LAR 444 – Sustainable design studio:

A planning, policy, and design studio on storm resilience for the urban waterfront

(LAR Seniors, MAF and MESM grad students and others by permission)

Co-Instructors: Profs. Will Green (LAR) & Austin Becker (MAF/LAR)

4 Credits: * Lecture: 2 hours, Studio: 4 hours

M/W 1:00 – 3:50 + field trips + four Thursday evening lectures

Prerequisite: LAR senior or by permission

Coastal population surpassed 3.5 billion, sea levels are on the rise, and projections indicate an increase in major storm events is already occurring. Under these conditions, what can be done to alter or simply live with these new conditions on the urban coast? The interdisciplinary community of physical and social scientists, designers and engineers, has shifted its focus to accommodating climate change, developing responses, envisioning communities and cities of the future, and defining terms of adaptability, ecological resilience, and sustainability. This provides the challenge presented in this course.

Course Description

Using the proposals from the recent REBUILD BY DESIGN competition in NYC, students will analyze and consider important environmental, community design and policy questions that affect the coastal urban environment of Galilee, Rhode Island’s most important commercial fishing port. The studio will operate in both a class format (lecture, readings and discussion) and as a professional office where students will work individually and as part of a team of colleagues. Students will analyze resilience projects, identify unique interventions, engage with stakeholders, and apply design and policy strategies to a local site. This project involves service-learning for complex real-world issues (ecological, social and economic) within the community and as affected by its coastal context. Opportunities to interact with professionals from leading design firms will be presented.

Course Objectives

Understand adaptation precedents from a functional, spatial, ecological and cultural perspective
Learn about cutting-edge techniques from winning resilience proposals in Rebuild By Design
Learn techniques for communication, public engagement and negotiation to facilitate project implementation and success
Collaborate to address complex environmental/community problems
Apply diverse and unique disciplinary skills in a multi-disciplinary environment, leading to the production of a professional design report

Geographical focus

This semester, the course focuses on storm resilience strategies for the commercial/industrial waterfronts of Pt. Judith.