Human-Wildlife Conflict and Coexistence in Urban Environments

Dear Colleagues,

This Special Issue of the journal Animals will focus on both conflict and coexistence in human–wildlife interactions in cities. “Wildlife” is broadly defined to include animals traditionally living in the wild such as coyotes, wolves, and moose; synanthropes that have long lived in urban areas with people such as rats, racoons, and pigeons; and typical companion animals that have been left to roam the streets such as feral cats and dogs. 

The putative divisions between human and animal, nature and urban, and the wild and the “civilized” simply do not exist in cities. Whether the result of urbanization spreading into formerly rural or undeveloped areas, deindustrialization causing urban areas to “green,” or the fact that animals have always shared cities, boundaries between human and nonhuman animals, even in highly urbanized areas, are porous, impermanent, and often contested. 

The presence of high numbers of animals and human concentrations in cities has implications for the health and welfare of both. Nonhuman animals can pass diseases and parasites to humans either directly through bites or simply via proximity. The human world brings cars, cruelty, crime related to dog fighting, and pressures for extermination that threaten the health and wellbeing of nonhuman animals. While humans and wildlife can clearly conflict in urban spaces, scholars have been deemphasizing such conflict in favor of tolerance and coexistence. Human–animal studies scholars are generating more inclusive multispecies perspectives that consider wild animals as social actors. Transspecies urban theorists argue for accommodating wild animals as urban citizens rather than as trespassers.

While certainly not exhaustive, some potential topics are listed below. Global comparisons would be particularly welcome. 

• What are the implications of focusing on wild animals in urban areas in terms of a host of municipal functions such as infrastructure planning, ordinances, zoning, and use of greenspaces? How does the placement of human infrastructure such as roads, housing, golf courses, parks, and bus stops affect nonhuman animals and the relations between humans and animals?
• If formerly wild animals such as wolves and coyotes are to be accommodated in cities, how are both animal and human safety to be protected?
• What are the continuing health threats of human–wildlife interactions in cities?
• If urban farming is promoted in cities, how is the likely increase in animals such as raccoons and rats to be addressed?
• What is the impact of abandoned buildings on stray and feral dogs and cats? If such buildings are razed, how do the animals living in them react?
• How can urban infrastructure be modified to increase the potential for positive human–animal interactions?
• What would model ordinances regarding wildlife such as wolves or coyotes in cities look like? How can human safety and wild animal welfare be protected?
• How have wild animals adapted over time to life in cities and to what extent do they differ from their non-urban counterparts?

Authors are encouraged to submit article proposals to the editor by 31 December 2022. These will be reviewed, and specific papers selected by 31 January 2023. The final articles will be due by 31 July 2023. Please send proposals along with contact information and a curriculum vita via email to: Laura A. Reese, School of Planning, Design and Construction, Michigan State University, reesela@msu.edu.

Prof. Dr. Laura A. Reese
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• human–wildlife interactions
• wildlife in urban areas
• animals in cities