Fluid New York

May Joseph is Professor of Social Science at the Pratt Institute, where she teaches urbanism, global studies, and visual culture. She is the founder of Harmattan Theater, which produces site-specific outdoor productions exploring the history of New York City through its architecture, design, and natural environment. Joseph is the author of Nomadic Identities: The Performance of Citizenship and a coeditor (with Jennifer Natalya Fink) of Performing Hybridity.

“Joseph addresses vital topics like city planning for ecological sustainability and how the city must meet the needs of a heterogeneous population. . . . Joseph expresses both affection and concern for her city, highlighting both its creative potential and provincial hubris it must outgrow.” - Publishers Weekly “I relished Joseph’s vivid accounts of New Yorkers’ communal campaigns against the wanton destruction of urban green spaces that had been a source of pleasure, solace and inspiration to citizens for many decades. She demonstrates that environmental challenges bring people together, no matter how disparate and apparently divided the population of a large city may seem to be. . . . [I]t speaks powerfully to a critical moment in urban ecology.” - Laurence Coupe, Times Higher “A tour-de-force, Fluid New York should be read and absorbed by anyone interested in how urbanism has recently developed along with ecology and how it continues to evolve within an ecological context.” - Jim Elledge, The Mom Egg "Fluid New York is a beautifully written and conceived book. Based on rich ethnographic material, May Joseph develops a persuasive vision of New York as a city with an emerging culture of 'fluid urbanism.' Her compelling arguments offer a way to rethink space and performative cultures in cities such as Bangalore, Beijing, and Dar es Salaam, and to put New York in dialogue with those cities and their urbanisms. This is wonderful, vivid, and insightful work."-Smriti Srinivas, author of Landscapes of Urban Memory and In the Presence of Sai Baba "This important book illuminates new ideas that took hold of the bodies and minds of New Yorkers in the decade after September 11. May Joseph's New York is characterized by the radical implosion and intensification of global difference. Her narrative consistently gives voice to people who have always been present in New York but not often heard from."-Brian McGrath, Research Chair in Urban Design, Parsons The New School for Design “Joseph addresses vital topics like city planning for ecological sustainability and how the city must meet the needs of a heterogeneous population. . . . Joseph expresses both affection and concern for her city, highlighting both its creative potential and provincial hubris it must outgrow.” (Publishers Weekly) “I relished Joseph’s vivid accounts of New Yorkers’ communal campaigns against the wanton destruction of urban green spaces that had been a source of pleasure, solace and inspiration to citizens for many decades. She demonstrates that environmental challenges bring people together, no matter how disparate and apparently divided the population of a large city may seem to be. . . . [I]t speaks powerfully to a critical moment in urban ecology." - Laurence Coupe (Times Higher Education) "Gorgeously written and keenly observed, Joseph’s book evokes both the global and the local in her consideration of New York City’s evolving relationship to its waterfront. . . . This vast book and its singular story reveal the pleasures of cosmopolitan belonging, as well as the difficult measures that must be taken to preserve urban settings and citizens on a warming planet." - Jennie Lightweis-Goff (Journal of American Culture) “A tour-de-force, Fluid New York should be read and absorbed by anyone interested in how urbanism has recently developed along with ecology and how it continues to evolve within an ecological context.” - Jim Elledge (Mom Egg Review) “Joseph’s work is highly creative and beautifully written. The book will be welcomed by scholars of urban studies especially those interested in cultural studies, citizenship studies and urban environmental history.” - Anthony Levenda (Urban Studies) “Fluid New York would be useful in any course about the history of New York City. For scholars interested in how the environment shapes and is shaped by urban life and culture, Joseph’s book deepens our understanding.” - Sean Singer (American Studies) “Fluid New York is an admirable study and I recommend it to readers who are interested in the green future of coastal cities.” - William Kornblum (Contemporary Sociology)

• Illustrations viiAcknowledgments ixPreface xiPrologue 1Introduction 7Part I. Fluid Urbanism 191. Water Ecology, Island City 232. Transoceanic New York, City of Rivers 353. The Maritime Sky of Manhattan 554. Thinking Metropolitanism 70Part II. Cosmopolitan Frugality 935. Nomadic Urbanism and Frugality 956. Nyerere, the Dalai Lama, Gandhi: Cultures of Frugality 110Part III. Ecological Expressivity 1317. Greening Hardscape 1338. Marathon City, Biking Boroughs 151Part IV. Maritime Mentalities 1679. Brooklyn Carnival and the Sale of Dreamland 16910. Spirits of Necropolis, Planes on the Hudson 17911. Governors Island: Maritime Pasts, Ecological Futures 18912. After Hurricane Sandy 204Conclusion: Toward a Praxis of Cosmopolitan Citizenship 211Notes 213Bibliography 231Index 239