Archinect - News

Biden announces $90 million commitment to upgrade building codes nationwide

2023-07-24T14:36:00-04:00

The Biden Administration has recently announced a new $90 million commitment in the form of competitive awards meant to help states and cities in their myriad attempts at mustering updated building codes into the country's patchwork response to climate change.

The funds are being taken from the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and supports 27 projects that are all aimed at increasing the energy efficiency, resiliency, and overall performance of buildings in different parts of the country.

In a statement, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer M. Granholm said: “Cutting emissions from buildings across America and ensuring they’re more energy efficient are critical components of President Biden’s plan to tackle the climate crisis and create cleaner and healthier communities. With unprecedented support from the President’s Investing in America agenda, the Department is providing new funding to help cities and states modernize their building codes — lowering energy costs for American famil...

Ukraine's optimistic vision at the 2023 Venice Biennale

2023-05-29T15:32:00-04:00

A pair of time-sensitive installations from the Ukrainian contingent at this year’s Venice Architecture Biennale is rallying two contraposed notions of future rebuilding and present-day trauma together for the outside world to experience optimistically under one prescient exhibition aptly titled Before the Future.

The country’s first Biennale entry since 2014 is being presented in two locations by curators Iryna Miroshnykova, Oleksii Petrov, and Borys Filonenko, who say their contribution presents Ukraine as a “powerful participant in transforming the image of the future in Europe and the whole civilized world.”

Beginning first inside the Arsenale’s Sale d’Armi, the exhibition remakes an otherwise cavernous host space into a windowless, claustrophobic chasm within which visitors can experience the state of abandonment and eerie comfort that Ukrainians are daily inhabiting as they fight for a more vital and sustainably built peace-filled world to come.

Image: © Matteo de Mayda, court...

AI could help create more hurricane-resistant buildings, NIST research says

2023-04-14T15:06:00-04:00

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have devised a new method to digitally simulate hurricanes. Using data derived from 100 years of hurricane monitoring, infused with modern AI techniques, the researchers suggest that simulating the trajectory and wind speeds of storms can help develop improved guidelines for the design of buildings in hurricane-prone regions.

The research, published recently in Artificial Intelligence for the Earth Systems, envisions a scenario where designers are directed to standardized maps by their local building codes. On these maps, designers can find the level of wind their proposed structure must handle based on its location and relative importance. For example, the resilience standards of a hospital would be regarded as higher than that of a self-storage facility.

The wind speeds in the maps are derived from scores of hypothetica...

ASLA will send two observer delegates to UN's COP27 for the first time

2022-11-03T17:51:00-04:00

A two-person delegation from the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) will be present as observers of next week’s COP27 summit in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt, in an unprecedented move first announced yesterday by the organization.

Landprocess founder Kotchakorn Voraakhom and Climate Positive Design founder/CMG Landscape Architecture principal Pamela Conrad will travel to the conference in order to present the ASLA Climate Action Plan to attendees, which is set for publication on November 12th.

The plan is an extension of the International Federation of Landscape Architects (IFLA) Climate Action Commitment that was announced at last year’s summit. The 27th edition is taking place under a rather unique set of circumstances colored by an ongoing land war and a recent UN report that called for up to $6 trillion in annual green investments in order to combat its updated prediction indicating the world is now on track to warm between 2.1 to 2.9°C by the end of the century.

Related O...

Boston rolls out new green infrastructure requirements for public works projects

2022-11-01T14:17:00-04:00

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu has announced a new policy mandating the use of small-scale green infrastructure on curb extension projects throughout the city.

A set of five design standards will be introduced to help expand the adaptation and maintenance of the measures with the larger aim of improving pedestrian safety and bolstering climate resilience of the city’s crowded walkways and streetscapes.

“These new design standards will allow the City to continue enhancing our streets as public spaces for everyone,” Boston’s Chief of Streets, Jascha Franklin-Hodge, said in a statement. “These curb extensions help keep our neighborhood safe by slowing cars and making street crossing easier for pedestrians and now they can also benefit our quality of life by providing more green space in our City.”

Boston planners say the policy will eventually lead to the implementation of green infrastructure into large-scale capital projects, combining with its recently-proposed ban on fossil fuels in new ...

