Urban Decolonization: Urban Pigeon Ethnography
Cities are viewed as human ecosystems, so urban planning is usually people-centered. But this way of planning ignores that land is not only human land but also non-human land. The process of humans occupying land and building cities is quite similar to colonization: they occupy the living space of the aborigines and impose their order on the aborigines. However, it is not accurate to summarize this "natural colonization" behavior as unjust because many creatures in nature also use urine, feces, etc., to circle their territories. But as Lynn Margulis said when opposing Neo-Darwinism, there is not only competition in biological evolution. Symbiotic relationships between organisms of different phyla or kingdoms are also the driving force of evolution. The symbiosis of human beings and other creatures in urban space will bring about the city's future, and it will also be an effective way to solve the fairness of urban land among species. When thinking about how to incorporate symbiosis with wild animals into urban design, you can refer to the process of decolonization: respect the culture and customs of the aborigines (respect the living habits of urban wild animals) and seek the possibility of joint development.
The habits of animals need to be learned through observation. Therefore, conducting fieldwork and writing ethnography in urban spaces can effectively provide information on animal habits. This article uses pigeons in New York City as a research object to give an example.
1 Spatial Distribution
Unlike the common belief that "pigeons prefer to be in a natural environment", there will be more pigeons in many "artificial" places. The main factor affecting the number of pigeons is the abundance of food. That's why Penn Station has more pigeons than the woods in Central Park.
2 The Interaction between Humans and Pigeons
The pigeons are insecure birds. They don't usually eat food that people put on their palms. One exception to the observations was that once in Union Square, a man fed cooked rice to the birds, and some pigeons even stood on his hands and pecked at the rice grains. After asking, I learned that he comes to feed the pigeons 2 or 3 times a week, usually with cooked rice. Based on this conjecture, letting pigeons establish a sense of familiarity and security with a specific type of smell is an effective way to make pigeons trust people.
I heard a voice when I interviewed urban feeders: In New York, the cost of living is very high, and many people do not have the financial means to keep pets, so feeding birds and squirrels is a rare choice for them to get close to nature. Therefore, the symbiotic relationship between humans and pigeons is not simply an ecological symbiosis but a symbiotic relationship that combines spiritual and environmental aspects. In this interactive relationship, pigeons get food, and people get spiritual satisfaction
3 How artificial Environment Influence Pigeons' Behavior
The behavior of pigeons will change with the artificial environment. One afternoon in November, the researchers observed an interesting scene on the steps of Penn Station: there were not many tourists that day, and there were no tourists to feed them. Almost all the pigeons (more than 100) gathered in a sign indicating "no entry" after the yellow line. The researcher found photos from the mobile phone album when he arrived in New York in late August. At that time, the yellow line had been pulled up, but the distribution of pigeons was not concentrated. One hypothesis is that pigeons have an aversion to bright colors, such as yellow, which is considered a sign of danger. Standing consistently behind the line is because birds are used to standing higher. Another conjecture is that the area behind the yellow line is usually untouched, creating a more secure environment for the pigeons. When the pigeons are not being fed, they tend to stand in a safer environment.
But in February of this year, the researchers observed an opposite situation: almost all the pigeons stood in front of the yellow line (the area with tourists), even though only a few tourists were sitting on the steps and no tourists were feeding them. Although this cannot directly overthrow any of the above conjectures, it can show that pigeons will summarize environmental characteristics based on experience and make behavioral changes. One assumption about this change is that when there are more pigeons at the bottom of the steps, tourists are more inclined to feed the pigeons with food in their hands, which will bring more food to the pigeons. When they find that being in front of the yellow line is not dangerous, they will stay in a location with a more abundant food source
Pigeons in Penn Station, December: All stand behind the yellow line
Pigeons in Penn Station, February
4 Problems that Pigeons Take
The pigeons also caused some problems for the proper functioning of the city. For example, pigeon flocks produce many droppings, which can be a hassle to clean up from the streets. Bacteria are carried in the feces. People risk becoming infected when feces land on food trucks, benches, etc. Besides, sometimes flocks of pigeons will gather in the middle of the road at red lights, and it is not easy to drive away even if the driver honks, which causes traffic jams
Pigeons gathered on the Street
Pigeons Stool on the Street
5 What can We learn from the Observation of Urban Pigeon
"Building more green space" or "planting more trees" is generally considered an effective way to protect wild animals. It is taken for granted, though, at least for pigeons, whose main activity in New York City isn't "natural surroundings" but places where food is plentiful. In addition, in most large cities in the United States, due to the practice of the planning concept of "turning open spaces into parks", the green area of these cities is close to saturation. However, for various reasons, there are many parks, but the flow of people is sparse, which means that no one is feeding, and pigeons will not gather here. Another problem with this traditional planning concept is that when cities use many fragmented open spaces to construct "ecological spaces", pigeons will inevitably enter the environment around the open spaces and interfere with the city's daily life. And this also means that in the existing "open space ecology", humans and pigeons cannot form an order of justice and symbiosis.
Through the study of pigeon behavior, we are essentially misappropriated in the way of human community research on urban ecosystems. By studying the behavior of pigeons, on the premise of respecting their behavior habits as much as possible, reducing the adverse effects of pigeons on urban hygiene and transportation, thereby building a more harmonious urban ecological order. These behavior observations can provide a new idea for urban design, that is, how to use the habits of animals to design and guide animals to make behavior changes.
