Overview
More-than-human approaches encompass design and research methodologies that consider non-human actors—including animals, plants, ecosystems, and technological systems—as active participants in technological and social systems rather than passive resources or environments.Examples
- Design projects that account for animal navigation patterns
- Urban planning that integrates plant and ecosystem needs
- Technology systems that respond to environmental conditions
- Collaborative projects between humans and AI systems
Beyond Anthropocentrism
More-than-human approaches challenge traditional human-centered design by recognizing the agency and needs of non-human actors. This perspective acknowledges that effective design must consider the complex networks of relationships between humans, other species, and technological systems. This shift requires fundamental changes in how we conceptualize users, stakeholders, and design outcomes.
Multispecies Thinking
Multispecies design considers the needs and behaviors of multiple species simultaneously. Urban design projects might account for bird migration patterns, pollinator pathways, and human pedestrian flows as equally important design constraints. This approach often reveals unexpected design opportunities and solutions that benefit multiple species while creating more resilient and sustainable systems.
Technological Agency
More-than-human thinking also recognizes that technological systems can exhibit forms of agency, particularly in machine-intelligence and cyberphysical-systems. This perspective influences how we design human-technology relationships and system governance.
Design Implications
More-than-human design requires new methodologies, evaluation criteria, and success metrics that account for non-human needs and agency. This often involves interdisciplinary collaboration with ecologists, animal behaviorists, and environmental scientists.
Environmental Collaboration
Environmental collaboration involves designing systems that work with rather than against natural processes. This might include architecture that provides habitat for wildlife, infrastructure that supports ecosystem services, or technology that enhances rather than disrupts natural cycles. Such approaches align closely with ecological-intelligence and regenerative-futures thinking.
Interspecies Interfaces
Some more-than-human design projects explicitly create interfaces between species, such as systems that allow humans to understand animal communication patterns or technology that enables interspecies collaboration in environmental monitoring.
Ethical Frameworks
More-than-human design raises complex ethical questions about representation, consent, and benefit distribution across species. How do we design for beings who cannot directly participate in the design process? How do we balance competing needs and interests? These considerations require developing new ethical frameworks that extend beyond traditional human-centered approaches to include broader ecological and technological considerations.