From tree to forest, GROVE is a transpecies design project that imagines a city space where all kinds of creatures are welcome and supported.

As Barry B. Benson discovered in 2007, cities are poorly designed for non-human citizens, and often exclude the local wildlife that used to thrive in these areas.

Tt

transpecies (adj.):

Working in effort to maximize the flourishing of all species, human and non-human, together. It is design that centers on non-human creatures as the target user, and build solutions to human effects on the natural environment.

In Portland, bus stops and transit stations were seen as the city element most overlooked as a design opportunity. Plus, their transitory character provides riders the rare chance to pause and reconnect with the kind of nature not usually found downtown, with the goal of strengthening people’s empathy for nature.

With nature and wildlife as the target end user, intensive user research revealed key insights about the unique needs and struggles of non-human species, as well as offered fresh perspectives about our own human experience.

↑

The Oregon Geranium

The Fender’s Blue Butterfly

←

Specific user profiles were built around these Willamette Valley native plants and animals which are all classified as threaten or endangered due to urban expansion into their native habitats. Research included diet patterns, reproductive cycles, inter-species dependencies, and current dangers to population, and whether all rabbits are as punctual as those from Wonderland.

GROVE is designed with three levels of modularity to be as adaptive and responsive to the needs of nature as possible. This affords an ability to be tailored to the local climate of a range of cities.

Each species has it’s own unique needs, so modular side panels allow for habitats to be

Multiple trees at a single transit stop can connect to form a Grove, sharing water, micronutrients, and bacteria through under ground networks. The number of trees can be scaled from corner bus stops to Union Stations.

Across a metropolitan area, the flora and fauna living in these groves form an urban Forest, exchanging pollen and resources as they would in the wild.