Horse-drawn carriages: sustainability at the nexus of human-animal interaction

Abstract

With their nostalgic connotations, horse-drawn carriages are part of the tourism imaginaries of most cities that are simultaneously sacralized as sustainable ways of transportation and condemned as representations of oppression. This study looks at the sustainable tourism and transport debate, specifically the human-animal relationship, by taking horse-drawn carriages as objects of inquiry. The city of İzmir and the island of Büyükada in İstanbul, Turkey, were chosen as the cases because horse-drawn carriages are promoted as key features of the tourism imaginaries of both destinations and a part of everyday life there. A qualitative research design was chosen for this exploratory study. The results show the importance of imaginary, daily, ethical, political, economic, embodied, and social network relationships. Given the oppression felt in both human-animal and human-human relations, a solid regulatory framework decided by both public and civil actors is essential. The study indicates how socio-cultural and socio-technical assemblages are emerging in the transition to multispecies and hybrid sustainability.