The Sea and the Cities project devoted to a systematic study of the history of environmental politics, sciences and technology. The aim has been to understand the formation of contemporary environmental problems and solutions which have their roots in the past.

Link to The Sea and The Cities website

The research area was the Baltic Rim: the socio-economic impact area of the Baltic Sea. Eleven major cities of Baltic Rim countries are participating. The river, estuary and coastal towns form the ecological comparative context. Oslo (Atlantic) and Vilnius (Continental) provide the extreme conditions. The main focus was on the 19th and 20th century.

The project included the following topics for each city:

• the long-term development of water and wastewater technology
• the reconstruction of pollution and eutrophication histories
• successes and failures of municipal environmental politics

The research method consisted of historical, natural scientific and technical analysis of the multidisciplinary structures of pollution and protection in society, the built environment and nature.