TRANSGENERATIONAL: TRANS-SPECIES Della Krantz GSAPP Spring 2013 Instructor: Kazys Varnelis, Ph.D. Associate: Leigha Dennis
During the past century, our species’ circumstances have changed. The decline in geographic isolation of different groups has caused widespread mixing of the human gene pool; scientific data demonstrates that the rate of human evolution has increased. While human adaptation raises life-expectancy, challenging cities to increase their transgenerational capacities to accommodate for multiple generations, the growing rate of evolution also challenges cities to address issues of biological diversity. If we are still evolving, what range of species will the future megalopolis need to address? Approaching transgenerational capacity through the lens of the inter-species relationship produces questions about how the discovery and adaptation of new life forms will effect the advancement of cities. As a result of increased biological research and changes in cultural attitudes, it has increasingly become apparent that coexistence between animals and humans is both necessary and beneficial. The following timeline examines the history of the trans-species relationship as it relates to BOSWASH in order to confront the ways in which urban areas might accommodate for emerging and disappearing animal habitats. Rather than viewing urbanization as interference to the animal ecosystem, it is possible to examine how humans might accommodate for animal habitats within urban areas, and how the trans-species relationship might work as a service to the future megalopolis.
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1859: Philadelphia Zoo The idea of an American zoo was inspired by English settlers with an interest in wildlife and by sailors and hunters who returned from travel with exotic animals. The zoo was the first to be established in America, opening in 1874 due to the Civil War. The zoo was accessible via streetcar, and in its first year contained 813 animals. Today it houses 1300 animals on 42 acres. 3
1862: USDA Founded President Abraham Lincoln established the Department of Agriculture calling it the “people’s department.” Under the USDA is The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service which ensures the humane care and treatment of animals, regulating the Animal Health Protection Act, the Animal Welfare Act, the Horse Protection Act, Honeybee Act, and the Animal quarantine laws. 4
1871: Fish & Wildlife Service The United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) is a federal government agency within the US Department of the Interior dedicated to the management of fish, wildlife, and natural habitats, providing 57 protected wildlife refuge areas throughout BOSWASH. These refuges allow fishing, hunting, and wildlife observation. 5
1873: D.C. Aquarium The National Aquarium was first established in 1873 in Woods Hole, MA, as part of the Federal Fish Commission. In 1878, it moved to the site of the Washington Monument, consisting of holding ponds, known as “Babcock Lakes.� Today the Washington D.C. Aquarium works with the National Aquarium in Baltimore to strengthen the animal collection and its educational 6
1876: Baltimore Zoo Located on 160 acres in Druid Hill Park, the Baltimore Zoo is third oldest in the US. It originally contained 52 deer which roamed free in the zoo until the automobile made it too dangerous. By the 1920s, the zoo had a reputation as being a collection of disappointing animals, until 1926, when the elephant house was constructed. The zoo now contains 200 species of animals. 7
1877: Humane Society The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals was founded in 1866, and in 1877, delegates from similar humane organizations banded together to form the American Humane Association, with the original mission of helping farm animals and improving the conditions of their lives. Today they employ biologists and behaviorists to protect animals and prevent animal 8
1886: ASPCA Founded In 1866 Henry Berge gave a speech in New York pleading on behalf of “these mute servants of mankind,” insisting that protecting animals was an issue that crossed party lines and class boundaries. With the success of his speech and his “Declaration of the Rights of Animals,” he brought a charter for a proposed society to protect animals to the New York State Legislature, 9
1889 : Bronx Zoo The zoo comprises 265 acres of park lands and naturalistic habitats, through which the Bronx River flows. Containing 4,000 animals of 650 species, the zoo recreates African, jungle, and Asian habitats for its animal exhibitions. In 2011, a venomous Egyptian Cobra escaped into the local Bronx neighborhood, causing the zoo to close the Reptile House. 10
1890 : Starlings In 1890 an eccentric drug manufacturer named Eugene Schieffelin released 60 European starlings he had imported from England, and in 1891, 40 more. As a result, the starling population is pervasive in New York. Roosting in numbers of up to a million, starlings can devour vast amounts of seed and fruit, offsetting whatever benefit they confer by eating insects. In a single 11
1905: Audubon Society Founded in New York, each member of the Audubon Society originally pledged, “not to molest birds.� Birds were threatened mostly by hunting, and in the 1960s the Audubon turned its attention to a wider range of conservation issues and protection laws. In 2011 Audubon created a new model for positioning energy transmission lines along the East Coast to preserve bird habitat. 12
1915: Cornell Lab of Ornithology The Cornell Lab of Ornithology was the country’s first graduate program in ornithology. In 1954 land was purchased to be set aside as a sanctuary for the lab, and named Sapsucker Woods Sanctuary after the discovery of the first breeding Yellowbellied Sapsucker in the Cayuga Basin. The lab focuses on interpreting and conserving biological diversity through bird research.
