Using childhood landscape memories to uncover the dynamics of Anthropocene in African Urbanscapes

Abstract

Abstract This perspective provides a reflective account of our personal experiences as African professors and lecturers in diverse fields of environmental sciences encountering the urban Anthropocene. Here, we explain the nature of the unprecedented, potent and hidden changes in our lived environments. Such collective explanations are important in documenting the speed and scale of landscape change in the context of the Anthropocene. Africa, being the fastest (and most unguided) urbanising region, could be the epicentre of the diminishing and collapsing human‐nature co‐existence. Certainly, situations of this nature need alternative explanations that guide us toward positive actions for the future. Our respective experiences of the recent massive loss of centuries‐old human‐nature co‐existence make us nostalgic. The pain of loss of greenery and cultural formations within two to three decades is unimaginable, yet explainable. The nature of the lost landscape composition, functions and experiences within and around our habitats suggest the need for rethinking actions and charting responsibilities for securing our common futures. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.