Summary 🏙️
Urban architecture today addresses a reality in which cities are inhabited not only by human beings, but also by a wide range of non-human creatures that share these urban spaces every day. This trend points to the need to reconsider architectural design and urban planning so that they include the needs and roles of other beings such as wild animals, birds, and insects, opening new horizons for architecture beyond the human, or architecture that goes beyond the human in its calculations and practices.
Introduction: Cities Go Beyond Humans Alone 🏗️
Architectural science and urban planning have long depicted cities on the basis that they are facilities for humans only. Plans include networks of walkways, environmental control systems, and spaces suited to people’s comfort and safety. However, observing daily life in a number of cities, especially in parts of India and Southwest Asia, reveals multi-species life distributed among market alleys, building roofs, and street scenes.
For example, stray dogs, monkeys, birds, and insects share these places, each moving according to its own needs and behavior patterns adapted to the urban order. This reality calls for the idea that cities are not merely human dwellings, but an interconnected system of relationships between humans and other forms of life.
History of Including Non-Humans in Architecture 🧱
The relationship of non-human creatures with urban places has never been new or passing. In historical environments, such as temples and religious sites in India and neighboring countries, we find indirect or direct architectural interventions that allow or encourage the presence of birds, insects, and other species within built spaces.
For example, pigeon towers, or “Kabootar Khaneh,” were built in Iran to provide a suitable environment for birds to breed and for their droppings to be used in agriculture, an architectural model that mimics coexistence between humans and other creatures. Some Ottoman buildings also integrated small systems for housing birds within their facades and arches, as a manifestation of respect and cultural coexistence.
Architectural elements that support multi-species life
- Thick walls and deep openings that allow hiding and nesting.
- Towers and bridges that provide movement routes from different heights.
- Water features and gardens that provide water and food sources.
- Native plants that support pollination and insect life.
Contemporary Challenges: Modern Architecture and Non-Human Life 🌿
At present, modern buildings tend to focus on tight building envelopes and smooth glass membranes, which reduces opportunities for living creatures to coexist within built spaces. Modern architectural facades are often sealed, and the entry of birds and insects is restricted because of health concerns, safety systems, and maintenance considerations.
As a result, non-human creatures are cut off from their ecological routes and retreat toward marginal places such as back passages, the spaces between buildings, and neglected or abandoned lands, which is often referred to as residual urban spaces.
Effects on ecological infrastructure
- Destruction of nesting and breeding sites.
- Fragmentation of natural habitats within urban areas.
- Loss of ecosystem coherence and reduced biodiversity.
- Negative impact on air quality and local climate balance.
Architectures of Coexistence: Design Trends for Diverse Life 📐
The concept of multi-species design highlights the importance of integrating non-human living beings into urban systems, not by making them additional factors or problems to be solved, but by considering them a fundamental partner in the making of the city.
These design practices include:
- Habitat-integrated facades that provide nesting and anchoring places for birds and insects.
- Reintroducing water bodies and wetlands as an element of ecological urban infrastructure (ecological infrastructure).
- Creating local agricultural and plant networks that support biological pollination and biodiversity conservation.
- Designing wildlife crossings to reconnect fragmented habitats and facilitate animal movement across urban areas.
Axes of the new architectural planning
- Programming vital spaces included within urban plans.
- Choosing building materials that allow cavities and shelters to exist.
- Providing shade and green spaces with a microclimate suitable for non-human creatures.
- Integrating water drainage systems that allow for wet environments and natural heating.
Sustainable Solutions and Urban Intelligence: Activating Biodiversity in Cities 🧱
Architectural design that integrates diverse life also contributes to sustainability and green architecture goals. Spaces with diverse vegetation gradually mitigate the urban heat island phenomenon and improve air quality.
This serves both the environmental and human sides together, as the benefits return jointly to residents and other living creatures. These solutions also strengthen cities’ resilience in the face of climate change and the challenges of population growth.
Technologies and materials that support sustainability
- BIM systems to study the effects of design on biodiversity and living environments.
- Building materials with textures and finishes that allow integrated environments to form (such as clay, stone, treated wood).
- Designing roofs and open spaces to become urban farms and pollination centers.
- Using innovative water drainage systems to reuse water and sustain wet environments.
Lessons from Reality: How Does Shared Life Happen in Cities Today? 🌿
Field studies in cities such as Bengaluru and Delhi show that roaming animals are not excluded from the urban system; rather, they are continuously developing adaptation patterns to human infrastructure. These creatures recognize traffic rhythms, regular grazing patterns, and the spatial distribution of waste.
In many cases, official local laws such as “Animal Birth Control Rules” require recognition of these creatures as a permanent and essential part of the urban scene through vaccination and sterilization programs instead of complete exclusion.
Challenges and architectural responses
- A gap between participatory policies and actual representation within architectural designs.
- The need for flexible designs that reintegrate non-human creatures into public and private spaces.
- Ensuring respect for mutual living to avoid conflicts that affect safety and public health.
Conclusion: Redefining Cities as Multi-Species Systems 🏙️
The next architectural challenge is to adjust our understanding of the city so that it goes beyond the exclusive representation of humans. Architecture and urban planning must shift toward treating biodiversity and other living species as an organic, essential part that cannot be ignored in designing urban spaces.
The solution lies in adopting design practices that ensure harmony and coherence between human and non-human creatures, and in investing the components of urban infrastructure to achieve environmental harmony that reflects positively on the quality of life on Earth.
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