My husband is endlessly amused by clips of myotonic goats, also called ‘fall-down goats’. He laughs uncontrollably at seeing their muscles tense up as they stien and fall over abruptly when startled. I remember the time he wanted to share this obvious joy with me and I could not but be horrified by it. How can a living being experiencing seizures be funny to anyone, even if it were a painless genetic response? Would it be funny if you witnessed it happening to a human being?
But my sense of extreme sensitivity wasn’t well received; I was quickly called a spoilsport, my response disqualified and brushed off as a case of empathy gone too far. I almost agreed, unsure of how to qualify or place my ‘excessive’ perspective. I wonder now if this consideration of the emotions of other lifeforms is at the very foundation of a more natural order of things in our urban reality.
As we move toward more sustainable cities, planning and designing them in relation to natural cycles and behaviour of other creatures is key. Including perspectives of stakeholders, end users and those impacted is important, not just from a variety of human viewpoints but also from other species in our increasingly interdependent ecosystem. All ‘users’ that may not be able to vocalise needs, or even participate in any form of human communication at all, will need representation in the design process.
So how does one offer other species a seat at the table?
First comes the acknowledgement that other species like animals, birds, plants, reptiles, microbes, insects and so on, are worthy subjects of study and are unrecognised contributors to our collective culture.
“For too long we’ve defined both society and culture in terms of humans. We humans have culture because it evolved first from our various primate predecessors and cousins, from cetaceans to spiders,” writes John Hartigan from the University of Texas on an American Anthropological Association blog. It seems we may have been underestimating the value of insight into our non-human neighbours.
Research methods in the broader context of Design Thinking have long focused on uncovering insight based not on what people say, but what they do. By extending this thinking to non-humans, attempts to uncover what other lifeforms ‘do’ through observation, semiotics, touch and other longitudinal interactions can result in new information, levers and opportunities in addressing our complex ecosystem. By recognising the importance of non-humans not just as receivers of change but also contributors to desired change, we can unlock new possibilities for a symbiotic future. So, in what ways can a renewed design process embrace these long-forgotten participants?
While project or research budgets may not expand limitlessly to include diverse ethnographic studies, inviting experts: multispecies ethnographers, researchers and scientists to contribute at strategic points in the process can be a worthy alternative. Defining distinct roles or viewpoints that these representatives can bring at different points can help quantify the task and build a general coherence with other streams of work.
As a project or initiative kicks o, a team of these specialists is assembled for consultation based on the size, impact and relevance of the scope. While the project is in a discovery phase, this team of representatives serves as an additional stakeholder, broadening both context and understanding. Once past the discovery stage, the role would shift to that of a co-creator, ideating alongside the project team to imagine new possibilities for the entire system.
Consider for example, findings from the work of Piers Locke at the University of Canterbury and Paul Keil at Macquarie University, studying human-elephant relations. They observed that in passing between forested hills and nearby wetlands in Assam, India, elephants must negotiate copious human-centric developments, including an exposed railway line. As a result, not only have elephants stopped emerging from the forest during the day, but also on occasions relating to hormonal surges, they pose a mutual danger with any passing train. Engaging with these ethnographers in the design and layout of the transport project may have shed some light on difficulties as well as envisioned synergistic solutions.
As projects move on to the design stage, representatives of non-human communities will become advisors responding to emerging solution directions. Beyond this point, these consultants will have an especially unique role to play as enablers and evaluators. Through their expertise, network and knowledge, they may enable design implementation in creative ways, customising their impact on other species. As evaluators, they may be able to author new studies that monitor, review and critique the impact, enabling better processes in the future.
Consider the protected lands in Bahia, east of Brazil, with their palm oil trees. For the local population, these trees are a part of a multispecies community that offer themselves up to others through fruits for birds, animals and humans.
In an attempt to avoid locals entering these lands to hunt for rodent meat (rodents often come there to consume nearby fruit), the Brazilian environmental agency has simply been chemically injecting and cutting the trees. Discouraging hunting behaviours without an unnecessary cost to the ecological system would have been possible, but only by enabling a creative and sensitive implementation of the intent. Bringing in the perspective of the non-human community of life can only result in better, not worse, solutions.
With an accelerating human imprint on the global environment, we as a dominating species cannot simply carry on as we have done this far. We must extend our inclusivity to other forms of beings whose futures are intertwined with ours. In the end, it’s not just about whether it is right to laugh at the genetic dispositions of goats, but it is also about harmonising our co-existence.
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