Gulls on the move? Synanthropic design in the Dutch Delta

Authors

Joanna van der Leun, Independent design researcherFollow
Laurens Kolks, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, The NetherlandsFollow
Bregje F. van Eekelen, Delft University of Technology, Faculty of Industrial Design Engineering, The Netherlands; Erasmus University Rotterdam, Erasmus School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, The NetherlandsFollow

Abstract

This article develops a synanthropic design approach. The Port of Rotterdam currently houses one of Europe’s largest colonies of the synanthropic species of Lesser Black-backed Gulls. The thriving of this particular colony is entangled with human interventions and economic activities in the larger Dutch Delta. We map the managerial, legal, political, and economic interrelations and dependencies that animate the human and more-than-human contact zone. By including a gull's perspective on the Dutch delta environment, this study aims to support the facilitated coexistence of humans and Lesser Black-backed Gulls in the Port of Rotterdam – now and in the future. The synanthropic design interventions and new governance model proposed in this study show how the Port of Rotterdam can be re-imagined as “Land of Gulls and Humans.”

Keywords

more-than-human design; synanthropic design; delta studies; avian worlds; lesser black-backed gull

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.195

Citation

van der Leun, J., Kolks, L., and F. van Eekelen, B. (2024) Gulls on the move? Synanthropic design in the Dutch Delta, in Gray, C., Ciliotta Chehade, E., Hekkert, P., Forlano, L., Ciuccarelli, P., Lloyd, P. (eds.), DRS2024: Boston, 23–28 June, Boston, USA. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2024.195

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

Conference Track

Research Paper