Coastal Futures

Life Between and at the Edges of the Sea

Buch | Softcover

256 Seiten

2026
University of Toronto Press (Verlag)
978-1-4875-8164-0 (ISBN)

Noch nicht erschienen (ca. Februar 2026)
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Coastal Futures examines the “coastalization” of society from an ethnographic perspective, lending voice to climate modellers, planners, tourists and fisherfolk to consider the shore as a critical space from where to rethink environmental change, governance, and conflicts.

Coastal Futures explores the profound transformation of our relationship with the world’s coasts, as nearly 40 percent of humanity now lives within 100 kilometers of the sea.

Moving beyond the traditional view of coasts as simple boundaries between land and water, this book reveals the coast as a diverse, networked landscape shaped by intertidal ecologies, sprawling infrastructures, and everyday practices that reach far beyond the shore. By uncovering the “coastalization” of society, the book highlights the growing significance of shores in understanding contemporary life and environmental change. Drawing on rich ethnographic research, the volume challenges traditional notions of the coast as simply a physical object or maritime boundary. Instead, it closely examines the diverse material forms and infrastructural connections that define coastal spaces, envisioning new futures for these vital zones.

Coastal Futures argues that a scientific inquiry into the dynamic interplay of society and coastlines is both urgent and essential, encouraging more responsible and imaginative ways of living with and on the coast. Ultimately, the book redeems the coast as a geo-ontological force—one that shapes, enables, and constrains the transformative energies of global assemblages, rather than serving as a passive backdrop to human activity.

Arne Harms is an environmental anthropologist and senior researcher at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology. Lukas Ley is an environmental anthropologist and head of the research group S.AND at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology.

Introduction: Life Amid the Brackish
Arne Harms and Lukas Ley

Experimentation: Experiments at the Frontiers of Land and Sea
Arne Harms and Lukas Ley

1. Safe, Adaptive, Resilient: A New Urban Coast
Stephanie Wakefield
2. Making Models Matter: On “Coastalizing” Ocean Modelling in the Netherlands
Jacqueline Ashkin
3. Thinking Like a Coast: The Making of Urban Futures in Semarang
Lukas Ley

Fortification: ‘Sea Thinking’ and the Coast as Living Shoreline
Arne Harms and Lukas Ley

4. Weathering the Sea: The Coast as Crumple Zone
Arne Harms
5. Maintaining the Coastline: Earth Work as Infrastructure in Bangkok’s Vanishing Mangroves
Eli Elinoff

Encounter: How Humans and Non-Humans Live, Work, and Meet in the ‘Brackish’
Arne Harms and Lukas Ley

6. Cultural Configurations in Cycles: Making Sense and Making Use of a (Mystical) Beach
Judith Schlehe
7. Estrangement and Reclaiming in the Thane Creek: Fisher Archives for Reimagining Mumbai's East Coast
Lalitha Kamath
8. Environmental Talk from the Abyss – How Scuba Divers Relate to Coastal Futures in Denmark
Rasmus Rodineliussen

Erscheint lt. Verlag	24.2.2026
Reihe/Serie	Anthropological Horizons
Zusatzinfo	22 illustrations
Verlagsort	Toronto
Sprache	englisch
Maße	152 x 229 mm
Gewicht	1 g
Themenwelt	Geisteswissenschaften ► Archäologie
	Naturwissenschaften ► Biologie ► Ökologie / Naturschutz
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Ethnologie
	Sozialwissenschaften ► Soziologie
	Technik ► Umwelttechnik / Biotechnologie
ISBN-10	1-4875-8164-5 / 1487581645
ISBN-13	978-1-4875-8164-0 / 9781487581640
Zustand	Neuware