Animal habitat on the edges:

Where do we fly now?

This is a humans world.  Rapid urban development
means more barriers for animals. Urban infrastructure
like roads and houses is causing animal habitat loss and
fragmentation.
Illustration by Luisa Rivera / Yale E360
A female mountain lion in the Verdugos Mountains, north of Los Angeles. NATIONAL PARK
SERVICE
A fox in Berlin. Photograph: Reuters / F. Bensch
Racoon eating leftover food , Berlin.
Photograph: R.Schlesinger
Urbanization changes bird habitat. Beyond habitat fragmentation,
there are increased noise levels, traffic-related pollution, and
artificial light at night. Also we provide birds with junk food and
our pets disturb them. To survive in the urban habitat, birds are
forced to either accept or avoid the new conditions. Many species
vanish, others adapt, but might suffer genetic damage.
Illustration of the multiple urban stressors/drivers for birds. Made by Anna
Persson. From Isaksson (2015), Functional Ecology.
Garza Real, Amsterdam. Photograph: Sam Hobson
Cotorra de Kramer, Lewisham. Photograph: Sam Hobson
Gaviota argéntea, Blackpool. Photograph: Sam Hobson
Urban birds. Photo: Sam Aronov
Why birds matter: ecological
functions
“Birds exhibit the most diverse range of ecological
functions among vertebrates: pest control, pollination,
seed dispersal, cycling nutrients and more…”
Illustration by Darryl Wheye / Science Arts Birds, 2006
“Without birds’ pollination or seed dispersal
services, many plant species experience much
lower reproductive success”
Pencil drawings of hummingbirds. Suzana Amorin
All birds construct nests in which to lay eggs and/or raise offspring. It was
thought that the nest design was determined to minimize the risk of predation.
However, nest design is also influenced by sexual selection, to minimize the
detrimental effects of parasites and to create a suitable microclimate.
Old illustration of a stork's nests in Strasbourg, France.
Created by Lancelot, published on Le Tour du Monde,
Paris, 186
Old illustration of a stork's nest in Strasbourg,
France. Created by Lancelot, published on Le
Tour du Monde, Paris, 186
Illustration in book “Urban Roosts: Where Birds Nest in the City”
Garza Real, Amsterdam. Photograph: Sam Hobson
Peregrine Falcons, Chicago. Photo: Luke Massey
Three examples of nests built with solid waste:plastic fibers, and plastic rope. Photos: Luis Sandoval
Infographic based on article “Anthropogenic nest materials may increase
breeding costs for urban birds” Suarez-Rodriguez M, Montero-Montoya R, and
María Garcia (2017). Frontiers in Ecology and Evolution
Flying berliners
“Birds species which had colonised war-damaged areas, such Partridge,
Jackdaw or Wheatear in the wasteland between Potsdamer Platz and the
Reichstag, disappeared as redevelopment took place. Other urban
species are still well established such as the House Martin, House
Sparrow, Swift and Black Redstart (…) Wetland species add greatly to
the diversity of species in the city. Grey Herons breed freely in the
Zoological Gardens and the Tierpark”
 ”Hoodie birds”  by Danish artist Don John. Mehringplatz, Kreuzberg. Photo: Berlin Love blog
Azor común, Berlín. Photograph: Sam Hobson
Great Cormorant. Photo: Pierre Cenerelli. Eurasian Magpie Pica pica. Photo: Adrian
Pingstone
Goshawk. Photo:  @birdingdad
Design for nature
and with nature
“The modern city stands in stark opposition to the natural world. Since at least
the mid-1980s, design has been dominated by a human-centered paradigm (…).
Emergent design perspectives might better support values such as equality and
justice for humans and nonhumans that have been traditionally ignored in design
processes”
Architecture, art and design for
animal habitats
“Tower of Nests” is a proposed multi-story, multi-species high rise in Downtown Shanghai by Kjellgren Kaminsky
Architecture. First place in the 2011 World Architecture Festival in the experimental future projects.
Proposal for the ARC International Wildlife Crossing Infrastructure Design Competition 2010 (ARC). Janet Rosenberg
& Associates (Toronto) with Blackwell Bowick Partnership, Dougan & Associates, and Ecokare International.
The first animal bridges sprung up in France in the 1950s. In fact, Europe is a leader in the sector. The Netherlands
alone has 66 overpasses and ecoducts that protect its populations of badgers, boars, and deer. They can also boast
of having the world’s longest wildlife overpass. Photo: Joop van Houdt
“Habitat Wall” is a prototype wall structure that incorporates conditions for bat and bird
inhabitation. By Joyce Hwang. Photo: Ants of the Praire Architecture
“Bat Tower” is sited and designed to attract and facilitate bat inhabitation. By Joyce
Hwang. Photo: Ants of the Praire Architecture