The Army Corps of Engineers reveals initial coastal resiliency plan for New York City

2022-10-03T09:00:00-04:00

The federal government wants to build a massive system of storm surge gates and seawalls to protect the New York harbor region from flooding and has put forth a much-delayed plan that would remake coastal areas from upper Manhattan down to Jamaica Bay. The Army Corps estimates construction on the $52 billion project would begin in 2030 and be complete by 2044. The project must be first approved by federal, state and local officials and funded before any of the work can start.

The New York District, North Atlantic Division of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has released a 569-page report outlining a coastal storm risk management feasibility study. According to The City's Samantha Maldonado, a public comment period will be held through January 6th, 2023, as a means to help "inform the design." Maldonado also reported that the government expects plans to be finalized by 2025.

The Army Corps also released an interactive map that details individual aspects of the initial proposal, which Columbia University climate scientist Paul Gallay said will "set the tone for coastal protection and community viability for decades to come."

"We have a lot more room to advocate for environmental justice communities and truly sustainable solutions than many of the other plans would have allowed for," Victoria Sanders, a research analyst at the New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, told the publication. "There is still a long road and a lot of unknowns between now a...

University of Oregon's College of Design awarded more than $16 million in federal funds to bolster timber application in construction

2022-09-19T15:14:00-04:00

The University of Oregon has been awarded more than $16 million in federal funds as part of a grant to the Oregon Mass Timber Coalition from the Build Back Better Regional Challenge.

A total of $41.4 million was awarded to the coalition by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Economic Development Administration. $24.6 million is heading to the TallWood Design Institute, a collaboration between Oregon State University and the University of Oregon that aims to advance mass timber construction and other wood product building approaches. Oregon State University will receive $8 million.

Previously on Archinect: Mass timber, clean energy, biotech, and Indigenous communities are among the biggest winners of the $1 Billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge

At the University of Oregon, the funds will be split between two programs in the College of Design, with $14.6 million going toward the Oregon Acoustic Research Laboratory and $2 million for an affordable housing prototype using mass tim...

One year after Hurricane Ida, NYC updates its water infrastructure in the hopes of preventing another tragedy

2022-09-02T14:50:00-04:00

New York City is beefing up the effort to prevent a similar tragedy to Hurricane Ida a year removed from the historic storm’s wake of destruction, which left 13 residents dead and hundreds of others permanently displaced.

Mayor Eric Adams was on hand yesterday to showcase newly-installed stormwater infrastructure in the heavily-affected neighborhood of Ozone Park, Queens, in unison with Governor Kathy Hochul and the state’s Department of Environmental Protection. The city is investing some $2.5 billion there in the form of sewer upgrades which will be joined by a similar $454 million initiative targeting historically-flood-prone areas in Brooklyn, Staten Island, and other parts of Central and Southeastern Queens.

That money will all go towards replacing the antiquated, century-old existing system that, combined with the abundance of illegal basement dwellings in the neighborhood, created an untenable situation in September 2021, unable to handle the seven inches of rain that fell i...

NYC Mayor Eric Adams appoints Eric Ulrich as Commissioner of the Department of Buildings

2022-05-05T11:57:00-04:00

Former New York City Council member Eric Ulrich has been appointed as Commissioner of the NYC Department of Buildings (DOB) by Mayor Eric Adams.

Ulrich will serve alongside Kazimir Vilenchik, the new First Deputy Commissioner, and replaces Gus Sirakis, who has been serving as the DOB’s Acting Commissioner for the past six weeks.

Earlier on Archinect: NYC Department of Buildings shuts down 322 construction sites in 'zero tolerance' safety sweep

“Our city and our economy cannot recover from the COVID-19 pandemic without a strong construction industry, and this team will deliver while prioritizing worker safety and customer service,” Adams said before thanking Sirakis for his service during the pandemic.

Ulrich comes to the job with a reputation for having played a critical role in New York’s post-Sandy recovery efforts through his role on the council’s Committee on Housing and Buildings. His initiative in that capacity to rezone vulnerable communities in the city affected by coastal ...

New York City announces the multibillion-dollar Financial District and Seaport Climate Resilience Master Plan

2021-12-30T17:54:00-05:00

The New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and the Mayor's Office of Climate Resiliency (MOCR) have released the Financial District and Seaport Climate Resilience Master Plan, a framework for comprehensive flood defense infrastructure to fortify Lower Manhattan in response to the increasing threat of climate change.

