Pests in Town - Cockroaches in the Bucharest Urban Imaginary - Ruxandra Paduraru

What are the ‘more-than-human’ experiences of life in a city? While modern urban planning policies focus on the need for green spaces in cities, these are usually controlled environments. However, nature encompasses ecosystems that may include elements often considered disruptive. The creatures we call pests have violated such notions of modernity as long as we have underestimated their disobedience, their relationship to urban politics, and the niche created for them by social inequality. The study of cockroaches offers insights into social dynamics, discourses, and political strategies. Different species of cockroaches, their ecosystems, and their interactions with humans and urban infrastructure co-evolve and mutually influence each other. Cockroaches are integral to broader ecosystems, and their survival and behavior depend not only on self-regulation but also on interactions with their environment, including human activities such as hygiene practices, urbanization, and climate change. This article discusses the infrastructure associated with cockroaches in Bucharest, Romania – the research focuses on kitchen and sewage cockroaches, insects perceived as filthy, useless to the ecosystem, and disruptive to our well-being. It explores the classist and gendered discourses surrounding these insects and investigates the personal experiences and the effects of cockroach infestation on our relationships with others (both with those we live with and our neighbors).Article by Ruxandra Paduraru, illustrated by Alexandra Hochreiter, read by Katia Pascariuhttps://theanthro.art/pests-in-town-cockroaches-in-the-bucharest-urban-imaginary-ruxandra-paduraru/