The potential of Animal Centered Design
Three applications of animal centered design:
1) a design discipline
2) a DEI practice strategy
3) a bridge between urban humans and nature
Historically, the term "user" has only referred to humans, with design disciplines as a whole dismissing animals. However, our interactions with animals are critical to our mental, bodily, and ecological health and well-being. As the most dominant species on the earth, expanding our concept of users to include animals becomes a duty that, in doing so, opens an enormous potential to enhance the lives of all creatures, including ourselves.
pH-auna is happy to share this potential with the rest of the world. However, we recognize that, owing to its infancy, comprehending the applications of animal-centered design might be difficult to conceive, which is why we decided to publish this blog.
There are three key areas where animal-centered design may be used (if you believe we missed any, please let us know!).
1 - The most basic use is as an approach to problem solving for the creation of products and services for animal and human consumers. Consider the design of a veterinarian clinic, cattle handling facilities, zoo enclosures, pet items, and so on.
2 - As a strategy for implementing diversity, equality, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Animals play an important role in our human lives. We learn our first words in animal noises as youngsters, our earliest stories include animal protagonists, and as we get older, issues that may be difficult to grasp (such as divorce) are taught through animal actors. This causes humans of all ages to be forever curious about animals, leading to a tendency to withhold judgment regarding their behaviors; and, more importantly, because none of us know everything there is to know about all animals - there are simply too many of them and too much about them we have yet to discover - we do not need to prove our knowledge.
So, why does this matter? Because utilizing animal actors to teach diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) removes a huge portion of human prejudices and biases from the start. At pH-auna, we have demonstrated that employing animal-centered design methodologies for DEI practice teaches humans how to keep their assumptions and beliefs in check while methodically identifying the needs of an animal user. This skill is then strengthened by performing some of the same and other new exercises with human counterparts.
3 - To serve as a link between people and animals. But first, a disclaimer: this last application is an idea of mine that has yet to be confirmed, but it feels intuitively correct, so here goes. The 1970s were the decade in which very big urban agglomerations grew increasingly widespread, leading up to today, when cities house more than 56% of the planet's population. The 1970s were also the decade in which our understanding of the impact of human actions on climate change was converted into systematic scientific analyses. Finally, the 1970s were the decade in which pet ownership began to surge, with the number of families in the United States keeping a pet continuously increasing from 1980 until now. This is a global trend, with the number of companion animals estimated to reach over 1 billion now (3). Seen from a distance, this growth in pet ownership is striking, even bizarre. What is the point of having so many pets? What is their function apart from companionship? Let's start by stating some o f the implications of urbanization, climate change, and pet ownership. a) Urbanization separates us from daily interaction with nature, making the natural world appear distant and unrelated to us. b) Climate change is caused in part by the disconnect between human behavior and its environmental impact. Is it truly happening if I can't hear the forest becoming quieter as a result of deforestation, in which I am involved due to my use of paper and wood? c) Modern pet ownership has developed to include companion animals living in our homes, sleeping in our beds, and being considered siblings to our children, among other things.
Reflecting on the link between these three, we may say that our current disconnect from nature is critical. Some of us have never seen a live cow, a tomato plant, or even the ocean. The only animals we see are those who share our cities with us. As a result, our initiatives to reconnect humans with nature face an uphill struggle. No matter how many "rescue the (insert any animal or plant species)" campaigns we undertake, it is difficult for humans to sympathize with species that are distinct from their own, with with whom they have no relationship, and whose presence in the ecosystem does not appear to directly effect them (although we know it does).
Enter companion animals.... ANIMALS .... and we live with them! So what if their goal is just that? To serve as an intermediary between us and the natural world? Because if I ask you what your cat or dog enjoys, you will immediately think of them as an individual, a one-of-a-kind creature who has a special place in your heart. And if my next question is to have you envision a polar bear or a whale in the same way... Isn't that cognitive and experiential leap simpler to make?
(1) Law, 2009
(2) https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/sota_2003/5/
(3) https://www.healthforanimals.org/reports/pet-care-report/global-trends-in-the-pet-population/