I'm doing research for an organization working on issues of climate migration ("climigration"), and we're trying to figure out who is already working in this space. Our core interest is in coastal communities who are considering a "managed retreat" strategy due to imminent flooding — Fox Beach, Staten Island is a good example.
Do any of y'all know people/organizations/networks already working on this topic of "climigration" within U.S. regions? Designers, architects, planners, sociologists, economists, artists, activists, community organizers, etc. are welcome.
randomised
Oct 25, 17 3:16 am
Can't think of anybody in particular, maybe check the people that did the Rebuild By Design competition after Sandy hit or are now working on the SF Bay project Resilient By Design. All I know is they'll be playing this song on repeat:
randomised
Oct 26, 17 2:41 am
Yeah they covered and butchered it.
Bench
Oct 25, 17 5:55 am
Nice to see you back on the boards Amelia.
One that comes to mind is Dalhousie University's first-term master's optional Coastal Studio, which has operated for years (decades?) as a design-build course. I don't know if it is explicitly tied to climate and migration, but certainly is inherently linked to both. The curriculum of the Dalhousie architecture school is heavily based on issues of coastal and regional building methods.
Amelia Taylor-Hochberg
Nov 20, 17 3:42 pm
Thanks Bench, whoever ye may be. One key issue with retreat is the politics of rebuilding: once residents have retreated, cities may find it advantageous to rebuild in the risk zones to squeeze more pennies out, knowing full well that the overall value of those buildings is sunk. This is often encouraged through the federal flood insurance program, which continually insures properties in these risk zones even when climate models predict they are fated to be "repetitive loss properties".
if I knew I'd be an arab prince. and if I told you I'd have to kill you.
Non Sequitur
Oct 25, 17 5:50 pm
My thesis advisor had a small R&D gig on the side out of New Orleans looking at housing with built-in floatating foundations. This is 10y ago thou but I remember there was tracking back then. Will take me a while to dig out the name of the project.
Miles Jaffe
Oct 25, 17 6:41 pm
One of the issues you may run up against is the high value of oceanfront property.
Here in Paradise the Town of Southampton passed a "Coastal Erosion Hazard law" that mandated "strategic retreat" from the oceanfront. So if your house is damaged by a storm you have to move it farther away from the ocean which in most cases is impossible due to lot restrictions and existing public roads (if the house was damaged in a fire, however, it could be rebuilt in situ). This law precipitated multiple incorporation movements by wealthy oceanfront owners to avoid this jurisdiction.
randomised
Oct 26, 17 2:54 am
Those oceanfront properties will become/are uninsurable and thereby unsaleable and their value will drop significantly because the possible rebuilding will have to be paid by the owners themselves every time disaster strikes. And since American homes are cheaply and flimsy put together drywall galore they also damage easy and will require constant repairs and rebuilding with the anticipated increased extreme weather events.
Miles Jaffe
Oct 26, 17 9:26 am
Fourth, fifth and sixth "homes" at $40m and up are self-insured when it comes to flood / hurricane.
randomised
Oct 26, 17 10:04 am
Therefore I won't shed a tear when those eyesores are taken back by the elements.
Miles Jaffe
Oct 26, 17 10:22 am
As far as I'm concerned the oceanfront should be scoured clean. the problem is the vast amounts of money used to control it and by extension the politics around it.
Amelia Taylor-Hochberg
Nov 20, 17 4:00 pm
This is really interesting Miles. Did any cases of this happening get any press?
I believe FEMA and HUD are doing buyout programs, or were... that seems to be the GTFO option
Marc Miller
Oct 26, 17 7:41 am
Perhaps the dredge collaborative, and certainly the work for resilient by design on both coasts. Other ademics-
Bradley Cantrell (UVa) did some associated work with visualization, and is now working on physical stuff.
Jamie Vanucchi (Cornell) is researching buyouts and a range of communities/landscape types in the northeast, and she knows of others doing similar work.
Beth Meyer (UVa) wrote a paper sometime ago about communities on the Mississippi.
And there are a couple books about the engineering of the Mississippi that talk about the edge communities that isn’t directly about your topic, but do discuss things in terms of flooding and decision making/policy.
archanonymous
Oct 27, 17 11:02 am
Tulane University used to run a "Dutch Dialogues" studio about strategic retreat and coastal water management.
