Becoming with Pigeons. Interspecies Empathy and Urban Omnibenevolence

This project explores how urban pigeons in Barcelona can provide a valuable understanding of nonhuman perspectives. Through ethnography and speculative investigation, paired with posthumanist theory, and speculative design, this thesis examines how shifting human perception through empathy and relational care is limited. Inspired by Donna Haraway’s “becoming with,” the project investigates what it means to “become a pigeon” through embodied, self-reflexive practices. Furthermore, this thesis aims to critique contemporary anthropocentric design by centering pigeons as subjects and collaborators. Through video, critical cartographies of pigeon life and a first-person POV film this thesis examines the potential of design based on reciprocity, care, and the effort to bridge species boundaries for a new multispecies urban ethics.