Sand patterns: distributed agency and the idea of ‘working with nature’ in coastal environments

Abstract

In this article, I examine the concept of shared or ‘distributed’ agency between humans and non-humans in the context of coastal environments. Drawing on critical theory from the environmental humanities and cultural geography, I begin by situating distributed agency within a relational paradigm for human existence in a more-than-human world, building on the idea of receptivity to bridge the gap between an ontological and a moral-political understanding of the other-than-human capacity to act. I subsequently bring the concept of distributed agency into dialogue with the idea of ‘working with nature’, notably examples of the ‘sand motor’ coastal landscape intervention found in the Netherlands, United Kingdom, and Ireland. The sand motor is a method for beach nourishment that operates on the basis of autonomous sediment dispersal, and that is meant to replace existing approaches to coastal protection that are labor-intensive and have a much shorter lifespan. Using the different cases, I demonstrate how planned and accidental deployments of the sand motor can be tied to varying paradigms for human/nature relationships, which may either contradict or support the principles of distributed agency. With regard to the latter, I highlight the importance of agential indeterminacy and human accountability for the long-term sustainability of pluriagential collaborations. Ultimately, by engaging productively with other-than-human expressions of agency through an ongoing practice of receptivity, important steps can be taken toward a more resilient future for all.