As coastal flooding becomes the "new normal," many shoreline cities are trying to find long-term strategies to cope with extreme weather events. In order to advance understanding of this issue, The Boston Harbor Association teamed up with Sasaki Associates to produce Preparing for the Rising Tide, a series of reports focusing on Boston and rising sea levels.
Volume Two of this series was published in August 2014, and focuses on Designing with Water for flood management. According to the report, this school of thought "considers coastal flooding not only a threat, but an opportunity to address multiple goals while making necessary new investments in our buildings, communities, and infrastructure."
The new report contains 12 case studies of cities around the world that have applied advanced flood management techniques. In these case studies, five key design principles emerged:
1. Design for resilience. Resilience implies adapting to or bouncing back from a disturbance quickly. Resilient planning and design incorporates redundancy and anticipates change over time.
2. Create double-duty solutions. Double-duty solutions provide multiple benefits to maximize economic, ecologic, and cultural gain.
3. Strengthen community resilience. Community resilience maintains and enhances the cultural identity that defines a city through resiliency networks and social support systems. Strategies that strengthen social resilience can both cost less and provide meaningful benefits to participants.
4. Incentivize and institutionalize preparedness. Citywide and regional adaptation plans are necessary to guide resiliency efforts. Insurance standards, zoning laws, construction codes, and policy are tools that local and state governments should consider to encourage adaptation within their communities.
5. Phase plans over time. Designing with Water requires design and planning for flexibility and adaptability over time. Planning efforts that address sea level rise should be phased and have the ability to change based on external conditions.
The report concludes with recommended courses of action for members of both the private and public sectors. Here are some of the recommendations that we found particularly interesting:
Recommendations for the Private Sector:
-
Create time-phased preparedness plans based on environmental triggers such as sea level or storm intensity to maintain or even reduce risk of flood damage over time. Incorporate flood preparedness into capital maintenance schedules to minimize additional costs.
-
Look for opportunities to combine flood control with other business and institutional goals such as energy efficiency, sustainability, and livability. Coordinate such strategies with neighboring properties to provide more effective, less costly solutions.
-
Develop and teach curricula focused on Designing with Water and other flood preparedness concepts. Local design schools could be a resource.
Recommendations for the Public Sector:
-
In order to limit costly delays, dead-end investments, and exacerbated social inequalities, we strongly recommend the city of Boston and surrounding communities develop a phased master plan that protects our people and places over time as the tide rises.
-
Work with surrounding municipalities—especially those closely connected through transportation, power, water, and sewage—to develop the political will, regional planning, and resources needed to prepare for chronic coastal flooding.
-
Secure significant new public and private investment to implement the master plan and accelerate private actions. Identify an appropriate coordinating body to manage these resources most effectively to address multiple goals.
Read the full report here.
Related Stories
Adaptive Reuse | Jul 9, 2018
Work, park, live: Inside Cincinnati’s parking garage turned lifestyle hotel
The Summit hotel and conference center is a converted parking garage that was once a factory.
Architects | Jun 28, 2018
Designing successful maker spaces
The challenge is to design makerspaces that work, spaces that function as a tool for educators to produce better students.
Architects | Jun 27, 2018
Steven A. Lichtenberger joins Leo A Daly as President
He will lead the firm’s global planning, architecture, engineering, and interiors practice worldwide.
Accelerate Live! | Jun 24, 2018
Watch all 19 Accelerate Live! talks on demand
BD+C’s second annual Accelerate Live! AEC innovation conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago) featured talks on AI for construction scheduling, regenerative design, the micro-buildings movement, post-occupancy evaluation, predictive visual data analytics, digital fabrication, and more. Take in all 19 talks on demand.
Building Team | Jun 22, 2018
What owners should know before choosing the design-build project delivery method
Outside of drawing up a well-written contract, owners often overlook a key attribute that can significantly impact the success of a design-build project, writes Skanska’s Julie Hyson.
Architects | Jun 14, 2018
Chicago Architecture Center sets Aug. 31 as opening date
The Center is located at 111 E. Wacker Drive.
Multifamily Housing | Jun 13, 2018
Multifamily visionaries: KTGY’s extraordinary expectations
KTGY Architecture + Planning keeps pushing the boundaries of multifamily housing design in the U.S., Asia, and the Middle East.
| Jun 11, 2018
Accelerate Live! talk: Regenerative design — When sustainability is not enough
In this 15-minute talk at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago), HMC’s Eric Carbonnier poses the question: What if buildings could actually rejuvenate ecosystems?
| Jun 11, 2018
Accelerate Live! talk: The smart jobsite — Predictive visual data analytics for proactive project controls
In this 15-minute talk at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago), a trio of experts in predictive visual data analytics presents how design-build giant Clayco has leveraged this technology to achieve production efficiency on several construction sites.
| Jun 11, 2018
Accelerate Live! talk: Design innovation at Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture
In this 15-minute talk at BD+C’s Accelerate Live! conference (May 10, 2018, Chicago), AS+GG’s Anthony Viola takes us behind the magic curtain to illuminate the firm’s methods for nurturing design innovation.