When people think of mapping cities, it is usually from a human perspective: crime rates, population density, frequency of services, routes used by different demographics and so on. Animals, if ever considered, are often presented as menacing creatures that must be shifted away for the benefit of society.
But Rebecca Hui, a Fulbright scholar from the US, is attempting to change that perception. Even as people begin to map cities in increasingly complex ways, Hui has begun to look at how animals live in urban spaces.
"I came into this with urban planning questions," she told Scroll.in. "Animals do follow their own rules. By studying the natural laws that animals respect, one can learn how to design for humans in a more environmentally sensible way."
The project emerged out of a spontaneous trip Hui made to Ahmedabad four years ago, where she first encountered that foremost of all tourist observations: animals, particularly, cows, on streets.
"I was struck by how much animals coexisted in the same space as people, which might be normal here but is not something you see in the States,” she said. "I began to notice that depending on where the cow went, it would behave differently, whether it was in a more traditional part of the city or a more urbanised part."
But instead of just taking photographs and tweeting about it, Hui decided to take this a little further by correlating the day-to-day experiences of animals as residents of the city. For a few hours each day, she trailed cows wherever they went, and noted how and what they did.
In January, she intensified her project after getting a Fulbright scholarship and a grant from the National Geographic Society. Hui is no stranger to mapping unusual elements in urban spaces. She has previously tracked dogs travelling on metros in Moscow, cigarette buds in Chinatown and Lego sets in Berkeley.
This fortnight, she will display her findings at an exhibition in Mumbai. The Secret Life of Urban Animals looks at four species. Hui tracked dogs in Mumbai, cows in Gujarat, elephants in Tamil Nadu and leopards in Mumbai's Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The exhibition has a collection of sketches, maps, photographs and observations on urban development.
Hui was unable to trail elephants and leopards very closely because of the obvious risks involved, but her experiences with cows and dogs led her across the city. As she trailed them, they also became familiar with her. Dogs approached her in the hope of getting food – although she soon made it clear that their relationship would remain strictly professional. Once, a cow she was following tried to drink her coconut water.
Animals had different experiences in different locations. Cows in Ahmedabad, for instance, had far more freedom than cows in Mumbai. They frequently roamed large, though fixed, areas of the city and found shelter in open sheds in houses in Ahmedabad's traditional neighbourhoods. But n Mumbai, they tended to be tied to one spot through the day.
"You look at the hyper-dense environment of Mumbai and its crowded roads, and it is in that situation that the cow loses autonomy to move," said Hui. "The cow can only exist in that space if she makes money, whereas she can exist without purpose or business in other places."
Even when free to roam, cows responded very closely to their surroundings, as did people to them.
"A cow [butted] a woman at a bus stop at a very stressful intersection," Hui said. "The cow was moving fast and became a little violent. Most hostile reactions were in urban settings where people might not share a common religion or attitude towards cows."
She was once following a cow when it went close to a store. People dumped water on the cow and shooed her away. Another time, she saw someone punch a cow.
Dogs also responded to their relationships with humans around them. If they were assured of being fed by a community, they would not roam very far. On the other hand, if they had to forage for food, their radius of travel would be much wider.
But the dogs that travelled the most were usually those dumped by their owners.
"Dog-rescue NGOs have told me that dogs travelling on trains were some times abandoned and are riding to find their owners," she said. "They are in a state of perpetual lostness because their territory is lost. That is a tragically poetic way to put it."
The Secret Life of Urban Animals will be on display at the David Sassoon Library, Mumbai, from September 15 to 28. Hui will lead a tour of the exhibition on September 15 at 7 pm.
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But Rebecca Hui, a Fulbright scholar from the US, is attempting to change that perception. Even as people begin to map cities in increasingly complex ways, Hui has begun to look at how animals live in urban spaces.
"I came into this with urban planning questions," she told Scroll.in. "Animals do follow their own rules. By studying the natural laws that animals respect, one can learn how to design for humans in a more environmentally sensible way."
The project emerged out of a spontaneous trip Hui made to Ahmedabad four years ago, where she first encountered that foremost of all tourist observations: animals, particularly, cows, on streets.
"I was struck by how much animals coexisted in the same space as people, which might be normal here but is not something you see in the States,” she said. "I began to notice that depending on where the cow went, it would behave differently, whether it was in a more traditional part of the city or a more urbanised part."
But instead of just taking photographs and tweeting about it, Hui decided to take this a little further by correlating the day-to-day experiences of animals as residents of the city. For a few hours each day, she trailed cows wherever they went, and noted how and what they did.
In January, she intensified her project after getting a Fulbright scholarship and a grant from the National Geographic Society. Hui is no stranger to mapping unusual elements in urban spaces. She has previously tracked dogs travelling on metros in Moscow, cigarette buds in Chinatown and Lego sets in Berkeley.
This fortnight, she will display her findings at an exhibition in Mumbai. The Secret Life of Urban Animals looks at four species. Hui tracked dogs in Mumbai, cows in Gujarat, elephants in Tamil Nadu and leopards in Mumbai's Sanjay Gandhi National Park. The exhibition has a collection of sketches, maps, photographs and observations on urban development.
Hui was unable to trail elephants and leopards very closely because of the obvious risks involved, but her experiences with cows and dogs led her across the city. As she trailed them, they also became familiar with her. Dogs approached her in the hope of getting food – although she soon made it clear that their relationship would remain strictly professional. Once, a cow she was following tried to drink her coconut water.
Animals had different experiences in different locations. Cows in Ahmedabad, for instance, had far more freedom than cows in Mumbai. They frequently roamed large, though fixed, areas of the city and found shelter in open sheds in houses in Ahmedabad's traditional neighbourhoods. But n Mumbai, they tended to be tied to one spot through the day.
"You look at the hyper-dense environment of Mumbai and its crowded roads, and it is in that situation that the cow loses autonomy to move," said Hui. "The cow can only exist in that space if she makes money, whereas she can exist without purpose or business in other places."
Even when free to roam, cows responded very closely to their surroundings, as did people to them.
"A cow [butted] a woman at a bus stop at a very stressful intersection," Hui said. "The cow was moving fast and became a little violent. Most hostile reactions were in urban settings where people might not share a common religion or attitude towards cows."
She was once following a cow when it went close to a store. People dumped water on the cow and shooed her away. Another time, she saw someone punch a cow.
Dogs also responded to their relationships with humans around them. If they were assured of being fed by a community, they would not roam very far. On the other hand, if they had to forage for food, their radius of travel would be much wider.
But the dogs that travelled the most were usually those dumped by their owners.
"Dog-rescue NGOs have told me that dogs travelling on trains were some times abandoned and are riding to find their owners," she said. "They are in a state of perpetual lostness because their territory is lost. That is a tragically poetic way to put it."
The Secret Life of Urban Animals will be on display at the David Sassoon Library, Mumbai, from September 15 to 28. Hui will lead a tour of the exhibition on September 15 at 7 pm.