Resistance, and Reimagination of Urban Nature<\/em><\/a>\u201d \u2015 part of the reason I\u2019m back home in the first place \u2015 I hear from citizens who want to revive downtown community gardens. There is a lively discussion on how nature-based solutions can contribute to growing food insecurity. A member of the local Indigenous Youth Circle discusses how to grow an ethos of stewardship for the city\u2019s natural spaces. A student tells me that they\u2019ve never attended a public event like this, but they\u2019re glad that they came. A second student is bursting with enthusiasm to start a restoration program at their local park.<\/p>\n<p>This is feeling very different from the Windsor I knew at their age.<\/p>\n<p>Repair. Resist. Reimagine.<\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s clear to me that while there\u2019s a long way to go, the process of repairing the relationship with nature has already begun in corners of this city, prompted in part by the resistors \u2015 <a href=\"https:\/\/windsorstar.com\/news\/local-news\/really-fantastic-nature-groups-celebrate-making-ojibway-national-urban-park-official\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">critical advocates<\/a> who have never given up on this city\u2019s potential. But what I find myself most drawn to is re-imagining. With a changing climate and ongoing urbanization, the cities of the future will be fundamentally different than today. I strongly believe that the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/2023\/04\/03\/what-futures-for-nature-in-cities\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">stories we tell shape the kinds of futures we can get to<\/a>, and I\u2019m thinking about the kinds of positive nature visions I can tell when I talk about my hometown.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, on our walk through the prairie and along the nearby Turkey Creek, Catherine is thinking about this too. An adult transplant to Windsor, she doesn\u2019t like to perpetuate the typical industrial, auto-centric mythology. She \u2015 correctly, refreshingly \u2015 describes the city instead as a place of innovation. This is a place where people have always rolled up their sleeves to do the hard work that needed to be done. So why shouldn\u2019t this region be a center of environmental solutions?<\/p>\n<p>As we discuss a new vision for the future of Windsor, she takes it a step further than even I\u2019ve imagined. \u201cWhy shouldn\u2019t Huron Church Road be a river again?\u201d, she challenges, referencing one of the many <a href=\"https:\/\/newsinteractives.cbc.ca\/features\/2024\/daylighting-rivers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lost rivers<\/a> in the region, running below parts of a major thoroughfare. \u201cIt might take generations, but we can plant the seed now. They did it in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/2016\/09\/11\/how-did-seouls-cheonggyecheon-river-restoration-get-its-start\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Seoul<\/a>, so why not here?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps \u201cWhy not here\u201d is the question we should all be asking as we re-imagine urban nature in the places we love. As we contemplate a greener urban future, our cities needn\u2019t be constrained to the mythologies that have characterized their past.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Carly Ziter<br \/>\n<\/strong>Montreal<\/p>\n<p>On <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Nature of Cities<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cCities have mythologies\u201d, a colleague mentions offhandedly. There are the smart cities, turning to technologies to improve essential services and respond to challenges. The global cities serve as pivotal nodes in economic networks. There are cities that view themselves as superior \u2015 the ones that nobody wants to leave, but that can overlook their own [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":714,"featured_media":60177,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[273,1103,298,299],"tags":[49,34,409,23,29],"coauthors":[955],"class_list":["post-60174","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essay","category-north-america","category-essay-people-and-communitites","category-essay-place-and-design","tag-communities","tag-experiencing-nature","tag-green-infrastructure","tag-north-america","tag-what-is-urban-nature"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60174","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/714"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60174"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60176,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60174\/revisions\/60176"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60174"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thenatureofcities.com\/TNOC\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=60174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}