“Bat Tower” is sited and designed to attract and facilitate bat inhabitation. By Joyce
Hwang. Photo: Ants of the Praire Architecture
“Bat Tower” is sited and designed to attract and facilitate bat inhabitation. By Joyce
Hwang. Photo: Ants of the Praire Architecture
Project “Happy Bird Cities”, Copenhagen. By  Thomas Dambo. Photo:
Thomas Dambo
Project “Happy Bird Cities”, Berlin. By Thomas Dambo. Photo: Thomas Dambo
Project “Happy Bird Cities”, Berlin. By Thomas Dambo. Photo: Thomas Dambo
Project “Happy Bird Cities”, Berlin. By Thomas Dambo. Photo: Thomas Dambo
Printed Nest is an open-source community that creates 3D printed birdhouses to provide
habitats for winged friends in urban area. Photo: Printed Nest
Printed Nest is an open-source community that creates 3D printed birdhouses to provide
habitats for winged friends in urban area. Photo: Printed Nest
Art and music that works with nature
Nature at Dawn, 1936. Oil in canvas. Max Ernst
Woven branch circular arch Langholm, Dumfriesshire. April 1986. Andy Goldsworthy.
The Clemson Clay Nest by  Nils-Udo. Photo: Colossal
British sculptor known
as Anna & the Willow.
Photo: My Modern Met
 “Water Core” by Roger Rigorth, 2015 – Cheng-Long Wetlands International Environmental Art. Photo: Timoty Allen
Bird’s Nest installation in Franziskaner-Klosterkirche in Berlin, 2002 by Jan-Erik
Andersson. Photo: Andersson’s website
Project “Nightingales In Berlin”. David Rothenberg gathered together an international band of musicians to
make music live with nightingale birds. Photo: Nightingales In Berlin website.
Project “Nightingales In Berlin”. David Rothenberg gathered together an international band of musicians to
make music live with nightingale birds. Photo: Nightingales In Berlin website.
Still frame from the film Nightingales in Berlin. Photograph: Ville Tanttu
Animals as architects.
The Malayan soldier crab (Mictyris longicarpus) lives on tidal
sands. AS the tide rises, the crab buries itself in the sand and
transports a quantity of air into its shelter that suffices
through the high tide. Illustration in “Animal Architecture”
The sequence of construction of a typical orb
web. Illustration in “Animal Architecture”
Sequence of nest building in the village weavebird (ploceus cucullatus). The bird first constructs
a ring, and the dimensions and shape of the rest of the construction are determined by the
extent of the bird swaying on the ring. Illustration in “Animal Architecture”
 Nest of common tailorbird (orthotomus sutorious)
The Galapagos woodpecker finch (Camarhynchus
is formed by fastening together two adjoining
pallidus) spears an insect larva with a cactus spine
leaves with stitches of plants fibres and spider silk.
held in its bill. Illustration in “Animal Architecture”
Illustration in “Animal Architecture”
Structures inspired on animal habitats
“The Hive” beehive-inspired structure produced by the artist Wolfgang Buttress. Photo: Dacian Groza
“Glint”. Tower for birdwatchers inspired in how birds build nests. By
Keremcan Kırılmaz & Erdem Batırbek. Photos: designers
“Glint”. Tower for birdwatchers inspired in how birds build nests. By
Keremcan Kırılmaz & Erdem Batırbek. Photos: designers
“Glint”. Tower for birdwatchers inspired in how birds build nests. By
Keremcan Kırılmaz & Erdem Batırbek. Photos: designers
Can technology help
us sense nature?
Changes in human attitudes about nature can have dramatic
effects on how we design. Technology can help us expand our
ability to sense nature.
HereThere is an acoustic augmentation wearable that translates sensor data embedded in the wetland to
witness the transition from a quiet landscape to a noisy landscape where wildlife has returned. Illustration:
Article “The Networked Sensory Landscape”
“SensorChimes”provides an opportunity to explore data-driven musical composition based on a
large-scale environmental sensor network. Photo: Still frame from SensorChimes soundclould
“One Beat One Tree” by Naziha Mestaoui projects virtual forests onto city spaces. The digital trees grow in
rhythm with a person’s heartbeat, as viewers can connect to the series via a smart phone sensor. And with
each virtual plant, a physical one is grown in regions throughout the world.
Radical nature
fiction and
speculation
Urban Ecotopias 2021: Modern utopias need to be eco-friendly to overcome the
global environmental crisis. Photo: Alan Marshall
 Ghana 2121: locals seek to procure housing above the floodline, by building low-cost tree
cabins in the nearby forest. Photo: Alan Marshall
Los Angeles 2121: As the world’s oil is depleted by the end of this
century, cars will become useless and trams could make a comeback in
Los Angeles. The unused freeways could then be redeveloped into
vegetated greenways.  Photo: Alan Marshall
