Reconsidering the role of the built environment in human–wildlife interactions

Abstract In facing our greatest challenges, researchers have questioned where the ‘wild things’ will reside in the future, and large carnivores have been a primary focal area. The built environment plays a critical role in the propagation of countless species including carnivores; however, contempor...

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Main Author: Christopher Serenari
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2021-02-01
Series:People and Nature
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10163
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author Christopher Serenari
author_facet Christopher Serenari
author_sort Christopher Serenari
collection DOAJ
description Abstract In facing our greatest challenges, researchers have questioned where the ‘wild things’ will reside in the future, and large carnivores have been a primary focal area. The built environment plays a critical role in the propagation of countless species including carnivores; however, contemporary conceptualizations of human–nature relations do not satisfactorily attend to where the built environment should be placed within existing human–nature relation frameworks or how it impacts our ability to find space for carnivores. This paper fills this information gap by investigating the role of the built environment in social–ecological systems (SES), specifically wildlife and carnivore conservation. The paper unfolds in four stages: The first reviews empirical efforts to capture the relationship between human–natural–wildlife systems and the built environment. Second, using insights from the built environment literature, I argue that moving away from a common pool resource focus, decoupling wildlife and natural systems, investigating all infrastructure types and their interactions across systems, and considering the notion of hybrid systems offer pathways forward. Third, an explanation of the built environment's linkages to human and carnivore systems is undertaken to illustrate how the built environment facilitates the material and symbolic interactions through a blending of properties from human, wildlife and natural systems. Lastly, the argument is made that attending to the role of the built environment in human–wildlife relations can stimulate new research that reveals unhelpful habitual behaviour, feedbacks and barriers, and may also help explain unintended or unexplained consequences impacting human–carnivore relations not fully considered under existing frameworks. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.
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spelling doaj.art-a6cbabc33bb9404a80f11d9cc847dc562022-12-21T21:27:05ZengWileyPeople and Nature2575-83142021-02-013110411410.1002/pan3.10163Reconsidering the role of the built environment in human–wildlife interactionsChristopher Serenari0Texas State University – Biology San Marcos TX USAAbstract In facing our greatest challenges, researchers have questioned where the ‘wild things’ will reside in the future, and large carnivores have been a primary focal area. The built environment plays a critical role in the propagation of countless species including carnivores; however, contemporary conceptualizations of human–nature relations do not satisfactorily attend to where the built environment should be placed within existing human–nature relation frameworks or how it impacts our ability to find space for carnivores. This paper fills this information gap by investigating the role of the built environment in social–ecological systems (SES), specifically wildlife and carnivore conservation. The paper unfolds in four stages: The first reviews empirical efforts to capture the relationship between human–natural–wildlife systems and the built environment. Second, using insights from the built environment literature, I argue that moving away from a common pool resource focus, decoupling wildlife and natural systems, investigating all infrastructure types and their interactions across systems, and considering the notion of hybrid systems offer pathways forward. Third, an explanation of the built environment's linkages to human and carnivore systems is undertaken to illustrate how the built environment facilitates the material and symbolic interactions through a blending of properties from human, wildlife and natural systems. Lastly, the argument is made that attending to the role of the built environment in human–wildlife relations can stimulate new research that reveals unhelpful habitual behaviour, feedbacks and barriers, and may also help explain unintended or unexplained consequences impacting human–carnivore relations not fully considered under existing frameworks. A free Plain Language Summary can be found within the Supporting Information of this article.https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10163built environmentcarnivorehuman–wildlife interactioninfrastructuresocial–ecological system
spellingShingle Christopher Serenari
Reconsidering the role of the built environment in human–wildlife interactions
People and Nature
built environment
carnivore
human–wildlife interaction
infrastructure
social–ecological system
title Reconsidering the role of the built environment in human–wildlife interactions
title_full Reconsidering the role of the built environment in human–wildlife interactions
title_fullStr Reconsidering the role of the built environment in human–wildlife interactions
title_full_unstemmed Reconsidering the role of the built environment in human–wildlife interactions
title_short Reconsidering the role of the built environment in human–wildlife interactions
title_sort reconsidering the role of the built environment in human wildlife interactions
topic built environment
carnivore
human–wildlife interaction
infrastructure
social–ecological system
url https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10163
work_keys_str_mv AT christopherserenari reconsideringtheroleofthebuiltenvironmentinhumanwildlifeinteractions