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STUDIO OVERVIEW
Beyond concerns for endangered species, city planners, architects, and urban designers rarely think about animals. Yet cities are multispecies places full of vibrant matter: amidst the city’s diverse neighborhoods and districts are creatures that fly, crawl, burrow, slither, jump and run – and sing, grunt, cluck, bark, squeak, and buzz.
This UC Berkeley City & Regional Planning Spring 2023 studio integrates academic research on cities and critical animal studies with original analyses and creative studio projects. Through these projects the studio explores a central question: how do we plan, design, and govern cities to share peaceably with the more-than-human world?
THE STUDIO
Rumassah Chohan received her BA in History and Economics at Lahore University of Management Sciences in 2020, and her Master of City Planning Spring at UC Berkeley in Spring 2023.
Celine Cottenoir received her BA in Political Science at St. Edward's University, and is completing a Master in City Planning degree at UC Berkeley.
Shiori Green received a Bachelor of Architecture from Syracuse University in 2022, and is completing a Master of City Planning degree at UC Berkeley.
Vincent Lacassies, a visiting student at UC Berkeley, is completing a double degree in Architecture and Engineering at the City of Paris - ENSA Paris-La Villette.
Ivy Lei received a BA in Sociology and Social Welfare in Spring 2023 from UC Berkeley.
Marisa Lin received a BA in Economics from Stanford University, and is completing a Master of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.
Marina Stern received a BA in Environmental Studies, Geography and Graphic Design from Binghamton University, and a Master of Landscape Architecture & Environmental Planning from UC Berkeley in Spring, 2023.
Deborah Le-En Tan received her BA in Urban Studies from UC Berkeley in Spring, 2023.
THE INSTRUCTOR
Jennifer Wolch
Distinguished Professor of the Graduate School
University of California, Berkeley
Wolch's research on animal studies has appeared in Society & Space, Progress in Human Geography, Capitalism, nature, socialism, Humanimalia, and Society & Animals, as well as edited collections. Topics include attitudes toward animals, animals and racialization, urban rewilding, animals in contemporary design culture, and urban design and planning for multispecies cities. She also co-edited Animal Geographies: Place, Politics and Identity in the Nature/Culture Borderlands (with J. Emel, Verso, 1998).
Questions? Please contact Jennifer Wolch at wolch@berkeley.edu
SEMESTER CALENDAR
SEMINAR DATES, TOPICS, AND READINGS
January 18 Zoӧpolis: can we imagine, plan, and design lively, multispecies cities?
Readings:
Laura Nelson and James Queally (2022)."Improbable Trek Led Led Puma to Win Angelenos' Hearts." Los Angeles Times. December 18.
Jennifer Wolch (1996). “Zoöpolis,” Capitalism, Socialism, Nature 7: 21-47.
Matthew Gandy, “Zoöpolis Redux,” Chapter 1, Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space. MIT Press, 2022.
Marcus Owens and Jennifer Wolch (2015). “Lively Cities: People, Animals, and Urban Ecosystems.” In L. Kalof (ed.) Oxford Handbook on Animal Studies. London: Oxford University Press.
Marie Carmen Shingne (2020): The More-than-Human Right to the City: A Multispecies Reevaluation.” Journal of Urban Affairs 29: 67-87
January 25 Metropolitan nature and biodiversity
Readings:
Weller, R., Drozdz, Z., and Kjaersgaard, S.P. (2019). “Hotspot Cities: Identifying Peri-urban Conflict Zones.” Journal of Landscape Architecture. 14:1, 8-19.
Stewart T.A. Pickett (2020). “Theoretical Perspectives of the Baltimore Ecosystem Study: Conceptual Evolution in a Social-Ecological Research Project.” BioScience [0006-3568] 70.4:297 -314
Colleen L. Seymour, Robert E. Simmons, Frances Morling, Sharon T. George, Koebraa Peters, and M. Justin O’Riain (2020). “Caught on Camera: The Impacts of Urban Domestic Cats on Wild Prey in an African City and Neighbouring Protected Areas.” Global Conservation and Ecology. 23.
Travis Longcore and Catherine Rich (2004). “Ecological light pollution.” Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 2(4): 191-198.
WATCH: Video - Travis Longcore, UCLA/Urban Wildlands Group
February 1 Urban refugia, wastelands, terrain vague, and rewilding
Readings:
Matthew Gandy, “Marginalia,” Chapter 2, Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space. MIT Press, 2022.
