Project R-16655

BiodiverCities: A Roadmap for Fostering Human Wildlife Coexistence in Greening Cities (Research)

BiodiverCities addresses the rising challenges of urban biodiversity management by creating a comprehensive framework - an "interspecies etiquette". This framework will problematize and actively guide coexistence between human and non-human residents in cities. Recognizing that urban wildlife often presents unique challenges both as an unruly manifestation of biodiversity and as a side effect of greening, the project bridges gaps in existing knowledge and promotes proactive stewardship strategies. Key issues include the "goldilocks dilemma" of balancing residents' emotional preferences for wildlife, conflicts stemming from wildlife adapting novel behaviors in urban settings, a lack of clear constituency for wildlife issues in cities, and the tendency for management responses to urban wildlife to be reactive rather than strategic. Through 4 WPs, we leverage theories of wildlife literacy, relationality and stewardship (together forming the interspecies etiquette) in mixed observational and systems-inspired methods combined in novel ways that emphasize human-wildlife interaction. The project comprises four case studies—Stockholm, Cape Town, Freiburg, and Genk. These cases represent different wildlife dynamics, green profiles, intersecting areas of high biodiversity, sociopolitical and cultural profiles. They are also set at different stages of coexistence and conflict with wildlife: from initial encounters, uneasy adaptation and conflict, to adjustment

01 May 2026 - 30 April 2029