The Mannahatta Project seeks to “reconstruct the ecology of Manhattan” on a micro level.

As the city grew, the island’s borders were expanded — interestingly, this image overlaps with the map of projected flood areas.

The Project is part of a movement to create “spacial histories,” an approach to environmental history that informs and enhances advocacy today, as Alex Steffen writes:

The past is still doing its work in the present, and understanding that past gives us leverage on the problems we face today.

For more images, check out this gallery, which accompanied a New Yorker article last fall.