A Sustainability Fantasy: “The Vegetal Cities” by Luc Schuiten. Illustration: Luc Schuiten.
“Lotus City”. The lotus should be of symbolic importance to urban planners struggling to fight
climate change, Schuiten thinks, because of its innate resistance to weather extremes.
Illustration: Luc Schuiten.
“City of the Waves”. Schuiten envisions a town designed to flourish along a coast. The
undulating forms are skyscrapers built with water-loving trees and which are designed to harvest
sunlight for power. Illustration: Luc Schuiten.
“Urbacanyon”. A society living in a maze of immense mesas. These structures would be fabricated
from a transparent "silicate concrete" that copies the properties of coral and mollusc shells.
Illustration: Luc Schuiten.
“Woven city" is built onto the intertwined roots of strangler figs, which grow parasitically
on trees in tropical forests. Habitats are built into these vine-clad trees using biotextiles
that mimic silkworm cocoons. Illustration: Luc Schuiten.
Painting “Ville Creuse” in Berlin, Neuköllnische Allee 113.
Science fiction anthology “Improbable Botany”: Plant conquests, fantastical ecosystems, benevolent
dictatorships and techno-utopia. Illustration: Kickstarter Improbable Botany
Science fiction anthology “Improbable Botany”: Plant conquests, fantastical ecosystems, benevolent
dictatorships and techno-utopia. Illustration: Kickstarter Improbable Botany
Science fiction anthology “Improbable Botany”: Plant conquests, fantastical ecosystems, benevolent
dictatorships and techno-utopia. Illustration: Kickstarter Improbable Botany
“Biidaaban” by Lisa Jackson and Mathew Borrett. Short film for VR. Toronto reclaimed by nature in VR: Nathan
Square with its brutalist style of architecture is overgrown with vegetation. Render: Mathew Borrett
“Biidaaban” by Lisa Jackson and Mathew Borrett. Short film for VR. Toronto reclaimed by nature in VR: Nathan
Square with its brutalist style of architecture is overgrown with vegetation. Render: Mathew Borrett
“Biidaaban” by Lisa Jackson and Mathew Borrett. Short film for VR. Toronto reclaimed by nature in VR: Nathan
Square with its brutalist style of architecture is overgrown with vegetation. Render: Mathew Borrett
Speculative design project “Augmented Nature”. Sensors to communicate with animals. Using
vibration the bio-tag guides the peccaries to areas where they can disperse seeds and dig wallows.
Illustration: Augmented Nature.
Speculative design project “Augmented Nature”. Sensors to communicate with animals. Using
vibration the bio-tag guides the peccaries to areas where they can disperse seeds and dig wallows.
Photos: Augmented Nature.
Our relationship
with the forest
Germany ranks among the densely wooded countries in Europe.
Around 11,4 million hectares corresponding to one third of the
national territory are covered with forests.
Overview German Forest. Photo: Yulian
Alexeyev
“In the 19th century, Berlin became a major city. It entirely lost its
urban forests due to the construction of housing. The city was
fortunately able to acquire peripheral forest areas such as in Tegel,
Grunewald, Potsdam, Köpenick and Grünau, as well as through the
incorporation of various forests areas. The desire to preserve and
protect the surrounding forests led the city of Berlin to obtain extensive
forest lands in March 1915 and commit to preserving them as forests
and not to sell them as building land. This contract is still valid today”
Berlin 19th century. Photo: VisitBerlin.de
After the II World War, it was mainly women “Kulturfrauen” , who
worked as seasonal workers in the forest districts, who carried out the
reforestation after The tree selected to cover the, often large, clearings
was usually the pine.
Berlin after the II World War. Photo: The Telegraph
“Kulturfrauen”. Photo: NIEDERSÄCHSISCHE LANDESFORSTEN
With the "Mixed forest program" launched in 2012, the new mixed
forests are designed to have a similar composition of tree species as
the "Berlin primary forest" and are better adapted to cope with the
expected climate changes. Today, forests cover 18.2% of the city's area
Berlin Grunewald. Photo: Tagesspiegel
The beech forest has been managed for multiple uses. Beech wood is
mostly used for fire wood and pulp. In the past decades a trend could
be observed towards a diversification of the uses (…) for instance for
furniture, wooden strips, plates and toys, construction, parquet floor,
stairs, for joiner and carpenter and the packaging industry
Beech forest, Germany. Photographer: Peter Prokosch
Working with branches. Photo: Anne van Klooster
References
Animal habitat on the edges: Where do we fly now?
Chapter 13 “Impact of Urbanization on Birds” on book “Bird Species”
https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2F978-3-319-91689-7.pdf

