coasts

Visions of Australia: Environments in History

About this issue

The contributions in this volume explore the way that Australasian environments have been envisioned, worked, and changed in the past, and how ideas about places inform the present and future of the continent.

Content

Reflecting on Unruliness

This reflection on unruliness refers to all papers in the volume, demonstrating how the concept of unruly environments provides a perspective of human-nature relationships from the vantage point of humans.

Unruly Paradise—Nature and Culture in Malibu, California

Looking at nature and culture in Malibu, California, this paper looks at how natural processes occurring in rapid succession—over months and years—have been subject to efforts to turn the area into a tame and orderly garden as part of a linear understanding of progress, closely linked to civility and the cultivation of nature.

Dubai Palm Islands

The Palm Islands on the coast of Dubai, United Arab Emirates, are the three largest man-made islands being built, their development started in June 2001.