Where Land Meets Sea

When sea meets land, a particular intensity of encounter is set up. The physical properties of the coast as meeting point can be wrapped up in senses of unceasing mobility: dynamics of light, sound, presence, absence, surface, depth and texture are continually (re)worked and become apparent as alternating activities of construction, destruction and reconstruction. People are drawn to the coast - to the paradoxical regularity of its ever-moving and elusive characteristics. This flowing mobility of the meeting of land and sea draws attention to multiple spatial sensations. Drawing together philosophical, empirical and academic thinking, this book focuses on generating awareness of the relationship forged between self and surroundings. It details research undertaken at the South Wall in Dublin city and the Maharees peninsula in Co. Kerry, Ireland. 62 participants were engaged in photography and drawing to enable this exploration of spatial experience. The participants' photographs and drawings present how spatial sensibilities can be revealed by becoming more attentive to the immediacy of bodily knowledge: our more-than-cognitive experience. Their communications resonate with the philosophers considered, including Merleau-Ponty (1968), Edward Casey (2001), Gilles Deleuze (1994), architectural theorist Dalibor Vesely (2004) and contemporary cultural geographers. In exploring the experienced spatiality of the coast, the author argues that a heightened awareness of the relationship between self and surroundings is required if we are to more effectively approach the challenges of contemporary coastal pressures such as increased erosion and rising seawater levels. The book thus begins to suggest an alternative politics of the coast.