Supported by an NEH Digital Designs for the Public grant, Virtual Aquapolis examines the transformation of New York harbor from a rich, biodiverse maze of marshlands, reefs and estuaries into the urban waterways surrounding NYC today. 

 Wearing VR headsets equipped with movement tracking, visitors become the water itself: moving through the harbor as currents and tides and shifting volume to filter through oysters and jellyfish and explore microscopic lifeforms and pollutants. 

 Spanning five eras, from 1500 to the near future, the underwater world reveals a mosaic of flora, fauna and human artifacts depicted through vibrant interactive visuals and a 360° soundscape; the world above suggested by refracted images of human activity.

 In 1500, underwater Lenapehoking hums with aquatic life as canoes glide above. Colonization brings expanding shorelines and invasive species. During the Industrial Revolution, people swim and fish as human waste, steamships and blasting threaten biodiversity. The water grows dark and still. Regulations of the 1970s bring clearer water and a resurgence of marine life. 

 In every era, human artifacts coalesce with ecosystems, inviting visitors to examine the challenges of stewardship in an environment from which humans are both inextricable and the driving force of change, and to imagine new possibilities for our collective role in shaping the harbor’s future.

 Presented in public space and as a free download for consumer devices, Virtual Aquapolis offers a unique perspective from which to reflect on the harbor as a dynamic ecological and cultural crossroads, shaped by the resilience of nature and shifting human values.