Urban pulse

Land reclamation as climate urbanism

Bibliographic Data

ID11670271
AuthorsSabra Webber (0000-0002-7597-4622, The University of Sydney, corresponding author), Alan Wiig (0000-0002-6224-2633, University of Florida), Henrico Saeran (0009-0003-4917-7683, The University of Sydney)
Year2026
Pages1-10
Publication date2026-03-23
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueUrban Geography (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0272-3638 • E-ISSN: 1938-2847
PublisherTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/02723638.2026.2646536
OpenAlexW7140198803
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited16

Large coastal city regions have rapidly accelerated their outward expansion, reclaiming thousands of square kilometers of land from the sea. Here, we argue that land reclamation is emblematic of the emerging logics of climate urbanism; a spectacular and speculative form of urban adaptation, multiplying in vulnerable cities around the world. We present illustrative cases from San Francisco, Jakarta, and Funafuti to suggest that contemporary land reclamation is producing urban space through multiscalar financial entanglements, regimes of resource and labor extraction and exploitation, and increasingly aggressive forms of nation building and geopolitical competition. As such, land reclamation, as an emerging logic of climate urbanism, demands much more urban geographical analysis.

Climate change · Geopolitics · Land reclamation · Land use · Resource (disambiguation) · Urban climate · Urban planning · Urbanism · Urban and Rural Development Challenges · Urban Planning and Landscape Design · Water Governance and Infrastructure