Nam Henderson
Oct 28, 17 10:30 pm
Sounds like some interesting work, Amelia. Is it an internship?
I'm doing research for an organization working on issues of climate migration ("climigration"), and we're trying to figure out who is already working in this space. Our core interest is in coastal communities who are considering a "managed retreat" strategy due to imminent flooding — Fox Beach, Staten Island is a good example.
Do any of y'all know people/organizations/networks already working on this topic of "climigration" within U.S. regions? Designers, architects, planners, sociologists, economists, artists, activists, community organizers, etc. are welcome.
Can't think of anybody in particular, maybe check the people that did the Rebuild By Design competition after Sandy hit or are now working on the SF Bay project Resilient By Design. All I know is they'll be playing this song on repeat:
Yeah they covered and butchered it.
Nice to see you back on the boards Amelia.
One that comes to mind is Dalhousie University's first-term master's optional Coastal Studio, which has operated for years (decades?) as a design-build course. I don't know if it is explicitly tied to climate and migration, but certainly is inherently linked to both. The curriculum of the Dalhousie architecture school is heavily based on issues of coastal and regional building methods.
Thanks Bench, whoever ye may be. One key issue with retreat is the politics of rebuilding: once residents have retreated, cities may find it advantageous to rebuild in the risk zones to squeeze more pennies out, knowing full well that the overall value of those buildings is sunk. This is often encouraged through the federal flood insurance program, which continually insures properties in these risk zones even when climate models predict they are fated to be "repetitive loss properties".
not these guys https://archinect.com/news/art...
if I knew I'd be an arab prince. and if I told you I'd have to kill you.
My thesis advisor had a small R&D gig on the side out of New Orleans looking at housing with built-in floatating foundations. This is 10y ago thou but I remember there was tracking back then. Will take me a while to dig out the name of the project.
One of the issues you may run up against is the high value of oceanfront property.
Here in Paradise the Town of Southampton passed a "Coastal Erosion Hazard law" that mandated "strategic retreat" from the oceanfront. So if your house is damaged by a storm you have to move it farther away from the ocean which in most cases is impossible due to lot restrictions and existing public roads (if the house was damaged in a fire, however, it could be rebuilt in situ). This law precipitated multiple incorporation movements by wealthy oceanfront owners to avoid this jurisdiction.
Those oceanfront properties will become/are uninsurable and thereby unsaleable and their value will drop significantly because the possible rebuilding will have to be paid by the owners themselves every time disaster strikes. And since American homes are cheaply and flimsy put together drywall galore they also damage easy and will require constant repairs and rebuilding with the anticipated increased extreme weather events.
Fourth, fifth and sixth "homes" at $40m and up are self-insured when it comes to flood / hurricane.
Therefore I won't shed a tear when those eyesores are taken back by the elements.
As far as I'm concerned the oceanfront should be scoured clean. the problem is the vast amounts of money used to control it and by extension the politics around it.
This is really interesting Miles. Did any cases of this happening get any press?
http://easthamptonstar.com/Archive/3/Secessionists-Dream-Dune-Hampton
https://nypost.com/2002/11/16/...
I believe FEMA and HUD are doing buyout programs, or were... that seems to be the GTFO option
Perhaps the dredge collaborative, and certainly the work for resilient by design on both coasts. Other ademics-
Bradley Cantrell (UVa) did some associated work with visualization, and is now working on physical stuff.
Jamie Vanucchi (Cornell) is researching buyouts and a range of communities/landscape types in the northeast, and she knows of others doing similar work.
Beth Meyer (UVa) wrote a paper sometime ago about communities on the Mississippi.
And there are a couple books about the engineering of the Mississippi that talk about the edge communities that isn’t directly about your topic, but do discuss things in terms of flooding and decision making/policy.
Tulane University used to run a "Dutch Dialogues" studio about strategic retreat and coastal water management.
Sounds like some interesting work, Amelia. Is it an internship?
To above would add LSU's CSS. Perhaps Lateral Office's Next North/Many Norths suite of work?
Finally, my alma mater has three center/efforts/initiatives that might be of interest; The Florida Resilient Communities Initiative, Consortium for Hydro-Generated Urbanism and the International Center for Adaptation Planning and Design.
Thanks Nam! Yep, for an internship that does mediation/consulting around planning issues.
Just saw this on Citylab, people Getting The F Out:
https://www.citylab.com/enviro...
Nice article.