Is messy the new beautiful? Why debates about what nature recovery looks like matter

• Current aspirations for nature recovery to address biodiversity loss and climate change involve changing what landscapes look like
• What is considered neat or messy impacts on action and policy changes
• Nature recovery activities are highly politicised and resisted
• Publicised movements for messier gardens and environments can help shift public opinion to accepting less orderly environments and not see ‘mess’ as equalling neglect

Researchers at the Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery say debates about what nature recovery looks like are vital for tackling biodiversity loss and climate change.

Dr Flurina Wartmann, is a Researcher in Landscape Aesthetics and her study found that ideas about ‘what nature should look like’ may influence decision-making alongside ecological considerations.

Dr Wartmann said: “We need to take aesthetics seriously and engage with aesthetic debates about what a more socially and environmentally just future looks like.”

Dr Wartmann and her colleague Prof Jamie Lorimer, looked at what people considered to be neat or messy, and their attitude towards different styles. They focussed on print and social media, and in particular, visual materials. Their findings show how associated positive and negative environmental aesthetic values shape and constrain nature recovery in Britain.

As part of their study, they looked at the satirical account @ShitLawns on X that ridicules the aesthetics of neatness, and in doing so, re-shapes ideas of what is ‘normal’ and desirable in terms of environmental aesthetics.

Prof Lorimer added: “We also looked at Instagram and analysed content tagged with #messygarden that normalises messier forms of nature through carefully framing and aestheticising gardening practices that construct and celebrate messiness as a form of more responsible, nature-friendly gardening.

“An example of the culmination of aesthetic framing of mess is the prominent Chelsea Flower Show crowning a ‘Rewilded Garden’ as their best show garden. This horticultural show garden both represents the nature recovery aesthetic entering the horticultural mainstream, but also highlights the considerable backlash in traditional and social media that ensued when a broader public was exposed to such ‘messiness’.”

‘A Rewilding Britain Landscape’ won Best Show Garden at the Chelsea Flower Show in 2022. The designers carefully created the garden to resemble a landscape after the reintroduction of beavers. It received both praise and scorn from the public and critics.

Dr Wartmann said: “We analysed what people consider beautiful, and therefore good and desirable, and what is ugly and therefore undesirable for nature recovery. We looked at initiatives such as ‘No Mow May’ that are trying to increase public acceptance of more nature-rich habitats. We found that people posting about #NoMowMay on social media used carefully framed images that highlight mixtures of colourful flowering plants, which also signal the ecological awakening of those who encourage a messier look in their gardens.

“In contrast, such forms of managing nature are met with resistance. Various newspaper articles portrayed the vegetation emerging on road verges after councils stopped weeding as something ugly that must be controlled. Therefore, whether you allow messy nature or you fight it, it becomes a political manifestation and makes nature recovery a battleground for wider political and societal debates.”

Dr Wartmann added: “Our analysis shows that aesthetics play an important role in shaping views of what is ‘natural’, ‘normal’, and ‘good’ and therefore desirable in what a future (recovered) nature looks like.

“We suggest that nature recovery initiatives take aesthetics seriously, by interrogating how idealisations of ‘how nature should look’ may influence decision-making alongside ecological and other considerations.

“Taking aesthetics seriously also opens avenues for engaging with social and environmental justice, where alternative aesthetics can help in imagining more socially and environmentally just futures.”

Read the full paper ‘Messy natures: The political aesthetics of nature recovery‘ by Flurina M. Wartmann and Jamie Lorimer in People and Nature here.