The plan is projected to cost $5 to $7 billion and will reimagine almost one mile of shoreline from The Battery to the Brooklyn Bridge with a resilient waterfront that can withstand severe coastal storms and rising sea levels. Based on the New York City Panel on Climate Change 90th percentile projections, noted in NYCEDC’s announcement, rising tides by the 2050s are expected to flood the Financial District and Seaport monthly and then daily by the 2080s. In addition, some level of frequent tidal flooding is likely to be seen as early as the 2040s.

The master plan features a multilevel waterfront that extends the shoreline of the East River by up to 200...

The University of Arizona launches Indigenous Resilience Center, addressing environmental issues

2021-09-17T13:31:00-04:00

The University of Arizona is launching a new interdisciplinary center that will partner with Native American nations to work on projects that address environmental issues.

Called the Indigenous Resilience Center, the program will be a partnership between Native nations and the university’s Arizona Institutes for Resilience, Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice, and multiple faculty members and academic programs that focus on supporting the resilience of Indigenous communities.

The center’s faculty and staff will work directly with tribal leaders and governments to co-design community-driven solutions that address issues facing Native communities, such as climate change. Projects will focus on areas including agriculture, solar energy, off-grid water resources, food resources, Native plant adaptation, and health.

Karlet...

Aluminum wrapping helped one cabin withstand the Caldor Fire

2021-09-09T11:33:00-04:00

Jennifer Diamond, a spokeswoman for the team fighting the Caldor Fire, wasn’t sure who wrapped the Phillips Tract cabin but said she’s helped cover a historic backcountry building with foil in the past. Aside from historic buildings, firefighters might choose to wrap a remote cabin where property owners have already cut back vegetation, cut down overhanging trees and cleared roofs and gutters of debris.

The cabin was among many in the South Lake Tahoe region to adapt a temporary version of an adaptability approach that has become increasingly popular during a year that has already seen over a million acres scorched in California alone.

The ongoing Caldor Fire has destroyed more than 700 homes as of this week and is still only about 50% contained. One problem facing homeowners who attempt the wrapping method is the labor involved: a typical structure takes several people a minimum of five hours to install using an army of 15,000 staples. A 200-foot roll of the material retails for $687.

Hotel workers were among those left to prepare structures for the fire. The San Francisco Chronicle has a look at the wrapping method here.

The deadline for an infrastructure deal was Memorial Day. Here's what it could mean to architects.

2021-06-02T14:30:00-04:00

With the Memorial Day deadline now passed for President Biden’s massive new $2.25 trillion infrastructure bill, architects and planners are watching closely and with interested eyes to see what is included in any future version of the bill that has the potential to make outsized impacts in the industry.

Earmarked in the bill is a $213 billion aid package meant to increase, update, and refurbish America’s dwindling supply of affordable housing. Biden’s target of 2 million units would add much-needed stock to help alleviate the growing need through a combination of grants, tax incentives, and the elimination of discriminatory local zoning laws, which serve to artificially inflate housing costs for a wide variety of Americans, according to the Wall Street Journal.

An additional $20 billion is set aside to address “historic inequities and build the future of transportati...

Coalition of design and construction organizations seek support for more resilient built environment in letter to Congress

2021-05-27T17:58:00-04:00

A coalition of leading design and construction organizations have called on Congress to include funding in any new infrastructure proposal that would significantly improve the resilience and performance of buildings across the country, The American Institute of Architects announces.

In a letter issued to Congress earlier this week, signatories addressed the increasing threat that natural and manmade hazards pose on the safety of the public and strength of the country. As stated in the letter, “The combination of aging infrastructure and worsening natural disasters has resulted in the unacceptable, yet preventable, loss of human life and costly property damage.” According to the NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, between 2014 and 2019, the United States experienced 77 weather and climate-related disasters that resulted in over $550 billion in damage and nearly 4,000 lives lost.

Turning obstacles into opportunities in architectural practice

2020-03-23T18:04:00-04:00

Today, with the developing inconveniences of life, the hardships and frustrations, and the multitude of circumstantial consequences many of us face, it can be tough to know how to navigate the challenges we encounter. How do we trek this rocky path?

In his book The Obstacle is the Way, Ryan Holiday takes the timeless teachings of stoic philosophy and translates them for the modern reader, pulling stories from history to teach the art of "turning obstacles upside down." The book is based off of a passage written by the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius:

Our actions may be impeded...but there can be no impeding our intentions or dispositions. Because we can accommodate and adapt. The mind adapts and converts to its own purposes the obstacle to our acting...The impediment to action advances action. What stands in the way becomes the way.

