Book Launch of Land Abandoned to the Sea

Part of the Politics and Society Book Launch Series at St Mary’s University.

This event will see the launch of Land Abandoned to the Sea: The Managed Realignment of Coastal Areas by Dr Stuart Oliver.

Land Abandoned to the Sea examined the issue of managed realignment, the deliberate, ordered abandoning of parts of the coast carried out in order to protect the land. Realignment represents a new approach to the coast: instead of the former attempts to ‘fix’ the shoreline realignment allows the old coast to be let go, in order to protect remaining land.

When in the past the purpose of realignment has been considered at all, it has usually been presumed to be a merely technical issue, a straightforward ecological modernization. But such a description is incomplete and misleading. By contrast, the book aims to understand realignment as a process of managing the coast that has a very definite environmental, social and emotional context. It shows that realignment is both threat and promise, representing a manifestation of a new understanding of the relationship between human society and the natural world – and implying that the coast if reimagined might be remade.

Respondent: Dr Alex Loftus, Reader in Political Ecology at King's College London

Stuart Oliver is Senior Lecturer in Geography at St Mary's University, where he was formerly Programme Director for Geography. His work focuses on the place of nature in landscapes.

This event can be attended in-person or online. It is free to attend, but you will need to register your place:

• Register to attend in-person
• Register to attend online via Zoom