Marcus Owens and Jennifer Wolch, (2019) “Rewilding Cities,” pp. 280-302 in N Pettorelli, S.M. Durant and J. T du Toit (eds), Rewilding. Cambridge UK: Cambridge University Press.
Maran, T. Ecological Repertoire Analysis: a Method of Interaction-Based Semiotic Study for Multispecies Environments. Biosemiotics 13, 63–75 (2020). https://doi-org.libproxy.berkeley.edu/10.1007/s12304-020-09378-9
WATCH: Video - Matthew Gandy, Cambridge University
February 8 Climate change, novel urban flora, animals, and ecosystems
Readings:
Ingo Kowarik (2011). “Novel Urban Ecosystems, Biodiversity, and Conservation.” Environmental Pollution 159: 174-183.
Matthias Schleuning, Eike Lena Neuschulz, Jörg Albrecht, Irene M.A. Bender, Diana E. Bowler, D. Matthias Dehling, Susanne A. Fritz, Christian Hof, Thomas Mueller, Larissa Nowak, Marjorie C. Sorensen, Katrin Böhning-Gaese, and W. Daniel Kissling (2020). “Trait-Based Assessments of Climate-Change Impacts on Interacting Species.” Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 35: 319-328. Marina Stern Presents
February 15 Attitudes toward animals and human-animal interactions
Readings:
Stephen R. Kellert (1993), “Attitudes, Knowledge, and Behavior Toward Wildlife Among the Industrial Superpowers: United States, Japan, and Germany,” Journal of Social Issues. 49: 53-69. Vincent Lascassies Presents
Donna Haraway (2003). Companion Animal Species Manifesto. Prickly Paradigm Press.
Rupprecht, Christoph D. D. (2017). “Ready for More-than-Human? Measuring Urban Residents’ Willingness to Coexist with Animals.” Fennia: International Journal of Geography 195:142–160. Celine Cottenoir Presents
WATCH: Video - Jody Emel, Clark University
February 22 Species, subjectivity and positionality
Readings:
Matthew Gandy, “Ecologies of Difference,” Chapter 3, Natura Urbana: Ecological Constellations in Urban Space. MIT Press, 2022.
Harlan Weaver (2015). “Pit Bull Promises: Inhuman Intimacies and Queer Kinships in an Animal Shelter.” GLQ 21 (2-3): 343–363. Ivy Lei Presents
Sunaura Taylor (2011). “Beasts of Burden: Disability Studies and Animal Rights.” Qui Parle. 19: 191–222. Shiori Green Presents
March 1 Race, animals and politics
Readings:
Maneesha Deckha (2012). “Toward a Postcolonial, Posthumanist Feminist Theory: Centralizing Race and Culture in Feminist Work on Nonhuman Animals.”Hypatia. 27: 527-545. Marisa Lin Presents
Katja M. Guenther (2020) “’Taking the Ghetto out of the Dog:’ Reproducing Inequality in Pit Bull Rescue.” Ethnic and Racial Studies. 43: 1795-1812.
Claire Jean Kim, Dangerous Crossings: Race, Species and Nature in a Multicultural Age. Cambridge University Press (2015). Chapters 1, 2, 9.
March 8 Multispecies planning/design practice
Readings:
Houston, Donna, et al. (2018) "Make kin, not cities! Multispecies entanglements and ‘becoming-world’ in planning theory." Planning Theory 17.2 : 190-212. Rumassah Chohan Presents
Paul Arcari (2020) “Where Species Don’t Meet: Invisibilized Animals, Urban Nature and City Limits.” EPE: Nature and Space 0(0) 1–26.
Jennifer Wolch and Marcus Owens (2017) “Animals in Contemporary Architecture and Design.” HUMaNIMALIA 8: 1-26.
March 15 Multispecies planning/design practice
Readings:
Daniel Rose, Courtney McMillian and Onneya Carter (2020). “Pet-Friendly Rental Housing: Racial and Spatial Inequalities.” Space and Culture. 1-14.
Benjamin Daniels, Jana Jedamski, Richard Ottermanns, and Martina Ross-Nickoll (2020) “A “Plan Bee” for Cities: Pollinator Diversity and Plant-Pollinator Interactions in Urban Green Spaces.” PLoS ONE 15(7): e0235492.
