In current urban research, nature is increasingly coming into focus as an important urban phenomenon. We present two different projects, both of which deal with comparable questions about sustainable urbanity: One project sheds light on how urban nature was discovered as well as designed in Zurich starting in the late 1970s and what social ideals are associated with it. The second project uses the examples of Mexico City and La Paz-El Alto in Bolivia to show the diverse relationships between people and nature as they are lived and demanded in urban social movements in Latin America.