New York City
The Festival of Dredge in New York is a symposium about the human acceleration of sediments, and the technologies and techniques we’ve invented which manage it.
Why Dredge?
The techniques of dredging—and the galaxy of technologies that surround it—constitute perhaps the greatest unrecognized landscape architecture project in the world. Dredge shapes our beaches and waterways, it is driven by what we do to distant upstream forests and fields, it plays a key role in global shipping networks, and in coastal real estate.
Moreover, dredging—the mechanized transport of underwater sediments—is a key moment in a wider cycle of linked activities through which humans act as intentional and unintentional geologic agents, accelerating and decelerating the movement of silts, sands, and clays. If we are living, as many scientists contend, in the Anthropocene, a new geologic era characterized by human action, then understanding dredge is essential to understanding the world we are making for ourselves.
Why New York?
New York is a city built on dredge. Its waterfront is made up of miles of in-fill shore and deepened channels, all products of moving thousands of tonnes of silt, sand and clay against the forces of nature and the consequences of our own prior practices. And its future is being shaped by dredge: as you read this, toxic landscapes in New Jersey are being capped and remediated using soil dredged in the Harbor; an abandoned coal mine in Central Pennsylvania is receiving railroad cars full of dredge from the Harbor; and islands in Jamaica Bay, which have nearly disappeared as a result of erosion accelerated by human actions, are being rebuilt with dredge, restoring an endangered ecology.
What will be covered?
DredgeFest will be a heady mixture of scientific knowledge, technical expertise, architectural theory and heavy machinery, intended for anyone who is interested in the functional and generative role of dredging and other sediment-handling techniques in the life of an estuarine metropolis like New York City. It will be an encounter between corporate practitioners, government agencies, designers, theorists, industry experts, and the public.
We are interested in dredging methods, the beneficial uses of dredged material, dredge as a resource, soil remediation, habitat restoration, geotextiles, the implications of Post-Panamax shipping and channel deepening, erosion control, island building, the design of littoral landscapes.
We think more people should be interested in these things, so we are putting on a festival, open to the public.
Questions?
For questions or media enquiries, contact Tim Maly.
DredgeFest NYC would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors, TenCate, Arcadis, and TWFM Ferry/American Princess.
DredgeFest NYC is organized by the Dredge Research Collaborative and our hosts, Columbia University GSAPP's Studio-X NYC.
Schedule
An encounter between corporate practitioners, government agencies, designers, theorists, industry experts, and the public.
At a Glance
Symposium
Friday 28 September 2012 1pm-6pm, followed by reception.
Columbia University GSAPP | Studio-X NYC | 180 Varick St, Suite 1610
The symposium is free and open to the public.
Harbor Tour
Saturday 29 September 2012 1pm-5pm
New York Harbor
Limited seating.
Tickets are $45.
Click here to reserve your spot via Brown Paper Tickets.
Symposium
Friday 28 September 2012 1pm-6pm
1:00 pm Dredge and the Anthropocene 3 Talks 1 Panel
We introduce the idea of dredge as a process that is interconnected with a much larger regime of human sediment handling practices, and examine ways that humans act as geologic agents.
Participants include:
Lisa Baron, Project Manager, USACE
Michael Ezban, Principal, Vandergoot Ezban Studio
Andrew Genn, Senior Vice President, NYC Economic Development Corporation
Roger Hooke, Research professor, University of Maine
Eric Sanderson, Landscape Ecologist and author of Mannahatta
3:00 pm Circularity and Feedback 5 Talks
We examine the current evolution of the handling of sedimentary resources from 20th-century linear industrial models towards 21st-century methods that create cycles, positive feedback loops, and resilience in the face of contemporary environmental challenges. This section features leading practitioners who can explain how their work participates in and even accelerates this paradigm shift.
Participants include:
Bill Murphy, Managing Scientist, e4sciences
Douglas Pabst, Chief, Dredging, Sediments, and Oceans Section, USEPA Region 2 and Senior Policy Advisor, New York-New Jersey Harbor & Estuary Program
Catherine Seavitt, Associate Professor, CCNY; Principal, Catherine Seavitt Studio
4:45 pm Regeneration and Public Participation 1 Talk 1 Panel
We examine the emergence of dredge as a resource for environmental regeneration, like the current restoration of island wetlands within Jamaica Bay using dredged material from channel deepening projects. This section will also highlight the grass roots of dredge, looking at practitioners who enable public participation through their work.
Participants include:
Dave Avrin, Chief of Resources at Gateway National Recreation Area, NPS
Hans Hesselein, Director of Special Projects, Gowanus Canal Conservancy
Debbie Mans, Baykeeper & Executive Director, NY/NJ Baykeeper
Kate Orff, Partner, SCAPE; Assistant Professor, Columbia University GSAPP
6:00pm Dredge reception at Studio-X NYC
Harbor Tour
Saturday 29 September 2012 1pm-5pm
On Saturday, September 29th, the Dredge Research Collaborative (and Studio-X) will lead a boat tour of New York City's dredged landscape -- with live commentary from the US Army Corps of Engineers and the National Park Service. We’ll see active dredging going on in the Ambrose Channel, which is being deepened to prepare for the opening of the Panama Canal Expansion, beach replenishment at Plumb Beach, and the rebuilding of marshy islands in Jamaica Bay, which had nearly eroded entirely over the past century.
The tour will be a heady mixture of light architectural theory, expert observations and heavy machinery, aimed at anyone and everyone who is not only interested in understanding the role of dredge in the functioning of New York, but seeing dredge in action. If you are at all curious about how New York's shoreline became what it is—or what it will become in the future—you should come along.
The tour will depart from Pier 11 in Manhattan and dropoff at Sheepshead Bay in Brooklyn; we'll be aboard the American Princess, which is operated by one of our sponsors, TWFM Ferry.
Click here to reserve your spot via Brown Paper Tickets.
