GEOHERITAGE AWARENESS VIA A "DEEP CITY" APPROACH: THE CASE OF DEEP OAKLAND

My book Deep Oakland: How Geology Shaped a City is a blend of Earth history and human history founded on an outlook familiar to geologists: stories that the landscape tells both explain the city’s development and constrain its prospects. Oakland’s unusual range of rock types and exceptional tectonic and geomorphic features have inspired many people raised there to pursue geology-based careers. Geological resources in Oakland’s territory―stone, soil, ores and groundwater―have brought wealth to societies from the indigenous tribes to the Americans of yesterday and today. So have those societies faced Oakland’s hazards of earthquake, fire, drought and changing sea level. Climate change tells us that nature and civilization remain intimately connected. Within months of publication, Deep Oakland surpassed expectations by selling several thousand copies, enough to inform a robust constituency of citizens. Its success proves the power of a geologist’s approach to equip the public for policy engagement based on Earth’s known behavior. The topic of a city’s rocks and landforms is a ready frame for a more global, “deep present” centered standpoint that can enrich readers in new ways as they seek more sustainable policies for their communities. The pleasure of seeing one’s familiar surroundings in new depth―as geoheritage―draws readers to deeper engagement in a city’s collective future. Deep Oakland shows the potential of a “deep city” approach to address geological issues in major cities, which are the world's crucibles of place-centered adaptivity. Recent advances in geology, from plate tectonics to digital visualizations, give geologists novel ways to tell the deep histories of the cities they live in. A literature of “deep cities,” based on the ways geology and humanity intertwine, is a promising approach to awaken citizens to the land around them and nurture their engagement with Anthropocene issues.