Jamaica Bay, a vast estuary in Brooklyn and Queens, is 14 times larger than Central Park, yet largely unknown to many New Yorkers. Eighty-five years ago, it narrowly escaped being turned into the world’s largest seaport. Instead, it remained a rich wetland ecosystem surrounded by urban develop- ment.

The Seaport That Never Was flips the usual narrative of a lost ecosystem on its head, questioning how we balance urban development with the preservation of wild spaces.