Resilient urban ecologies start with knowing the Others
Urban ecology is no longer a fringe field of ecology. Scientists have found high levels of biodiversity in cities and some species even seek out the city as habitat - humans of course, but also peregrine falcons and other birds. To create cities where humans and non-humans flourish they need to see each other first.
Most animals in cities are acutely aware of humans. They either avoid them as soon as they notice them, or they seek humans out because they know they mean food. Although we might think of cities as archetypically human inventions, animals, plants and fungi make up an important part of the urban area.
The notion of the city as a multi-species ecotope, not in opposition to nature, but nature itself, is what fueled Andere Arnhemmers (Other Arnhemmers), a joint campaign by the us, the city, artists, naturalists and researchers.
Getting to know the Others
Andere Arnhemmers’ main mission is to connect the human inhabitants of Arnhem with their non-human neigbours. When we acknowledge that cities are ecosystems, citizens realize they are part of the intricate web of relations within it. When we get to know these Others we can cooperate to make cities more balanced, habitable spaces.
Andere Arnhemmers collected stories linking human and other-than-human inhabitants that told of the wondrous world of night time bat commutes, talking trees and subterranean streams.
Forget what you think you know about nature, about cities, about yourself. Open up to the notion that you are nature and cities are ecosystems.
In a yearlong campaign we created stories about Other Arnhemmers, like the Sonsbeek Park beeches who use an underground fungal internet to talk to each other, bridges of flowers connecting bee communities across cities and peregrine falcons choosing towers over cliffs and calling cities their home and humans their neighbours. Our stories show how intricately humans and other city dwellers are connected with each other.
The story of the perfect pear
The fruit from the local urban farms are pollinated by local bees, without whom we wouldn’t have anything to eat at all. Only when pollination is completed to perfection (i.e. pollinating all five stigmas of the flower) does a perfectly round pear come to be.
The story of the flower bridge
The towns of Arnhem and Velp are building a flower bridge connecting the two urban areas with a bee highway. The solitary knautia bee depends on the declining knautia plant for its nectar. The knautia bridge will allow bees to forage for longer distances and establish themselves in urban areas.
The story of the caring mushroom
The fungus Amethyst deceiver connects adult beech trees to saplings in Sonsbeek Park. This way nutrients are distributed through the park’s forest that form a true green haven for humans and animals alike at the heart of the urban area.
Reshaping the city as a nature reserve in our mind requires tools. Our Urban Nature Map shows green hotspots and locations where Other Arnhemmers might be found, inspiring citizens to find them on their own.
Post-biodiversity
Other Arnhemmers is not just a biodiversity campaign, it’s a new language, a way to include non-human species in our conversations about cities and urban areas and include them in the way we design and use our cities. Like the local policy-maker who wondered aloud in a recent council meeting: ‘But how will this affect the other Arnhemmers?’
Andere Arnhemmers was a joint effort between wondermash, Studio Lakmoes, Dana Dijkgraaf Design, the Green Network Arnhem and Arnhem Municipality to create stories and experiences that connect the human and other-than-human inhabitants of the city of Arnhem.