Urban seascaping — Multiscalar network mapping as a tool for analysis and design of marine nature-based solutions as part of coastal adaptation

Abstract

Coastal cities are currently not designed to accommodate the marine realm. Due to climate change, the sea is encroaching on our coastal cities, and designers face the challenge of future scenarios with the increasing presence of water and other interconnected issues, such as biodiversity loss and increasing water pollution due to anthropogenic activities. The complex entanglements between land and sea, human and nonhuman agencies pose challenges that require a new way of thinking and doing. For instance, the traditional notion of a site with clear boundaries is confronted by the networks of water that take issues across micro to macro scales. Therefore, to engage with water means to think in systems (networks) - a reality that necessitates developing new visual tools capable of encapsulating interrelations across space and time, transcending conventional forms of mapping and analysis. In response to this challenge, I present an interactive multiscalar network map from my research called Urban Seascaping. Urban Seascaping is a critical proposition to engage with alternative approaches to coastal development by integrating marine nature-based solutions as an integral part of place-making. The map is developed as an online, interactive visual tool for practitioners, educators, and municipal members to think with increasing transdisciplinary complexity in the climate era and contribute to the evolution of mapping that brings forth nonhuman actors such as seaweed and entanglements in the web of life.

The paper was a part of the session Mapping Ocean Space: Holistic, imaginative, and critical cartographies [CMRG] which took place on Thursday the 29th August at 16:50 – 18:30