KEY WEST, FLORIDA IN THE AFTERMATH OF HURRICANE IRMA; IMAGE: GETTY
On the anniversary of my birth 53 years ago in Tampa, Florida (during Hurricane Dora in 1964), I watch with dread as my home state bears the brunt of Hurricane Irma. Our family has been sailing and boating on the Gulf Coast of Florida for the last 50 years, and we know the water is warm and shallow for miles offshore, a tropical paradise when the weather is calm.
We have never experienced a disaster of this magnitude. Protecting human life is of the utmost importance as scientists warn ‘some of these areas will be unrecognizable’. Recently, The Economist published a graph showing that, since 1970, the number of natural disasters worldwide has quadrupled to roughly 400 per year. Unfortunately, Hurricane Irma is not likely a once-in-a-lifetime event; all of us need to work together and take the long-term view as we help people rebuild their lives.
How can we be more resilient and protect our communities, especially those most vulnerable socially and economically, as we start to rebuild and how can we prepare for more disasters in the future? Several tools and reports are already available:
AIA recently released the latest edition of the AIA Disaster Assistance Handbook, a resource technical guidance, programs, and tools for architects and communities that cites several voluntary performance-based rating systems that can be of assistance during the design and rebuilding of buildings and communities. The handbook incorporates tools of resiliency; meeting design goals that are above code and address systems beyond the building. Three recent documents are included: Resilient Design Guidelines (RDG) created by the US Resiliency Council, Resilience from Earthquakes () and the Resiliency Action List for new and existing buildings ().
The US Green Building Council recently approved resilient design pilot credits, available later this year. Design teams can address hazard risks, plan for resilience, and design for enhanced resilience, passive and functionality during emergencies—all of which create a framework to proactively plan for the potential impacts of natural disasters, as well as long-term building performance during changing climate conditions.
The 2017 report by the Union of Concerned Scientists, When Rising Seas Hit Home: Hard Choices Ahead for Hundreds of US Coastal Communities, notes that chronic flooding already affects several coastal communities and by 2035 estimates that about 170 communities will experience flooding 26 times per year or more. However, if we act to achieve the measures outlined in the Paris Climate Agreement and slow sea level rise, hundreds of communities could avoid chronic inundation by the end of this century.
Finally, a summary and assessment of voluntary resiliency standards available.
Embracing the resilient city
The good news is, there are solutions. We can do better. As noted by C40, cities cover 2 percent of the world’s land area but they account for 70 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. Thirty percent of those emissions are generated by buildings; this is a huge opportunity for innovative projects to achieve climate-positive goals. C40 facilitates dialogue between cities so that ideas, innovation and lessons-learned can be shared and tailored to each city’s unique situation. Hard infrastructure is the web that links cities and communities together.
In August of 2017, the president signed an executive order on infrastructure that included language overturning a federal requirement that projects built in coastal floodplains and receiving federal aid take projected sea level rise into account. Some groups, such as the National Association of Home Builders, hailed the reversal of that standard from the Obama administration on the grounds that stricter flood requirements would raise the cost of development and “could make many projects infeasible.”
Those of us optimistic about our future oppose the President’s executive order on infrastructure because our public infrastructure capital is finite but our ability to innovate is infinite. Our natural capital is also finite and it is precisely why the two must work together if our society is to persevere in a habitable way.
In fact, cities are already embracing these ideas through The Institute for a Sustainable Infrastructure, a nonprofit founded in 2010 that created the Envision Rating System, a tool for sustainable infrastructure, levering synergies to create a better quality of life for everyone. We know that the best infrastructure is restorative. Currently, this seems like an unattainable goal, but in the future why can’t this be standard? In 1420, when Brunelleschi designed the cathedral dome in Florence (fifteenth-century infrastructure!), he knew the largest dome in the world could not be built with current technology. It was designed anyway; his team knew technology would be developed so that the 150’ wide dome could be constructed. The dome was completed 16 years later and is one of the great achievements of Renaissance architecture.
If the recent past is any indication, adaptation and resiliency can pave the road to mitigation in the design of buildings. The more we find ourselves having to adapt to climate change, the more we strive to also mitigate the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming. The American Institute of Architects created a national initiative called the 2030 Commitment that provides a framework to help architectural firms evaluate the impact of building design on energy performance, and it is free to all AIA members.
There is a rift between what codes do and what the public expects. We all now have an opportunity to restore our communities so that they lean toward carbon neutrality, renewable energy, and resiliency for a more habitable, livable future for all of us.
Angie Brooks, FAIA, is principal at Brooks + Scarpa and chair-elect of the AIA COTE Advisory Group.
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