As we all face obstacles in our professional and personal lives, the lessons Holiday expounds are crucially important during this time. Many firms of all ...

The case for pitting big infrastructure against climate change

2020-01-22T15:26:00-05:00

The US has become terrible at building big things, and negligent in even maintaining our existing infrastructure. [...] That all bodes terribly for our ability to grapple with the coming dangers of climate change, because it is fundamentally an infrastructure problem.

MIT Technology Review senior editor, James Temple, penned an urgent plea for a renewed, but sustainable, American public works boom that could significantly speed up the painfully slow infrastructure planning process in the face of rapidly changing climate conditions.

"To prepare for the climate dangers we now can’t avoid, we’ll also need to bolster coastal protections, reengineer waste and water systems, reinforce our transportation infrastructure, and relocate homes and businesses away from expanding flood and fire zones," Temple writes. "Given those staggering costs and tight time lines, we can’t afford to take decades to build—much less not build—a single project."

New report urges Venice to get its climate change act together

2019-07-17T07:00:00-04:00

Venice is full of water, Venice floods, the climate is visibly changing, and sea levels are rising, so you would expect Venice, of all places, to have an official strategy for what to do about it—but you would be wrong. The management plans produced by the City of Venice for Unesco in 2013 and 2018 barely mention the subject and twice, in 2016 and 2019, Unesco’s World Heritage Committee has failed to call them out on this astonishing failing.

"We are used to thinking that, given enough will and money, there is a solution to everything, but this report says that we must get used to the idea that in many cases there will be no solution," writes a frustrated Anna Somers Cocks for The Art Newspaper and explains how a new report by the International Council on Museums and Sites (Icomos) could lay out an urgently needed roadmap for climate change action for cultural heritage sites. "It emphasises again and again: collaborate, share knowledge and remedies, educate, and—above all—plan ahead. Then only may we be able to mitigate the approaching catastrophe."

In other recent Venice-related news: the 17th International Architecture Exhibition just announced a guiding vision for the 2020 Venice Biennale.

Bill de Blasio proposes Manhattan shoreline extension to combat projected sea level rise

2019-03-18T14:40:00-04:00

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio proposed a $10 billion plan to push out the lower Manhattan coastline as much as 500 feet, or two city blocks, to protect from flooding that’s expected to become more frequent as global temperatures rise. [...] Portions of the extended land would be at 20 feet above sea level. The city can’t build flood protection on the existing land because it’s too crowded with utilities, sewers and subway lines, he said.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has unveiled the city's comprehensive plan to increase resilience in Lower Manhattan, a low-lying, highly critical area that has proven to be vulnerable to storm surges and flooding. The newly published Lower Manhattan Climate Resilience Study recommends extending the Manhattan shoreline into the East River to better protect the Seaport and the Financial District.

Lower Manhattan 100-Year Floodplains. Image: NYC Mayor’s Office

“Hurricane Sandy showed us how vulnerable areas like Lower Manhattan are to climate change,” said de Blasio in his public announcement. “That’s why we not only have to reduce emissions to prevent the most cataclysmic potential effects of global warming, we have to prepare for the ones that are already inevitable. Our actions will protect Lower Manhattan into the next century. We need the federal government to stand behind cities like New York to meet this crisis head on.”

Click image above to access the Lower Manhattan Climate Resi...

Why is Florida's coastal real estate still booming despite rising levels?

2019-02-20T13:49:00-05:00

In Florida, you will see a bewildering mix of optimism, opportunism and denial in the real estate market: luxury condominiums going up in flood-prone South Beach, and property values rising in the vulnerable Keys, post-Hurricane Irma. And though the House of Representatives passed a bill to require real estate agents to disclose flood risks, the Senate has not reviewed it, and a culture of “systemic, fraudulent nondisclosure” persists in high flood risk areas.

As part of her Climate Changed series for The Guardian, Megan Mayhew Bergman investigates the reluctance of Florida's condominium boom (and the wealthy investors behind it) to cool it a bit on new developments in the face of projected climate change-related devastation.

