Neither Land nor Water: Planning Through Fringe Ecologies in the Meadowlands (1896–2020)

“Neither Land nor Water is the most original, interesting work in urban planning that I have read in ages. Yıldız sets out a fresh way of seeing places characterized by ‘fringe ecology.’ She argues that understanding such places is essential in this first urban century as we grapple with the consequences of climate change, a claim grounded in an in-depth and convincing probe into the planning of the New Jersey Meadowlands.” -- Frederick R. Steiner, author of “Making Plans: How to Engage with Landscape, Design, and the Urban Environment” “This insightful history of New Jersey’s Meadowlands reframes the urban fringe from an empty wasteland awaiting development to a dynamic ecology where urban and natural systems are continuously jockeying for dominance across different temporal and spatial scales. Meticulously researched and beautifully written, the book details a series of almost comical attempts to subdue the area’s wetlands and biodiversity through planned interventions. These interventions encounter resistance from mosquitoes and muskrats, methane explosions, and fluid and complex metabolic systems. Yıldız shows how fringe ecologies force planners to confront nonhuman agency and the limits of infrastructural enclosure.” -- Rachel Weber, author of “From Boom to Bubble: How Finance Built the New Chicago”