Matthew Gandy is a geographer, urban field ecologist, and documentary filmmaker. A professor of geography and fellow of King’s College at the University of Cambridge, he is the author of the 2022 book Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space, which expands upon his 2017 documentary film with the same title. We spoke about the ecology of concrete, engineered versus “spontaneous” landscape designs, artistic contributions to urban ecology, the politics of knowledge production, and the life-affirming value of attentive observation.