Heat stress can have a devastating impact on the animals cohabiting with us in our cities. This pattern identifies (and provides a basis for protocols for) infrastructures of care for cooling animals. These may be deliberately designed permanent structures, such as Fiona Foley’s Lotus Line water sculpture at Redfern Park that invites multiple species; architectural features of built environments that incidentally gather water and/or provide shade; or more temporary solutions, such as bowls of water put out for animals to drink. The provision of habitat is another aspect of caring for animals in hot cities.
The need for infrastructures of care for cohabiting animals in the urban common spaces is driven in part by human practices, such as water diversion for irrigation.
Birds such as Ibises, which have migrated to cities because their wetland habitats are disappearing, are perceived as urban interlopers – alien and homeless. Cockatoos and Corellas have followed in their tracks. Providing cooling infrastructures of care thus challenges negative perceptions of animal-human urban cohabitation.
