Coevolving Citizen Science, Bats, and Urban Planning to Support More-than-Human Healthy Cities: Lessons from Florida

Urbanisation has resulted in habitat degradation and destruction for native bat species in Florida, USA, posing a continuing threat to bat populations and ecosystem health. Citizen science has been documented to fill population data gaps and outline bat responses to urbanisation, but an understanding of how this influences societal perceptions of bats and can shape and evolve urban planning initiatives are under-researched and poorly understood. This paper explores how citizen science could contribute to urban planning for bat conservation. A literature review of citizen science projects and native species’ responses to urbanisation mapped the current situation and was supplemented by an analysis of semi-structured interviews with three key informants in the field of bat conservation. Only four of Florida’s thirteen species were featured in the citizen science projects reported in the literature. There was a clear lack of attention to the impact of urbanisation on these species, demonstrating a need for reimagining how data collection and public participation can be improved. An analysis of interviews identified themes of evolving individual perspectives and complex societal connections whose interdependence and coevolution influences the success of both citizen science and urban planning. Understanding this coevolution of society and bat conservation alongside our current knowledge could provide future opportunities for bat-friendly urban planning in Florida with the potential for this to be framed in terms of healthy more-than-human cities.