Canine Cityscapes: Sensing, Modelling, and Designing for More-than-Human Co-Residents

"CanisCity addresses a critical societal paradox across Europe: the cherished status of pet dogs in private life contrasts sharply with their contested public presence, fuelling social friction and marginalising both dogs and disabled individuals who rely on assistance dogs. This tension stems from a three-tier structural failure: a flawed perspective that treats dogs as property rather than co-residents; a design deficit rooted in anthropocentric city planning; and a rule-mix imbalance that privileges restrictive policies over enabling provisions. To overcome this, CanisCity delivers a transformative toolkit via an integrated ""Measure-Model-Sense"" pipeline, operationalising the EU's recognition of animal sentience into design-led practice. First, it will Measure canine-inclusive governance by developing the first city-level Canine Citizenship Index (CCI), derived from legal texts to benchmark policy. Second, it will Model conflict risk by integrating the CCI with geospatial, socio-demographic, and behavioural data to explain why and where conflicts arise, enabling proactive interventions. Finally, it will Sense the city from the dog's perspective using wearable biosensors to capture in-situ physiological responses, providing non-human evidence to inform urban design. Anchored in the UK as a leading testbed, the project's metrics and design protocols are built for pan-EU transferability. Its innovation lies in translating the abstract principle of animal sentience into a toolkit of measurable and designable spatial rights, reframing dogs as co-residents with entitlements. By equipping policymakers with instruments to embed non-human interests into the urban fabric, CanisCity fosters safer coexistence, shifting from blunt restrictions to proportionate controls and enabling design. It also supports the full societal participation of people with disabilities who rely on assistance dogs, aligning with Horizon Europe's vision of inclusive, safe, and resilient communities."