Human-Animal Relations As Sensory Phenomena

Human-animal presences in city life is neither a novel nor recent phenomenon. I approach different sites of urban encounters as contact zones between humans and animals. In reflecting on how such multispecies co-presences and encounters surface boundaries and parameters of spatial use and sensory governance, the paper engages with the following queries: What sources or avenues of urban sensory governance are there, and how are they invoked, contested, and altered over time in relation to heightened presences of nonhuman actors in urbanity? Through what methodologies can we ascertain and conceptualise urban density and sensory contexts vis-à-vis sensorial proximity, identified transgression, and spatial limits? By outlining human-animal relations in the city as sensory phenomena, a range of methodological approaches and data generation on human-animal encounters and urban dwelling are illustrated. These will elucidate upon how such co-presences require further reflections and urban planning and governance to manage human-animal relations and urban sensescapes.