"Humans tend to respond to immediate threats and financial consequences – and coastal real estate, especially in Florida, may be on the cusp of delivering that harsh wake-up call," writes Mayhew Bergman. "The peninsula has outsized exposure: nearly 2 million people live in coastal cities. On the list of the 20 urban areas in America that will suffer the most from rising seas, Florida has five: St Petersburg, Tampa, Miami, Miami Beach and Panama City. In 2016, Zillow predicted that one out of eight homes in Florida would be underwater by 2100, a loss of $413bn in property."

Seattle boosts seismic construction standards for new skyscrapers, but older high-rises are biggest concern

2018-12-31T16:21:00-05:00

Researchers found the sedimentary basin under [Seattle] can amplify the type of ground motion that’s hardest on high-rises by a factor of two to five — much more than previous estimates. In response, Seattle and Bellevue are boosting seismic standards for new buildings 240 feet or taller [...] But the prospect of stronger shaking also raises concerns about older high-rises

'Deep adaptation' in the face of planetary climate catastrophe

2018-10-02T18:36:00-04:00

In the language of climate change, “adaptation” refers to ways to blunt the immediate effects of extreme weather, such as building seawalls, conserving drinking water, updating building codes, and helping more people get disaster insurance. [...] But some researchers are going further, calling for what some call the “deep adaptation agenda.”

Bloomberg's Climate & Environment Reporter, Christopher Flavelle, lays out a range of climate change projections—from the general consensus to the more pessimistic—and how an array of 'deep adaptation' measures could help to mitigate the damage. "Rather than simply asking people to water their lawns less often [...]," Flavelle writes, "governments need to consider large-scale, decades-long infrastructure projects, such as transporting water to increasingly arid regions and moving cities away from the ocean."

Rising sea levels threaten Miami’s existence—from above and below ground

2018-08-29T19:50:00-04:00

From ground level, greater Miami looks like any American megacity—a mostly dry expanse of buildings, roads, and lawns, sprinkled with the occasional canal or ornamental lake. But from above, the proportions of water and land are reversed. [...] Barring a stupendous reversal in greenhouse gas emissions, the rising Atlantic will cover much of Miami by the end of this century. The economic effects will be devastating [...].

Bloomberg reporter Christopher Flavelle takes a deep dive into the vast, intricate, and highly fragile network of natural aquifers and man-made infrastructure that has kept Miami (mostly) dry and equipped with fresh drinking water. But for how much longer?

Despite being in high-risk flood zones, waterfront housing developments are on the rise in NYC

2018-07-06T17:31:00-04:00

Whether these new apartment buildings can endure another major storm does not seem to be a concern for most residents, who are glad to have new options in inventory-starved markets. Critics, though, ask whether the neighborhoods can withstand the surge of new development and the stress it will add to an already strained infrastructure. These new buildings might remain unscathed in a flood, they say, but what about the damage caused by the torrent around them?

Your Sea Wall Won't Save You

2018-03-29T09:21:00-04:00

Concepts like “making room for the river,” which works well in the Netherlands, can mean mass evictions in the Global South. Too often, the rhetoric of climate adaptation is doublespeak for the displacement of poor communities, and an alibi for unsustainable growth.

As coastal megacities adapt to climate change, they often bring in outside planning experts who push highly engineered, technocratic resilience programs. Lizzie Yarina looks at how this trend is affecting local communities in Bangkok, Manila, Ho Chi Minh City, and Jakarta, and argues that "resilience is not fundamentally a technical question. It is social and political. Planners and designers must recognize and negotiate the diverse "resilience imaginaries" across the cities in which they are needed."

Porous interventions to adapt to increasing floods in Bangkok

2018-03-05T16:12:00-05:00

Sea level rise and increased rain have posed serious flood risks for Bangkok, the capital city of Thailand, which is already close to sea level. [...] She works to do this by reclaiming urban porosity through a network of public green spaces. [...] She has already been planning and working on projects beyond climate resilient housing - including rain gardens, green roofs, permeable parking, urban forests and farms - to address the root causes of increased flooding in her city.

After witnessing a dramatic economic boom and rapid urbanization—and subsequent environmental challenges—in her native Thailand, Harvard graduate, landscape architect and TED fellow Kotchakorn Voraakhom founded Porous City Network to fight the increased risk of flooding with design solutions and improve urban resilience and adaptability in Bangkok, primarily in the city's most vulnerable communities: "PCN makes the city porous by transforming underused impervious surfaces into a system of productive public green spaces, and advocating maintaining threatened landscape infrastructure like agricultural land, canals, and ditch orchards, which help mitigate excess water."

