Planning animal-human relations in "Habitat Großstadt"

• Applicant: Professorin Dr.-Ing. Stefanie Hennecke
• Subject Area: Urbanism, Spatial Planning, Transportation and Infrastructure Planning, Landscape Planning
• Term: since 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 448618861

It has always been and still is a task of spatial planning to exercise control over animal wildlife in the city, from protecting habitats or constructing barriers to regulating the number of individuals, for example by hunting or targeted feeding. The historic character and spatial planning of animal-human relations in cities and the conflicts and negotiations triggered by them are reflected in the practical implementation in current administration and planning. The project investigates the interplay of animal wildlife in the city and political, planning and administrative reactions to these animals. The aim of the project is to work out and discuss the specific spatial impact aspects of the interplay of autonomously moving and behaving animals in the city and the planning policy and administrative measures that react to them, and to make the research findings available for planning practice. The guiding principle of the project is to make use of practice-oriented investigation methods in the planning disciplines. The combination of analysis of the historical genesis of planning and investigation of current planning practice directed towards future spatial developments can make major contributions to how planning is to be handled in a considered way. The project starts with the thesis that traditionally the regulation of animal wildlife in the city has been determined by hygiene, hunting and nature protection and has led to the formation of certain cultural animal types, where labels such as 'pest', 'useful', 'non-domestic' or ‚protected’ are used. The aim is to gain relevant information for innovative planning approaches through a more exact understanding and functioning of planning activity that deals with urban animal life. Case studies of three German cities (Berlin, Hamburg and Munich) are used to determine whether in the current planning discourse there has been a transition from an exclusive and at the same time defensive-conservative handling of nature and animal wildlife (protected areas) to an integrating treatment that acknowledges the potential of animals and is offensive-formative (co-habitation). The results of the research project will document and analyse in a monograph the conventional structures of planning practice when dealing with animal life in the city and will draw conclusions for future planning concepts.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants