Territoriality and urban ecotones: limits under tension

Abstract

This work consists in the search for an understanding of the concerns of urban relations that characterize the “urban ecotones”, based on a bibliographic review of the territorial expression that marks and distinguishes ecosystems. The expression “ecotone” is discussed and recontextualized from an urban perspective, through a transdisciplinary approach. In the sequence, particular situations are presented, associated with propositions of classifications related to the term, within the scope of cities. The same Greek prefix oîkos (eco) present in “ecology”, meaning intimate environment, − the home −, arises in ecotone, added by the Greek suffix tonos (or Latin tonus), indicating tensioning. Therefore ecotone, originally a colloquial expression found in biology, refers to the transition zones between biocenoses. It is the region where neighboring biomes, with different structures and characteristics, converge and interact. In an urban environment, the definition deserves a more specific approach, which stimulates a reflection on the notably anthropic presence. That implies recognizing a coexistence that often leads to social raids and clashes of political, cultural, affective and economic nature. The multidisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity associated with the topic requires, to a certain extent, some transit between the natural sciences and the social sciences, in their different manifestations and approaches.