As the idea of the monument is beginning to be “reimagined for the Anthropocene epoch” (Sterling 2020), this session turns a critical eye on the heritage of land-sea relationality in the context of the history coastal reclamation in the Asia-Pacific. It considers the tension between human ambition to create new territory in the sea and the sea’s increasing momentum in pushing landwards. With case studies in Hong Kong, Japan and Sydney Harbour, the critical perspective developed on reclaimed land as legacy is part of a push to create a new heritage optic that provokes us to problematise past technological ‘achievements’. The session also considers the ways that through the lives of those who work and reside on this ‘artificial land, it becomes storied terrain. As rising seas now threaten to inundate reclaimed land, it is timely to delve into the historical complexity of land-sea relationality and the legacy it represents.