Over the first half of my Social Issues in Urban and Regional Development course here at the University of New Mexico, the topic that has impacted me the most is affordances. The concept of affordances came from James. J. Gibson which was written during the late 1970’s when people started to notice the huge impact humans were having on the environment. Gibson came up with the idea of affordances to describe how humans interact with the environment that all animals share. He writes: “The affordances of the environment are what it offers the animal, what it provides, or furnishes either for good or ill.” Gibson 1986, p.127)  (He explains how humans try to go beyond what the environment affords us to make our life easier. For example, Humans modify the landscape by clearing forests, leveling the ground, and paving it over to create cities. We even modify natural substances (e.g. metals.) Gibson explains how humans have not created a new environment, but instead modified it to suit our needs. The affordances of the environment are the same for every plant and animal on earth, we just use them (as Gibson writes): “wastefully and thoughtlessly.”(Gibson 1986)  

 

The concept of affordances can be applied to urban design. Cities are designed by humans and for humans. The common city design does not afford everyone the same thing. Not only does it exclude almost every other animal except humans, but it also excludes certain groups of people. They are designed with a focus on general human needs. An example from the lecture is how in Albuquerque, where a large portion of the population is in poverty, it is still being designed for the general population instead of for the people who actually live here.

 

During a time where human environments have started to cross paths wildlife habitats, cities have to be designed to accommodate and even welcome wildlife. An example is the baby sea turtles whose eggs are laid on a beach where the city has expanded to the edge of the shore.  When baby sea turtles hatch, they use the moon as a guide when they walk to the ocean. However, the amount of bright lights from the city behind them causes confusion, and the hatchlings follow the city lights and end up lost on the road, falling into storm drains, and getting run over by cars. They confuse the city lights with the moon.  A simple way the city along this beach could accommodate them is being in tune with the turtles and knowing when they are supposed to hatch. So on the day that they hatch, the city makes sure to shut the lights off. Another way to help the creatures is citizen science. Getting citizens involved makes the population of the city more aware that other creatures live around them and they need to be respected.(Palmer 2019) The sea turtle example is just one example of how the human way of life has interfered with the lives of other animals.

 

Green space is very important not only for urban roaming wildlife but for the quality of life of people who live in the city. However, green spaces with manicured lawns and aesthetic vegetation are not suitable places for wildlife to roam and breed. When designing parks and open spaces in a city, it is important to understand the elements that make the space habitable for wildlife. An example of a park that includes these elements is Freshkills Park. If urban planners have an ecological approach to designing the urban environment, cities could become healthier places for people and safer places for wildlife. (Gallo & Fidino, 2018)

 

This topic personally impacted me because I chose this major with the hope that I will be able to find out ways for humans to live without causing chaos for other animals in the meantime. I am hoping my future work will allow me to design cities in a way that won’t harm wildlife and will also benefit the community.

 

Albuquerque is a non-walkable concrete jungle in a lot of areas. I have also seen a lot of dead animals on the roadside even within the city. I always have a guilty feeling when I see them knowing that as a human, my way of life is causing this. I want to change that status. A quote from the lecture that brought this point home was when the professor said: “Why are we spending so much time fighting the world that formed us instead of making a connection with it?” When I enter the field of planning after college, my approach won’t be that the urban environment is separate from the natural environment. The affordances of the environment are the same for every animal on earth. (Gibson 1986, p.127)

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Works Cited

 

• Gallo, T., & Fidino, M. (2018, October 2). Biodiversity: Making wildlife welcome in urban areas. Retrieved from https://elifesciences.org/articles/41348.

• Gibson, J. G. (1986). The ecological approach to visual perception. Hillsdale, N.J: Lawrence Erlbaum.