Urban seascaping with seaweed—Multiscalar network mapping as a framework for design analysis and projection of marine nature-based solutions for coastal adaptation in Vejle, Denmark

Abstract

Coastal cities are 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 scales, transcending conventional forms of mapping and analysis. In response to this challenge, I present an interactive multiscalar network map entitled Urban Seascaping. Departing from a case study site of Vejle in Denmark, 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 information age and contribute to the evolution of mapping that brings forth marine actors such as seaweed. Urban Seascaping is thus an ode to the often-forgotten world underneath, using seaweed as a catalyst for the urban transformation of coastal cities in an increasingly wet world.