The proposed tool is map layering the physical geography of the tidal Schuylkill with historical, political, and ecological content. A large scale, art-driven map showing the current geography of the river would invite the addition of visitors' reflections, memories, photos, observations, fears and questions, while as a print and mobile tool it would serve as a practical guide to visitors exploring the lower river.
All maps have an element of psychogeography. All rivers offer the drifter a new perspective on the land. They are liminal territories, boundaries we more often cross than inhabit. On the river, we are invited to reimagine our relation to the world—to reimagine the world. What does the future of the lower Schuylkill and its surrounding neighborhoods look like? In addition to the present-day depiction, I hope to create speculative maps, with speculative histories, for a changing river on the brink of the climate crisis.
