Cities in the world multiple: research methods for becoming-with the more-than-human

Despite calls in urban planning and design literature for multispecies justice and inclusivity, the city is still a prime example of human dominion over nature. At the same time, cities are inhabited, created, and limited by more-than-humans. Donna Haraway’s intervention of multispecies worlds prompted researchers to consider the possibilities of becoming-with “ontologically heterogenous partners... in relational material-semiotic world building” (2016: 12-13). To follow nonhuman practices, Anna Tsing proposed using non-textual media to overcome the limitations of verbal language (2018). These and other contributions help outline our understanding of a more-than-human ethico-onto-epistemology, and the need to extend our concern to the worlds of those who coinhabit our world.

Multispecies worlds require a critical eye from sustainability researchers, who must begin to untangle their current understandings of concepts including justice, green design, and sustainable growth. What does it look like to explore these world-building relationships, and how can it be done with those with whom we ostensibly cannot speak? In this presentation, we take up this question via creative drama-based methodologies and technological methods. For example, technologies such as immersive virtual reality and mobile small video cameras enable empathizing and exploring alternative perspectives or complete sense-scapes (Ross 2004, Äijälä 2021). We also explore Forum Theatre and role play methods for liberation and social justice, and its potential for exploring our entanglements with more-than-human worlds (Österlind, 2011; Steele et al., 2019). As we dive into these approaches, we consider their roles as part of more-than-human research practice.