Book “Darwin Comes to Town: How the Urban Jungle Drives Evolution”
https://www.amazon.com/Darwin-Comes-Town-Jungle-Evolution/dp/1250127823

Book “Urban Roosts: where birds nest in the city”

https://www.amazon.com/Urban-Roosts-Where-Birds-Nest/dp/0316083127

Research article “Anthropogenic Nest Materials May Increase Breeding Costs for Urban Birds”
https://doi.org/10.3389/fevo.2017.00004

Online article CityLab: How Human Activity Is Changing Animal Migration Patterns
https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/09/where-the-animals-go-book-urban-development-animal-migration/540174/

Online article: Are birds cut out for city living?

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/animalia/wp/2017/01/25/are-birds-cut-out-for-city-living/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.04bdb8bbb4
2b
Why birds matter: ecological functions

Research article: Increasing awareness of avian ecological function

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0169534706001595

Chapter 12: Bird Ecosystem Services Promote Biodiversity and Support Human Well-Being on Book “Why Birds Matter”
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276286609_Why_birds_matter_bird_ecosystem_services_promote_biodiversity_
and_human_well-being

Book “The Natural History of Pollination”

https://www.amazon.de/Natural-History-Pollination-Collins-Naturalist/dp/000219905X

Book “The forgotten Pollinators”

https://www.amazon.com/Forgotten-Pollinators-Stephen-L-Buchmann/dp/1559633530

Research article: The design and function of birds’ nests

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/ece3.1054
Flying berliners

Online article: History of Birds in Berlin

https://fatbirder.com/world-birding/europe/federal-republic-of-germany/berlin/

Book “A Birdwatching Guide to Brandenburg and Berlin”

https://www.nhbs.com/a-birdwatching-guide-to-brandenburg-and-berlin-book?bkfno=195935

An interactive guide to the birds most commonly seen in the city of Berlin
https://www.birdsinberlin.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/birds-in-berlin-preview.pdf
Design for nature and with nature
Research article “Posthumanism and Design”
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405872616300971

Article online: Bridges for Animals to Safely Cross Freeways Are Popping Up Around the World
https://mymodernmet.com/wildlife-crossings/

Article online: Making Architecture Better for Animals

https://www.curbed.com/2016/5/10/11640046/making-architecture-better-for-animals

Project Habitat Wall: Chicago in Ants of the Praire Architecture

http://www.antsoftheprairie.com/?page_id=1898

Article online: Tower of Nests Designed to House Displaced Urban Wildlife

https://www.treehugger.com/green-architecture/tower-nests-designed-house-displaced-urban-wildlife.html

Article online: Danish Street Art Project Has Built Over 3,500 Urban Bird Houses Since 2006
https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2017/11/danish-street-art-project-bird-houses/
Book “Wonders of Animal Architecture”
https://www.amazon.com/Wonders-Animal-Architecture-Sigmund-Lavine/dp/0396049826

Book “Nest: The art of birds”

https://www.amazon.com/Nest-Art-Birds-Janine-Burke/dp/1742378293

Book “Nightingales in Berlin” David Rothenberg.

• Project “Nightingales in Berlin”
https://www.nightingalesinberlin.com/2a2t0opq673v80cppaaucmg7p7zqla

• Music of Nightingales in Berlin Project:

https://soundcloud.com/david-rothenberg-530981395/sets/nightingales-in-berlin-sonogram-examples

• Article about project:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/13/nightingales-snubbing-london-for-berlin-tiegarten-germany

Project Printed Nest

http://www.printednest.com/community
Can technology help us sense nature?

Research article: “The Networked Sensory Landscape: Capturing and Experiencing Ecological Change Across Scales”
https://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/PRES_a_00292

Research article: “SensorChimes: Musical Mapping for Sensor Networks “

http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2016/nime2016_paper0028.pdf

Article online: “You Can Plant A Virtual Tree That Grows To The Rhythm Of Your Heartbeat”

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/one-beat-one-tree_n_5512285
 Radical nature fiction and speculation
Short film Biiidaaban
Trailer: https://vimeo.com/263191226

Project Ecotopia 2121

https://www.ecotopia2121.com/

Article online: “These six utopian cities of the future will help you reimagine life on earth
https://theconversation.com/these-six-utopian-cities-of-the-future-will-help-you-re-imagine-life-on-earth-70280

Speculative Design Project: Augmented Nature:

https://www.augmentednature.co.uk/

The vegetal city Project

https://www.citylab.com/design/2012/09/vegetal-cities-luc-schuiten-sustainability-fantasy/3216/
 Our relationship with the forest

Research article: The current state of european beech forests in Germany

Website: https://www.forstwirtschaft-in-deutschland.de/german-forestry/forest-facts/?L=1