What makes Mexico City so vulnerable to earthquakes?

2017-09-21T11:51:00-04:00

Yesterday, Mexico City was struck by a powerful 7.1-magnitude earthquake. As of today, over 200 people have been reported dead as rescuers continue their efforts to recover those still trapped in the rubble. Dozens of buildings in and around the city were reduced to rubble and many more, severely damaged. Mayor Miguel Angel Mancera said buildings fell at 44 places in the capital alone, including a primary school where 25 bodies have since been recovered.

The temblor is the deadliest the country's capital has seen since a 1985 earthquake on the same date, exactly 32 years prior, killed thousands. Mexico sits at the boundary of three fault lines—a very active seismic zone that makes the area extremely vulnerable to earthquakes of high magnitude that are capable of destroying whole buildings and ripping façades off others. Just 12 days before, the country endured its second-largest earthquake in history when an 8.1-magnitude shake hit the states of Oaxaca and Chiapas.

Mexico City, i...

Climate crisis fortresses are reinforced concrete on stilts.

2017-09-17T16:11:00-04:00

But because of its unique setting and vulnerability to hurricanes, Monroe has long had stricter building codes than the rest of the state and has mandated some critical upgrades...Most importantly — homes must be elevated above the flood plain to allow storm surge, which is the deadliest part of a hurricane, to pass underneath living spaces.

David Ovalle reports on how building codes and precast concrete homes, reduced property damage and shaped Hurricane Irma's impact, in the Florida Keys.

Via @Bruce Sterling

Tampa Bay braces for impact of the storm that might destroy it

2017-09-07T15:12:00-04:00

Tampa Bay is mesmerizing, with 700 miles of shoreline and some of the finest white sand beaches in the nation. But analysts say the metropolitan area is the most vulnerable in the United States to flooding and damage if a major hurricane ever scores a direct hit. A Boston firm that analyzes potential catastrophic damage reported that the region would lose $175 billion in a storm the size of Hurricane Katrina. A World Bank study called Tampa Bay one of the 10 most at-risk areas on the globe.

Published more than a month ago, long before Hurricane Irma was even on anyone's forecast, this piece by Washington Post writer Darryl Fears tells the tale of Tampa Bay as a seeming paradise, with its 4 millions residents, hot real estate market, lofty development ambitions, construction boom — and the big storm that will, maybe, hit one day and put it all in peril.

Now with Irma leaving a trail of destruction in the Northern Caribbean and heading straight for the Florida peninsula, Fears just sat down for an interview with Marketplace host Kai Ryssdal: "[...] the big problem with this hurricane and with Tampa, St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay, is sea level rise. And sea level rise is not a big deal in and of itself because it takes so long to build. But when you add wind, you add surge, that creates a wave, just a wall of water."

Derek Hoeferlin wins inaugural Designing Resilience in Asia International Competition

2017-08-31T15:19:00-04:00

Derek Hoeferlin, associate professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis, along with research assistants Jess Vanecek and Rob Birch, both master’s degree candidates in the Sam Fox School, has won first prize in the inaugural Designing Resilience in Asia International Open Competition.

Sponsored by the School of Design and Environment of the National University of Singapore, the competition asked participants to propose innovative water solutions to the challenges of climate change at the urban planning, urban design, architecture, building technology and industrial design scales.

Hoeferlin’s submission, titled “From the Third Pole to the Nine Dragons,” outlines a simple, two-part toolkit that would enable communities within the Mekong River Basin to holistically understand how local threats and adaptations relate to broader river basin-scaled issues — a concept that Hoeferlin defines as “watershed architecture.”

The ju...

Taking up the challenge of the back loop

2017-07-01T19:40:00-04:00

Like a Shell futurologist, one can imagine multiple disastrous futures for Miami. Will it become a southern Super Venice, a la Kim Stanley Robinson’s New York of 2140...Perhaps the hard realism of Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Water Knife is more apt...Or imagine a super Katrina resulting in something a little more Odds Against Tomorrow:

from Key Largo John Pennekamp nature center, by author, February 12, 2017

Stephanie Wakefield penned some Field Notes from the Anthropocene, inspired by a recent honeymoon in Miami Beach. In which she explores 'experimentation' as a mode of dwelling in the Anthropocene and the emancipatory possibilities offered by the concept of the 'back loop.'