This tool is a simple writing exercise designed to help you see the world from the perspective of another species. Each postcard is written from the viewpoint of a non-human species to a human.
You can use this tool as part of a larger workshop or within a smaller team. Each participant receives a postcard with a specific species assigned to them. In silence, everyone writes their postcard. You are free to keep the postcards in any way you like, but we recommend adding the extra step of sending them to each other afterward.
For this, each participant writes their address on a piece of paper, and the organising team ensures that everyone receives a postcard written by someone else. This way, each person gets a thoughtful message from a non-human species and a keepsake to remember the day they attended the workshop.
Purpose - Why should we use this tool?
The purpose of this tool is to stretch your empathy to different non-human species. It is an exercise that helps you experience your site from another species’ point of view. It acts as an important reminder to design for a biodiverse and caring place.
Duration - How much time is needed?
We recommend allotting 30 minutes for the exercise. If you choose to send out the postcards afterward, allocate time within your team for that too.
Materials and helpful links
Materials consist of instructions for the Multispecies Postcards, print-friendly postcards, and a Soundscape for the tool.
The Multispecies Postcards tool is a concrete example of the overarching approach of ”Being of Place”. You can read more about how the Herlev sitehas worked with the approach here.
Multispecies Soundscape: The Multispecies Soundscape, produced by NXT for Desire by X, immerses listeners in a layered audio environment that resonates with subtle natural rhythms and tonal shifts, incorporating the voices of diverse European species and natural phenomenon.
The atmosphere invites participants to slow down, reflect, and attune to the sensory cues of non-human life forms, enhancing the Multispecies Postcards exercise by deepening participants’ sense of presence and connection with the more-than-human world.
Multispecies Soundscape acts as an auditory backdrop, encouraging empathy and open-mindedness as listeners explore perspectives of other species, fostering an intimate experience of coexistence and kinship.
Featuring species and netural pnenomenon such as the European wolf, pipistrelle bat, grey partridge, toad, grey seal, and lion's mane jellyfish, the soundscape invites participants to slow down and tune into the sensory worlds of these beings.
Find the link to the tool and guidelines at the top of the page.
