Rats as urban sovereigns

Rats spread globally alongside humans and now shape city ecologies, infrastructure use, and public‑health outcomes — from predation on native species to being vectors for pathogens and drivers of waste‑management policy. Treating rats as an emergent urban actor explains recurring conflicts across ports, slums, and wealthy neighbourhoods and why conventional pest control often fails. — Framing rats as a systemic actor reframes urban planning, public health, and environmental policy to focus on human behaviours, supply chains, and governance gaps that enable biological invasions.