Re-thinking human-plant relations by theorising using concepts of biophilia and animism in workplaces

Abstract

This chapter discusses unexpected qualitative early results of a longitudinal study assessing the impact of biophilic design on a site office with nine workers. A demountable construction site office was retrofitted with plants, natural sunlight, ventilation, open spaces and windows as part of a collaborative effort to green construction supervisors’ spaces. An exploration of humans co-habiting with plants as stewards and shared residents, uncovers some unanticipated findings about human-plant interactions within the site-office, including elements of what anthropologists have called ‘animist’ thinking: treating ‘other-than-human’ living things as types of ‘persons’ with identities and capable of relationships. These new forms of human-nature relations, expressed through a desire to connect with plants, although still largely anthropomorphic, could be viewed as steps towards disrupting dominant views in construction industries that focus on the exceptionalism of humans and dominance of nature.