Transitioning to
Urban Biodiversity

1.0
INTRODUCTION

We tend to think of urbanization as a realm apart, somehow separate from the ecosystem, but nothing could be further from reality. We need to search below the urban veneer to reveal the wildlife that symbiotically shares our streets and dwellings. Inside the built environment there are wall-eating snails that are overrunning Miami, packs of wild boars that meander Berlin, and an uncontrollable monkey incursion into Cape Town. Not to mention the all too familiar sights of city pigeons, and large colonies of rats. From carpet-hungry insects to coyotes hanging out in food shops, we have discovered streets that are far more alive than we often comprehend. With the changing conditions of the environment animals too try to adapt, as in the case of wild polar bears entering streetscapes in Svalbard or brown bears searching for food in urban garbage dumps in Canada. This demonstrates to us how various species of animals are adjusting to city life and examines how human mindsets and society influence wildlife issues in metropolitan areas. The unmatched influence that human societies are wielding on the natural world is a given based on changes in climate and the environment, also called the epoch of the Anthropocene.

2.0
THE PROBLEM: HUMAN POPULATION GROWTH

Increasing human populations are having a cumulative impact on global ecosystems, and nowhere do these impacts overlay as much as they do in cities. The growth of cities all over the world over the last century has been exceptional, with no end in sight for when cities will stop mushrooming. The largest cities in the world have grown exponentially, with Shanghai, for example, increasing in population from about 6 million in the early 1950s to 24 million today. The situation is similar in smaller cities, such as in the case of Accra which during the same time period grew from about two hundred thousand to two-and-a-half million. This phenomenon is spurred by the general human population growth in the world from about 2.7 to 7.7 billion people from the early 1950s until today. At the same time, human consumption has increased, not only as a result of population growth but also per capita. With that comes stress on natural resources for the city, such as energy and drinking water, and the ever-increasing production of garbage.

2.1 HOW TO UNDERSTAND THE CITY

With radical city growth, the geographical meaning of what’s urban needs to be reevaluated. Sticking to politically defined city boundaries, architectural ideas of densities, or aesthetical notions of what looks urban, suburban, or countryside may hinder a deeper understanding of the nature of a city. Humans, animals, fish, insects, plants, seeds, and dead materials are consistently on the move. Humans are not the only ones arriving in cities as tourists or immigrants. Birds sitting on the roof of a skyscraper may be travelers to a different continent, and some new invasive algae in the harbor may have arrived with the ballast water from a boat traveling the seven seas. The steel for a building may have its origin in a faraway steel mill, which got its energy from even further away in some hydroelectric dam in a different nation. Only a thorough understanding of how species and things move may open up sustainable policies and management of them. This movement plus the associated spatial requirements creates a view of a transformative human to animal landscape that operates in flux.

2.2 ADAPTATION: ANIMALS

With radical city growth, the wild natural creatures and plants that live side by side with us have been forced to adapt to a whole suite of perplexing conditions: they must survive in the city’s hotter climate; they need to be able to endure either in the semidesert of the high, stony, and spacious structures we call buildings (known as the urban heat island effect) or in the pocket-like havens of municipal parks (which create their own hazards, including smog and free-ranging pets); traffic causes incessant noise, a mist of superfine dust particles, and obstructions to movement for any animal that cannot fly or burrow; nutrition sources are chiefly human derived. The wildlife sharing these spaces with us are not just surviving, but evolving ways of prospering. Some animals thrive while others suffer in urban conditions.

There are many examples of adaptation that uncover a spectacular vision of urban evolution in which humans and wildlife coexist in an inimitable harmony. We can expose that evolution occurs far more rapidly than Darwin envisaged, while delivering a gleam of hope that our sprint towards rampant overpopulation might not take the rest of nature down with us. Some examples of coevolved life: Carrion crows in the Japanese city of Sendai have adapted to use oncoming traffic to break nuts for food. Lizards in Puerto Rico are evolving feet that more successfully grip surfaces such as concrete. Europe’s inner-city blackbirds sing at a higher pitch than their rural counterparts, to be heard over the noise of traffic. Not to mention the ability of a host of insects, such as ants, bugs, centipedes, cockroaches, fleas, lice, millipedes, mosquitoes, moths, and termites to adapt to human structures and their impressive ability to resist aggressive termination programs. We need to investigate how human domination over all others by traffic noise, pollution, and termination programs is rapidly stretching over into the genes of most plants and animals, especially in urban areas. In order to better understand what a long-term architectural response might be, studies on mitigation techniques and subsequent species populations are paramount.

