No longer humans' laboratory, no longer sacred space, Matthias Gross argues that in the context of ecological restoration our physical surroundings must be understood as humans' partner and peer in the project of community-building.

In Inventing Nature Matthias Gross argues - on the basis of his analysis of diverse restoration efforts in North America - that a new understanding of the relationship between human actors and nature is needed. No longer merely a laboratory for scientists, no longer sacred space to be left alone, in the context of ecological restoration physical surroundings must be understood as our partner and peer in the project of community-building. Inventing Nature offers a way past the social constructivist versus realist debate in the environmental social sciences that is both scholarly rigorous and practically engaged.

Nature
20th-century myths of nature
ecological restoration
nature has just begun
society
the science of society and ecology
nature, social science and the laboratory
interactions
nature by public experiment
restoring nature as society's laboratory.