The Changing Shoreline of New York City @NYPL

The changing shoreline of nyc 1

Via NYPL

The Changing Shoreline of New York City surveys key points along New York City’s shoreline with a particular focus on Manhattan’s waterfront expansion. Historical maps of New York City juxtapose current coastal conditions of the city, revealing dramatic material landmass changes through time which are expressed through subtle contour differentiations mapped by a single line. The street grid of Manhattan, brought into effect by the Commissioners’ Plan of 1811, provokes a hard edged condition insensitive to the many natural ecologies and layered boundaries that Manhattan island once hosted. The plan imposes efficiency and modernity onto the diverse landscape contained in the original outline of the earliest maps of Manhattan, usually obliterating the natural conditions when confronted with a diverse shoreline.

In an attempt to destabilize the perception of coastal boundaries in Manhattan today, the stories below trace minute accounts of a Manhattan that was in the process of radical transformations. The focus on water further shifts the city imaginary to explore a territory that has been consecutively filled-in, uprooted, and neglected in the expansion of the great metropolis. This guided tour outlines existing programs along the hardened shoreline, a brief history of the site and its past shoreline qualities, as well as future proposals for many of these sites which today face variable urban pressures due to changing climate conditions and urban revitalization developments.

The Changing Shoreline of New York City is a project by Laura Blaszczak made during her internship at the New York Public Library (with some help by Bert Spaan and Luuk van de Ven), and is part of NYPL’s NYC Space/Time Directory.

To browse more maps from NYPL’s collections of digitized historical maps, prints and photos, visit Digital Collections. To plan a research visit to view maps in person or for more information about both digitized and non-digitized maps, contact the staff of the Lionel Pincus and Princess Firyal Map Division.

The source code of this project is available on GitHub.

See more!


Adafruit publishes a wide range of writing and video content, including interviews and reporting on the maker market and the wider technology world. Our standards page is intended as a guide to best practices that Adafruit uses, as well as an outline of the ethical standards Adafruit aspires to. While Adafruit is not an independent journalistic institution, Adafruit strives to be a fair, informative, and positive voice within the community – check it out here: adafruit.com/editorialstandards

Join Adafruit on Mastodon

Adafruit is on Mastodon, join in! adafruit.com/mastodon

Stop breadboarding and soldering – start making immediately! Adafruit’s Circuit Playground is jam-packed with LEDs, sensors, buttons, alligator clip pads and more. Build projects with Circuit Playground in a few minutes with the drag-and-drop MakeCode programming site, learn computer science using the CS Discoveries class on code.org, jump into CircuitPython to learn Python and hardware together, TinyGO, or even use the Arduino IDE. Circuit Playground Express is the newest and best Circuit Playground board, with support for CircuitPython, MakeCode, and Arduino. It has a powerful processor, 10 NeoPixels, mini speaker, InfraRed receive and transmit, two buttons, a switch, 14 alligator clip pads, and lots of sensors: capacitive touch, IR proximity, temperature, light, motion and sound. A whole wide world of electronics and coding is waiting for you, and it fits in the palm of your hand.

Have an amazing project to share? The Electronics Show and Tell is every Wednesday at 7pm ET! To join, head over to YouTube and check out the show’s live chat – we’ll post the link there.

Join us every Wednesday night at 8pm ET for Ask an Engineer!

Join over 36,000+ makers on Adafruit’s Discord channels and be part of the community! http://adafru.it/discord

CircuitPython – The easiest way to program microcontrollers – CircuitPython.org


Maker Business — “Packaging” chips in the US

Wearables — Enclosures help fight body humidity in costumes

Electronics — Transformers: More than meets the eye!

Python for Microcontrollers — Python on Microcontrollers Newsletter: Silicon Labs introduces CircuitPython support, and more! #CircuitPython #Python #micropython @ThePSF @Raspberry_Pi

Adafruit IoT Monthly — Guardian Robot, Weather-wise Umbrella Stand, and more!

Microsoft MakeCode — MakeCode Thank You!

EYE on NPI — Maxim’s Himalaya uSLIC Step-Down Power Module #EyeOnNPI @maximintegrated @digikey

New Products – Adafruit Industries – Makers, hackers, artists, designers and engineers! — #NewProds 7/19/23 Feat. Adafruit Matrix Portal S3 CircuitPython Powered Internet Display!

Get the only spam-free daily newsletter about wearables, running a "maker business", electronic tips and more! Subscribe at AdafruitDaily.com !



No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.