Human-induced rapid environmental change has led invasive and urbanized insects to adapt to the underground habitats created by subway and train excavation. A new branch of the mosquito population formed in the London Underground, adapting to feed on mammals, as they previously preferred birds. Although the types of mosquitos that transmit West Nile virus live above ground and typically seek birds to bite, there is a chance, albeit rare and slim, that these mosquitos could breed with those who prefer feeding on mammals, thus making humans a target. Thus, our urban environment could potentially give rise to distinct species of mosquitos that not only adapt an affinity for humans, but also infect us with disease.

2.3 EXTINCTION: FAILING TO ADAPT

Most animals, however, fail to adapt to city environments. It is therefore important to identify species that are at risk of population loss due to human activities. Species can range from impacted but not threatened, all the way to near extinction. Many species may be under habitat stress, though they are not on the endangered species list. Species such as honeybees are crucial to human food systems.

With threats looming from the linguistic to the biologic, what is most alarming about extinction is its rapid pace. Although it can occur naturally, humans have inextricably accelerated the scale and intensity of extinction events. Anthropogenic actions have altered the planet’s metabolism and stimulated feedback loops that exacerbate species loss. For example, development leads to habitat destruction, which in turns leads to space for more development subsequently creating more habitat destruction. By losing key ecosystem services, the momentum of extinction garners even more strength.

Deductions made from the fossil record and geological evidence postulate disturbance events, such as asteroid or meteorite strikes, have subsequently led to mass extinctions. Scientists have shown that five of these periods have occurred and we are currently in the sixth. However, these unpredictable sublime phenomena are not the only causes of extinction. Humans have instigated their own catastrophic events, such as ethnic cleansings, blockades of immigration, obliteration of indigenous cultures, overzealous land development, and economic suppression. These events have seriously diminished and outright eradicated unique elements of our collective culture. Each loss is an irrevocable change because potential breakthroughs and gains disappear.

Sustainability and extinction overlap in the characteristic of maintaining ecosystems. Furthermore, combating extinction directly relates to protecting the current users as well as recognizing their finite quality, key components of sustainability. Due to distinct lineages of environmental and physiological factors, those species that vanish are highly improbable to reappear. The same can be said for languages and dialects. Within the 5 boroughs of New York City, about 800 languages are spoken, many of which are close to extinction due to reductions in intergenerational transmission. While globalization promotes communication across fewer and widespread platforms, language remains a vital tool for self-expression and designation.

2.4 CITY EXPERTS

There are a host of experts in various fields ready to explain the dynamics of cities and their human and nonhuman inhabitants. An increasing number of urban ecologists examine how our artificial environments are hastening and altering the evolution of the animals and plants around us. Behavioral changes occurring between generations of urban-dwelling species have shown the ability of species to adapt to city developments and technologies. They expose just how stunningly flexible and swift-moving natural selection can be in the urban environment. City planners have followed suit by laying out the ways in which the human and the nonhuman world interact while also planning for a more harmonious interface. Recognizing the colossal surface areas of buildings and roads, planners are injecting bioreceptive gestures into development patterns in order to address cohabitation. These metropolitan environmental studies are taken seriously at trendsetting universities. Likewise with architects who have begun to take seriously the fact that buildings include both human and nonhuman inhabitants, and who seek to build for both, regardless of whether the inhabitants are desired or not desired. Urban designers of a host of artifacts such as lampposts, benches, and trenches have also been working hard to make them inclusive for nonhumans, work that has been informed by the field of inner-city informatics. More generally, the realm of urban humanities practioners, such as historians, playwrights, novelists, and musicians, has begun including the realm of nonhuman life in their work. How to mitigate the stress on urban nonhuman species runs at the core of the work of all these academics.

3.0 RESULTS

3.1 MITIGATION: ANIMAL-AIDED DESIGN

Animal-aided design operates in the threshold between human technology and the natural environment, the separation of the wilderness and the built environment. Architecture as bioinformatics that can be repeated, adapted, and scaled to the intrinsic climatic demands of its context. Through this adaptation, the architecture is able to productively, in an ecological definition, impede the current extinction moment, a registrar of how living creatures mobilize, inhabit, and reproduce in the spatial realm. This meridian separates the inventions humans create to make life more productive and the evolved living flora and fauna adapted to the planet’s nuances. Furthermore, this methodology connects cities to their surrounding hinterlands, and beyond to the larger biogeographical region in order to provide ecosystem continuity. This methodology allows urban infill sites to contribute to regional trends. The inclusion of site-specific species needs within the early stages of the design and planning process will create appropriate frameworks to boost species numbers as opposed to late stage superficial greenwashing or hastily conceived measures. Such planning responds to all portions of a species life cycle including predation and dependencies.

