I am broadly interested in the attempt to develop 'future-proof' solutions to the large-scale challenges of the 21st century. In my PhD project, I investigate the plans and visions to develop floating cities to nuance how 'watertech' is central to past and present ideas about socio-environmental relations. I draw on ethnographic fieldwork and historical material to nuance how primarily Dutch tech engineers devise floating technology as a pragmatic tool to curtail hyper-abstract global stressors such as sea level rise, urban population growth, and land scarcity. I'm interested in how the technological capabilities to design floating cities derive from a long tradition of water engineering with roots in the Dutch Golden Age as well as how environmental awareness and technological development merge in past and present visions to build floating cities - both in the Netherlands and as a product for a worldwide export market.
