Cities have always provided habitats for many species, including non-human species. The migration of animals to cities is currently increasing worldwide. The Cohabitation project advocates a fundamentally expanded image of the city, calls for animals and people to be recognized as equal urban actors and presents new approaches for the future development of interspecies cities.
Understood as a manifesto, the project encourages people to think about new modes of subjectification, relationships and solidarities and to develop an awareness that humans could only develop in interactive and cooperative relationships with other species. For this shift in perspective, the project questions cohabitationhistorical and current urban planning concepts in various formats and searches for forms of solidarity for future urban societies.
The focus is on the exhibition Cohabitation - A Manifesto for Solidarity between Animals and People in Urban Space , in which over 30 artistic and creative positions on the subject are shown. Using 3 key perspectives “Anthropocity”, “Eco City” and “Zoopolis”, they question the ambivalent relationship between animals, humans and nature in an urban context and offer perspectives for the revision of the prevailing conditions.