NYC Coastlines: Past, Present, and Future

(4 Credits)

*This course requires travel to Governor's Island. Students should not schedule courses before or after this course to accommodate travel time as well as field trips to offsite locations.* In this course, we will examine the past, present, and future of NYC waterways. The course entwines archaeology, geomorphology, climate change considerations, urban ecology, citizen science, and science fiction to think about the changing coastlines of NYC and the impact of urbanism on the natural environment. In addition to scientific publications, we will draw from historic representations such as The Big Oyster by Mark Kurlansky, the futuristic imaginations of Kim Stanley Robinson's NY 2140 , and contemporary efforts such as the Billion Oyster Project to regenerate the waterways in order to envision the relationship between the historical, contemporary, and post- 21 st century material culture and coastlines of New York City.