Roxi Thoren. "Co-creating with Animals: Crossing the 'Narrow Abyss of Non-comprehension'." Landscape Review 18 (2018).
WATCH: Video - Donna Houston, Macquarie University
March 22 Multispecies adaptation, resilience planning, and equity
Readings:
Christian Hunold (2020). “Urban Greening and Human-Wildlife Relations in Philadelphia: From Animal Control to Multispecies Coexistence?” Environmental Values 29: 67-87.
H.U. Ratnayake, M.R. Kearney, P. Govekar, D. Karoly, and J.A. Welbergen (2019), “Forecasting Wildlife Die‐offs from Extreme Heat Events.” Animal Conservation 22: 386-395.
Rupprecht, Christoph DD, Joost Vervoort, Chris Berthelsen, Astrid Mangnus, Natalie Osborne, Kyle Thompson, Andrea YF Urushima et al. "Multispecies sustainability." Global Sustainability 3 (2020).
March 27-31 SPRING BREAK
April 5 Carbon emissions, urban diets, and local policy tools
Readings:
Anke Brons, Peter Oosterveer, and Sigrid Wertheim‑Heck (2020). “Feeding the Melting Pot: Inclusive Strategies for the Multi‑ethnic City.” Agriculture and Human Values 37:1027–1040.
Sanaz Chamanara, Benjamin Goldstein, Joshua P. Newel. (2021). “Where’s the Beef? Costco’s Meat Supply Chain and Environmental Justice in California.” Journal of Cleaner Production 278: 123744.
Xin Xiong, Lixiao Zhang, Yan Hao, Pengpeng Zhang, Yuan Chang, Gengyuan Liu (2020). “Urban Dietary Changes and Linked Carbon Footprint in China: A Case Study of Beijing” Journal of Environmental Management 55: 109877.
WATCH: Video - Josh Newell, University of Michigan
April 12 Animals, rights, justice and citizenship
Readings:
Will Kymlicka and Sue Donaldson (2014). "At the Frontiers of Citizenship." Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 34:201-219.
Martha Nussbaum (2022). "What We Owe Our Fellow Animals: Can We Develop a Theory of Justice that Encompasses Nonhuman Animals?" New York Review of Books. March 10. Deborah Tan Presents
Peter Singer (1985). “Ten Years of Animal Liberation.” New York Review of Books. 17: 46-52; Regan, T. (1985). “The Dog in the Lifeboat-An Exchange.” New York Review of Books, 32(7), 56-57;Peter Singer (2003). “Animal Liberation at 30.” New York Review of Books. 50(8): 3.
David Marchese (2022). "Martha C. Nussbaum Argues that Animals Deserve the Same Rights as We do. ‘To give animals recognition as persons under constitutional law would be the goal." New York Times Magazine. December 11.
April 19 Animals, ethics of care, capabilities, and more
Readings:
Josephine Donovan (2006). “Feminism and the Treatment of Animals: From Care to Dialogue.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture & Society. 31: 305-329.
Lynda Birke (2007). “Relating Animals: Feminism and Our Connections with Nonhumans” Humanity & Society 31:4, 305-318.
Martha Nussbaum 2011. "The Capabilities Approach and Animal Entitlements." The Oxford Handbook of Animal Ethics. Tom L. Beauchamp and R. G. Frey (Eds.). DOI:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195371963.013.0009
April 26 Multispecies city governance
Studio Team Projects Mid-Review
Readings:
Danielle Celermajer , David Schlosberg , Lauren Rickards , Makere Stewart-Harawira, Mathias Thaler , Petra Tschakert , Blanche Verlie & Christine Winter (2020). “Multispecies Justice: Theories, Challenges, and a Research Agenda for Environmental Politics.” Environmental Politics 2-22.
David Favre (2019). “The Growing Reality of Legal Rights for Companion Animals.” Society Register 3: 143-150.
Eva Meijer, When Animals Speak. (2019) Chapter 9 (“Animal Democracy and the Challenges of Political Participation.”) Pp. 216-236. New York University Press.
Michelle Nijhuis (2020). “Buzz Buzz Buzz” New York Review of Books. 67 (13): 53-56.
WATCH: Video - Eva Meijer, Waginingen University
STUDIO MID-REVIEW: Studio Team Projects
May 10 FINAL STUDIO TEAM PRESENTATIONS
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