Prologue : geographies of hope and despair : land cover and land use on islands

Abstract

Islands have long fascinated scholars, but perhaps never more so than in the current

epoch of the early twenty first century, gripped as it is by the contradictory dynam- ics of scientific and technological progress on one hand and a viral pandemic

and environmental catastrophe on the other (Bonnett, 2020). Artificial islands are built as enticing, exclusive sites of pricey real estate (Jackson & Della Dora, 2009); while other islands, and their communities, succumb to the slow yet steady threat of saltwater intrusion or sea level rise (Farbotko, 2010a). Enclave/island spaces are the new frontline spaces of development, and the emblematic sites of the Anthropocene (Pugh, 2018; Sidaway, 2007).