Building “Natural” Beauty: Drought and the Shifting Aesthetics of Nature in Santa Barbara, California
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Abstract
This article analyzes the tension between the built and intrinsic elements that constitute Santa Barbara, California, as a place, by investigating two related questions: How is Santa Barbarans’ sense of place impacted by citywide cultural preferences for a specific plant aesthetic? and How have recent drought conditions affected that plant aesthetic, and its population’s cultural relationship to nature and the environment? The analysis focuses primarily on two key informant interviews, with Madeline Ward, the city’s water conservation coordinator, and Timothy Downey, the city arborist, and is further supported by ethnographic field notes. I argue that the California drought has brought parallel changes to both the city’s physical appearance and its residents’ aesthetic preferences regarding plants. This has further prompted changes to popular conceptions of Santa Barbara as a place, stemming from residents’ desire for an aesthetic that is better in tune with the ecological conditions of the area.
Contributor Notes
Andrew McCumber is a PhD student in sociology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. His work lies at the intersection of environmental and cultural sociology. The main research questions that drive his work, including this article, revolve around our cultural relationships with nature and the nonhuman world. Email: ahmccumber@umail.ucsb.edu.