[…] is defined not only by the cultivated plants that require maintenance […]
Pause. “Cultivated plants that require maintenance”? What do we mean by that? To cultivate is to prepare for gardening, and maintenance is taking care of something. Put simply, this phrase says, “is not just the plants people take care of.”
Onward.
[…] and the protected remnants of natural landscapes […]
Pause. Let’s translate this into fifth-grade language: “and the small patches of natural places that are protected.” By now, you’re probably getting the hang of this. Let’s bring it home with the final clause.
[…] but also by the spontaneous vegetation […]
Wait a sec. Translate that for the 10-year-old crowd: “but also the wild plants”
[…] that dominates the neglected interstices […]
“that take over the places people don’t pay attention to.”
Now let’s compare:
The ecology of the city is defined not only by the cultivated plants that require maintenance and the protected remnants of natural landscapes, but also by the spontaneous vegetation that dominates the neglected interstices.
versus
The nature in the city is not just the plants people take care of and the small patches of natural places that are protected, but also the wild plants that take over the places people don’t pay attention to.
See how much clearer that is?
Now, I know this technique seems tedious. Don’t worry, though—you won’t need to start and stop so frequently forever. With enough practice, the process will eventually become second nature. The reason this exercise feels like pulling teeth at the moment is that we’re training a muscle that you may have never consciously worked before in your whole academic career: the muscle of processing. By forcing yourself to translate a text into simple, straightforward language, you’re also forcing comprehension of it. Indeed, you can’t explain something simply if you don’t understand it.