This framework then guides decisions about the contents of open or green spaces. The spectrum of how lush or barren, wet or dry, permeable or impermeable, can be calibrated to mirror ideal conditions in the natural habitat. Intermixing and multiuse zones can foster better upkeep through importance to the overall design scheme. By determining the spatial requirements of a given species, the site can be adequately divided accordingly. This spatial determination is then further broken down into smaller parcels that correlate to the various breeding, feeding, mating, and nesting activities. Accurately positioning and sizing these spaces will influence whether or not the species can survive on the project site. Without close attention to these parameters, the probability of survival is significantly hindered.

3.2 MITIGATION: INSECT-AIDED DESIGN

As the most diverse group of animals, insects pose the challenge of their accelerated life cycles and various growth stages. From molting and metamorphosis, to hatching eggs and pollinating flowers, insects engage in a multitude of behaviors that present their own habitat demands. Insects have also most likely coevolved with flowering plants, which creates a synergy that architects must respect. Operating above, below, and atop the ground plane, these animals have many characteristics that can be translated into morphological responses in architecture.

With pollination a critical ecosystem service for human food systems, insect populations on site may traverse large distances to reach flowers and return. Urban fragmentation has stymied this process as routes have been disrupted by buildings oblivious to this phenomenon, greatly impacting their ability to fulfill their niche and stabilization of food outputs. Living at the microscale, insects depend upon a level of granularity that can be ignored by building materials and dynamics. Delicate habits and breeding regimens cause issues for designers because these traits call for a higher resolution in detailing than budgets or time allotments traditionally grant. Surface treatments and deformations that are suitable for insects are the first step towards making this boundary between artificial and natural systems amenable. Perforation and reflectivity also influence insect navigation and wayfinding abilities.

Another obstacle to designing for insects is the perception of them as pests or nuisances to urban life. Doused with insecticides or pesticides, the human response to insects can escalate up to complete termination. Whether it be an outdoor space that has been colonized or a building edge or overhang that hives have been built into, the discernment that eradication is the primary objective positions this discourse in a punitive territory. Certainly, insects that act as vectors for diseases do not ease these tensions. However, building awareness of the intricacies of ecosystems and the role insects play in maintaining that balance ameliorates concerns of their value.

3.3 MITIGATION: PLANT-AIDED DESIGN

Technological advancements fundamentally change the way we cultivate our food, build our homes, and move throughout the landscape. Seemingly ceaselessly, they accelerate our means of production and extend our lives. Urban farming promotes edible plant-growing practices in cities that substitute swaths of land for lighting and root interventions that culminate in yields without agrochemicals. Advocating for the ancillary and leftover spaces, such as alleyways, sidewalk swales, rooftops, and facades, farming in the city dictates an examination of altered growing conditions and feasibility in terms of a reliable alternative to peri-urban farm systems. From this array of city spaces, building materials and forms can be designed for bio-receptivity, through crevices, niches, and deformations for plants to take hold. Examining holdfasts and root structures, the architecture can produce an outer membrane that fosters plant growth.

Vascular plants are a foundational element in terrestrial ecosystems, thus designing for their life conditions creates opportunities for insects and other animals alike. As primary producers, plants serve all animals through their ability to convert light into eventual biomass. Urban environments have also created an ideal habitat for epiphytes, which climb masonry walls to dedicate their precious resources to leaves versus stem rigidity. Plant-aided design emphasizes a systems approach to trees in that groupings and clusters fare better in resistance to disturbances.

Continually discovering new uses or applications for plants, plant-based replacement products that perform as effectively as the originals are quickly supplanting their carbon intensive incumbents. Genetically engineered plant-based foods are matching color, texture, taste, and content of rival meats. Thus, plant-aided design extends beyond optimization for a singular plant, but advocates for cross-species interventions.

