Premium
Policing Urban Natures: Conservation Officer Work in O ttawa and T oronto, C anada
Author(s) -
Walby Kevin,
Hurl Chris
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
international journal of urban and regional research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.456
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1468-2427
pISSN - 0309-1317
DOI - 10.1111/1468-2427.12122
Subject(s) - officer , work (physics) , boundary (topology) , political science , geography , sociology , transport engineering , engineering , mathematics , archaeology , mechanical engineering , mathematical analysis
Drawing on the results of interviews and access to information requests, we explore conservation officer work in two urban regions in one C anadian province ( O ntario). Specifically, we examine the work of the federal‐level N ational C apital C ommission ( NCC ) in O ttawa and the provincial‐level T oronto and R egion C onservation A uthority ( TRCA ). Applying J essop, B renner and J ones's model of socio‐spatial relations, we show how nature plays a different role in NCC and TRCA policing depending on the places their conservation officers work in, the kinds of territorial boundary maintenance in which they engage, the scaling of their activities in various jurisdictions, and the policing networks that they are part of. In assessing the place of nature in conservation officers' work, we contribute to debates about how the boundary between nature and the urban is produced through regulatory practices.