Another recap of last semester's UDP3 "Red Zones! - Mapping urban risk and conflict zones" projects! Presenting "Sedimented Cohabitation. Living with Dredging in the Elbe Estuary“ by Ines Bigdeli Issazadeh, Luise Kempf ad Alena Riedel.

"Lifeline, habitat, estuary, waterway, river, landmark, recreational site, fairway - the Elbe is many things. Our research began with a puzzling phenomenon that sparked our curiosity: sediment deposits in Baakenhafen, a water canal right in front of our university. This prompted us to examine continuous sediment dredging as a human dynamic in the Elbe estuary and to ask how this practice shapes cohabitation and how its consequences become visible and are negotiated across three interconnected sites.

To understand this complexity, we conceptualize the Elbe estuary as a Critical Zone in the sense of Bruno Latour, applying the Patchy Anthropocene framework developed by Anna Tsing and colleagues. This approach reveals the estuary as a fragile system shaped by the interplay between human infrastructures designed for economic purposes and ecological processes beyond human control. Sediment itself becomes our protagonist, a composition of water and organic and inorganic particles that settles along the estuarine riverbed and shores, dispersed by tidal dynamics and artificial dredging, forming temporary neighborhoods before being mobilized again.

To trace these dynamics empirically, we employed multi-sited ethnographic research at three sites: the Neuer Lüchtergrund disposal site, the Kreetsand shallow-water area, and the orchards of the Altes Land. We conducted semi-structured and walking interviews with experts from state authorities, NGOs, and agricultural practitioners, complemented by participatory mapping, and document analysis. This methodological approach allowed us to examine what dynamics emerge at each location and how they are relationally interconnected.

Our analysis reveals that these three sites are not isolated locations but are interconnected through sediment movements and infrastructural decisions. The continuous deepening of the Elbe shifts the brackish water zone upstream, intensifying salinization in the Altes Land. The Neuer Lüchtergrund functions as a temporary disposal site within the dredging cycle, while Kreetsand represents a compensatory measure attempting to restore ecological functions lost through channel straightening and deepening. These asymmetrical dependencies demonstrate how human attempts to stabilize infrastructure for economic purposes generate precarious living conditions for other species across interconnected sites. Understanding cohabitation in the Elbe estuary therefore requires moving beyond anthropocentric perspectives and practicing flexibility and responsiveness toward more-than-human actors and ecological processes.”

If you are interested in learning more about the project, feel free to contact us at UD office to get access or come by and have a look at their book.