3.4 MITIGATION: CARBON FOOTPRINT

As we continue to expand the scope of the concepts “ecological footprint” and “carbon neutrality” of cities, more variables are added to the calculation to determine our impact. Traditional inputs, such as consumption of natural resources, energy exerted to power buildings and transportation, and land area developed, are augmented by biodiversity indexes and species counts. Recording and distillation methods provide a comprehensive understanding of human inhabitation upon the landscape. Furthermore, these formerly immeasurable attributes are becoming increasingly quantified through sophisticated modeling and machine learning. Biodiversity monitoring presents temporal and regional challenges, with baselines and reference areas difficult to establish, since the human-to-animal interaction on a specific site is difficult to replicate.

Biodiversity averages can be added to carbon footprint calculations as part of the systems approach that is now covering the complex interactions between humans and animals. Adding species loss or gain per dedicated area to food, transportation, and energy usage statistics clarifies our environmental impact. By tracking human consumption trends with species recovery or decimation surges, our footprint gains coherence and robustness. Often, our most damaging environmental activities can be better quantified through the impact on species, because of the diversity and variety of responses by species. This mixed response depicts a spectrum of impact that has been calibrated by natural resiliency forces.

3.5 MITIGATION: INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE

Novel investigations into how indigenous cultures live with nonhuman species have enriched our conversations about a more inclusive urbanity. Impoverished and segregated communities have given us hard-learned tools for urban adaption. How to live in a more productive way with the nonhuman world is often a type of know-how generated far away from highbrow academia and fancy design studios. These empirical sets of information, often passed down from ancestors, present field-verified approaches to sustainability. By reverse engineering theory, as opposed to imposing theory upon practice, tested methods that are climate specific can become guidelines for an altered living condition in which nonhuman species thrive concurrently. Generally, it is important to begin unlocking the practical skills of living with nature that exist in many urban societies of the Global South—skills that have already identified the advantageous materials and methods of construction endemic to a locale. Structures that have been designed with nature in a manner that is innately resilient to the region’s forces. Site-specific interventions composed of the site itself. Building materials that coalesce and lignify over time, gaining strength and longevity. Likewise, the idea of “progress” may hinder an appreciation of the sustainability of some traditional urban fabrics wherever they are, as in pedestrian-informed European cities or animal husbandry in Chinese municipalities.

3.6 MITIGATION: TECHNOLOGY

These strategies are not abandoning or halting technology. A return to pastoral landscapes or preindustrial times is not an option. As global population nears eight billion people and energy usage continues to rise, technology has the scalability to address these burgeoning demands. Machines innately do not improve or impair our lives, but rather it is the application of machines that determines if they make a positive or negative contribution. Human ingenuity embodied in microchips in the Large Hadron Collider teach us phenomena about the natural world in order to better understand and live within it. Environmental Luddites are not productive. Instead, new technologies, such as wind turbines, solar cells, energy-saving batteries, electric cars, geothermal energy, heat exchange systems, etc., may help the urgently needed urban transformation. As implementation scales upward, the systems will become more efficient with performative benefits. The search for sustainable technologies is not only a search in the unknown. The transfer of know-how from one geographical region to another may be of help. Releasing the spatial constraints of successive environmental responses will combat global shared issues that have been mitigated in one part of the world, but still remain in other regions. The problem of increasing heat waves in Australia and California, for example, may be addressed in contemporary as well as traditional design solutions to high temperatures in Islamic cultures of design. Likewise, a host of architectural and urban-design solutions to heat were widely used before the invention of air-conditioning systems. Technology didn’t harbor the lackluster building interiors that resulted after air-conditioning was implemented. Rather, buildings shifted cultural and spatial attributes to technology, which led to mass minimalism and the disconnection from nature.

4.0 CONCLUSIONS

As clusters of human activity and environmental impact, cities need to recognize their role in promoting biodiversity within their ecological footprints. With animal-aided design, architecture can allocate physical space to facilitate ecological processes and recovery from intensive development. Often settled around or atop relics of natural habitats, such as forests or rivers, cities inherited biodiversity due to these resources. Humans specifically chose regions to settle with gargantuan amounts of resources to convert and exploit into economic gains, often without concern for the long-term consequences of our disruptions. As centers of importation, cities spread and naturalize invasive species. These actions have negatively shifted growth patterns and distribution. As we traverse and infiltrate areas previously undisturbed, we bring with us our methods of extraction and waste production, ultimately leading to the decline of the nonhuman sector. Animal-aided design reorients site analysis, design, and construction towards inclusion of species needs within our urban fabrics. Expanded calculations and metrics perpetually quantify human-to-animal interactions as studies depict the far-reaching results of urbanization.

References