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1916: Migratory Birds The Migratory Bird Treaty Act was enacted in order to protect migratory birds between the United States and Great Britain. The statute makes it unlawful to hunt, capture, kill or sell the 800 species on the list. The Act was enacted in an era when many bird species were threatened by the commercial trade in birds and bird feathers, and was one of the first federal environmental laws. 14
1933: King Kong The cross-species relationships highlighted by the 1933 film King Kong were innovative in their cinematic depiction of the giant ape, the last member of his species. The movie presented unfamiliar commentary about the relationship of human and non-human animals, and about changing concepts of civilization and nature. 15
1943: Greenwich Sanctuary 285 acres of woodland, wetland, and meadow habitat, the Greenwich Audubon Sanctuary was the first educational nature center for the Audubon Society. The sanctuary originally hosted the Ecology Workshop, where visitors spent a week overnight on the preserve studying birds with naturalists. The visitor center now provides public programs. 16
1951: Nature Conservancy The formation of The Nature Conservancy in 1951 was quickly followed by land acquisition, a key protection tool for the Conservancy, beginning with a 60-acre purchase along the Mianus River Gorge on the New York/Connecticut border. Today the Conservancy has protected 119 million acres of habitat. 17
1966: Animal Welfare Act Signed by President Johnson, the Animal Welfare Act is the only federal law in the United States that regulates the treatment of animals in research and exhibition. Other laws and policies may include additional species coverage or specifications for animal care and use, but all refer to AWA as the minimally acceptable standard for animal treatment and care. 18
1970: Peregrine Falcons In the 1950-60s the US Peregrine Falcon population was depleted due to chemicals such as DDT. In 1970 The Peregrine Fund was founded at Cornell, which pioneered breeding Peregrines in captivity and successfully releasing them to the wild. As a result, in 1999, Peregrines were taken off the Endangered Species List, and there are currently 32 falcons living in New York City. 19
1973: Endangered Species Act Signed by President Nixon, the Endangered Species Act protects critically threatened species from extinction as a “consequence of economic growth and development untempered by adequate concern and conservation.�
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1975: Nim at Delafield Nim, a chimpanzee raised by a human family under the supervision of Columbia Professor Herbert Terrace, was brought to Riverdale’s Delafield Estate in 1975 as a baby and was taught more than 40 signs and 400 sign language combinations as part of Columbia’s psychology experiment.
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1976: Tri-State Bird Rescue In 1976 a Liberian tanker ran aground in the Delaware River, causing the sixth major oil spill in the Northeastern US in three years. Tri-State Bird Rescue & Research was founded that winter for the purpose of establishing a multi-disciplinary team of biologists, veterinarians, and concerned citizens to study the effects of oil on birds and develop protocols necessary to treat affected wildlife.
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1980: PETA Based in Norfolk, VA, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world, with more than 3 million members and supporters. PETA focuses its attention on factory farms, the clothing trade, laboratories, and in the entertainment industry.
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1981: Baltimore Aquarium Constructed during a period of urban renewal in the Baltimore Inner Harbor, the aquarium has a collection of 16,500 specimens representing 660 species. Aquarium exhibits include the Upland Tropical Rain Forest, a multiple-story Atlantic Coral Reef, and a marine mammal pavilion, opened in 1990, which contains eight bottlenose dolphins. 24
1993: Jurassic Park Steven Spielberg’s Jurassic Park brought the subject of survival and extinction to the mainstream with unprecedented use of computer generated images. The film revolves around the issue of species containment, as well as the underlying concept that dinosaurs are related to birds and other animals. 25
2002: Urban Audubon Center Preserving wildlife and offering public programming, the Prospect Park Audubon Center at the Boathouse provides nature trails across acres of restored natural habitat. The Center contains the Verizon Learning Lab, which houses live animals, a human sized bird nest, and changing exhibits overlooking the Lullwater. 26
2005: Lights Out New York 90,000 birds die annually in New York City due to building collisions; studies indicate that turning the lights off in one building, reduces this number by 83%. In 2005 NYC Audubon inaugurated Lights Out New York whereby iconic buildings such as the Chrysler Building, Rockefeller Center, the Time Warner Center, and many others turn off their lights from midnight to dawn during peak migration season from September 1
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2008: Graffiti for Butterflies Graffiti For Butterflies attempted to use images of milkweed flowers to broadcast the location of food sources to monarch butterflies in New York City, a stop along their migratory route from Mexico to Canada. Milkweed flowers have natural UV patterns that are recognizable to monarch butterflies, and the project presents itself as fast-food signs on a highway for traveling monarchs.
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2009: Safari 7 Initiated by Janette Kim and Kate Orff of the Urban Landscape Lab, Safari 7 is a selfguided tour of urban wildlife and multiple ecosystems along the 7 subway line, from Manhattan, under the East River to Flushing, Queens. Safari 7 also distributes a series of podcasts and maps that examine the complexity, biodiversity, conflicts, and potentials of New York’s ecosystems. 29
2010: Farmadelphia Farmadelphia emerged from Urban Voids: Grounds for a Change Competition. The project imagines how vacant lots around Philadelphia could be converted into farmland, and the abandoned buildings that occupy them used in an agricultural context. As a community renewal effort, Farmadelphia would bring people and animals together through urban Philadelphia. 30
2010: Feral City Imagined by Seth Barnard, an architecture student at Cooper Union, Feral City predicts the outcome of reintroducing a diverse selection of zoological and entomological species into New York City. In the Feral City, coyote’s take over the Holland Tunnel, bats squat in vacant apartment towers and insects build their own habitats. 31
2011: Theriomorphous Cyborg The winner of the 2011 Animal Architecture Awards, Theriomorphous Cyborg links human and animals through technology. Concerned with how animal bodies navigate, perceive, and interactively change their environments, the project is designed as a game with different sensory levels that mimic animal perception. 32
2012: Hive City A competition at SUNY Buffalo, Hive City, asked students to design a free standing habitat for relocating a living a bee colony located in Buffalo’s SiloCity, a development on land containing three abandoned grain elevators. Recognizing the importance of bee hives to local ecologies, students proposed designs for habitats composed of honeycomb structure. 33
Krantz, Della. TRANSGENERATIONAL: TRANS-SPECIES