Involuntary park is a neologism coined by science fiction author and environmentalist Bruce Sterling to describe previously inhabited areas that for environmental, economic, or political reasons have, in Sterling's words, "lost their value for technological instrumentalism" and been allowed to return to an overgrown, feral state.
Mule deer at the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge. (photo 2009)
Vegetation reclaiming houses in the zone of alienation around Chernobyl.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation is an officially designated exclusion zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster. It is also commonly known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, the 30-Kilometre Zone, or simply The Zone.
The entrance to the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone at Checkpoint "Dytiatky"
Satellite image of the reactor and surrounding area in April 2009.
The oak Partisan's Tree or Cross Tree. The power plant is visible in the background.
Abandoned apartment blocks in Pripyat