Home Habitat Habitus: Design for cross-species cohabitation

Abstract

Our urban built environments are artificially constructed and designed for us, large numbers of people. But ever since urban spaces were formed humans have shared these places with others. Magpies fly between street trees, dogs pull on the leash, cats peer through windows, possums moonlight on roof tops, ants fossick for crumbs. Urban dwellers cohabit with many other species both domestic, native and introduced. If these urban others have been largely absent from our design intent what place do we think they have living in our urban environments; are they trespassing, making a mess, doing a job? Alternatively, what would happen if we designed our built environments to enhance this crossspecies cohabitation? Rather than the others living on the periphery of our consciousness, we humans and other species could be encouraged to cohabit through design. There are emerging interests in the design field and some real world examples, however quirky, which have significant potential to enhance human wellbeing and urban biodiversity. Natalie Jeremijenko's Ooz sites where animals and humans interact, Lenskjold and Jönsson's design experiments with urban animals as significant others, Ned Dodington's animal architecture, Margaret Grose's collaboration of design and ecological science on constructed ecologies, among others are capturing new visions of how we design our urban environments. This paper will explore the potential of design for cross-species cohabitation, how this potential could be developed and why it is of significant value to our urban environments and wellbeing. Show more