A BALANCING ACT
negotiating boundaries in the sacramento-san joaquin delta
Is The Delta trying to undo human impositions?
As a host to myriad human and non-human creatures, Delta systems are among the most unique ecosystems on Earth. In the Central Valley of California, the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta is a system that continues to persist despite human colonization of the region. The systematic encroachment of land, starting with the levee constructions since the 1800s, disrupted delicate relationships within the Delta, modifying existing relationships and ecotones between elements, courtesy of the Central Valley Project. Today, the Delta is in a precarious situation.
The Delta, forming at the confluence of rivers, plays a critical role in preventing the intrusion of saline water from the sea into the freshwater descending from the Sierra Nevada. This delicate balance between saline and freshwater generates the brackish conditions that sustain the wetland ecology, fostering an environment where diverse species continue to thrive.
The Delta, forming at the confluence of rivers, plays a critical role in preventing the intrusion of saline water from the sea into the freshwater descending from the Sierra Nevada. This delicate balance between saline and freshwater generates the brackish conditions that sustain the wetland ecology, fostering an environment where diverse species continue to thrive.
Human intervention has invariably altered the conditions of the Delta. Yet, the Delta continues to adapt to these transformations in its own way. Frank’s Tract is one such example — a subset within the Delta, created through this very process of adaptation. Once an island reinforced by levees, it was eventually submerged due to continuous subsidence and now exists as a brackish water body that helps balance the salinity levels from the sea. The islands that compose this Delta face a similar fate, shaped by human-made tangible boundaries and the shifting, bodiless boundaries that accompany them.
As humans have fragmented the landscape and altered its natural courses, they have effectively removed from it the very inherence of the Delta — its capacity to exist as gradients. In addressing the non-traditional question of how the ecology of water bodies and wetlands might feel about ‘blue and green infrastructures’, the accompanying maps reveal the repressions that human interventions have imposed upon naturally dendritic systems. They also reveal that mosaic of architectural terraforming will ultimately undo itself, reverting into a wetland of apparent randomness.
WATER
CODE
DIVISION 35. SACRAMENTO-SAN JOAQUIN DELTA REFORM ACT OF 2009 [85000 - 85350]
( Division 35 added by Stats.2009, 7th Ex. Sess., Ch. 5, Sec. 39. )
PART 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS [85000 - 85067]
( Part 1 added by Stats. 2009, 7th Ex. Sess., Ch. 5, Sec. 39. )
CHAPTER 2. Delta Policy [85020 - 85023]
( Chapter 2 added by Stats. 2009, 7th Ex. Sess., Ch. 5, Sec. 39. )
The policy of the State of California is to achieve the following objectives that the Legislature declares are inherent in the coequal goals for the management of the Delta:
...
DIVISION 35. SACRAMENTO-SAN JOAQUIN DELTA REFORM ACT OF 2009 [85000 - 85350]
( Division 35 added by Stats.2009, 7th Ex. Sess., Ch. 5, Sec. 39. )
PART 1. GENERAL PROVISIONS [85000 - 85067]
( Part 1 added by Stats. 2009, 7th Ex. Sess., Ch. 5, Sec. 39. )
CHAPTER 2. Delta Policy [85020 - 85023]
( Chapter 2 added by Stats. 2009, 7th Ex. Sess., Ch. 5, Sec. 39. )
The policy of the State of California is to achieve the following objectives that the Legislature declares are inherent in the coequal goals for the management of the Delta:
...
The continued terraforming of the Delta demands a renewed understanding of its design logics; co-equality will only be possible when multiple perspectives converge to form new wetland ecotones that reconcile human intervention with the Delta’s inherent ecological balance.
A BALANCING ACT
the gameIn the present day, the Delta is fighting back, undoing centuries of human imposition in an effort to restore balance and protect its fragile ecosystem. Torrents from the Pineapple Express, an atmospheric river that now visits the region with growing intensity, have become both a threat and a promise.
In A Balancing Act, two coalitions emerge, each tasked with realizing a vision for the Delta’s future. Through strategy, collaboration, and negotiation, players must complete their project cards and call the Pineapple Express. The coalition that builds the future, through fast and careful negotiations, will withstand the floods to come.
As the game unfolds, players collectively reimagine the Delta’s ecotones, redrawing the boundaries between land and water, human and non-human, built and natural. The board becomes a living map that shifts, negotiates, and transforms toward a new equilibrium where coexistence replaces control.
In A Balancing Act, two coalitions emerge, each tasked with realizing a vision for the Delta’s future. Through strategy, collaboration, and negotiation, players must complete their project cards and call the Pineapple Express. The coalition that builds the future, through fast and careful negotiations, will withstand the floods to come.
As the game unfolds, players collectively reimagine the Delta’s ecotones, redrawing the boundaries between land and water, human and non-human, built and natural. The board becomes a living map that shifts, negotiates, and transforms toward a new equilibrium where coexistence replaces control.
Timeline of the Delta
Location
Typology
Year
Critics
Typology
Year
Critics
California, United States of America
Game Design
August 2023, Summer Semester, Academic
Elise Misao Hunchuck, Marco Ferrari
Game Design
August 2023, Summer Semester, Academic
Elise Misao Hunchuck, Marco Ferrari