United States: How to redesign the Bay Area to fight future climate disasters
By Adele Peters
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The neighborhood is one of the parts of the Bay Area most at risk from flooding from rising sea levels and severe storms and from earthquakes. It’s also one of nine areas reimagined by teams of architects and designers in a year-long competition to create a “blueprint of resilience” for the region (largely focused on climate change and sea level rise, but focused on earthquakes, as well). The proposal for the area, located in an industrial corner of southeastern San Francisco, suggests partially uncovering the creek, both to better deal with flooding and to bring green space to a part of the city that lacks it.
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Billions of dollars’ worth of property in the Bay Area is at risk from rising sea levels, including infrastructure like San Francisco’s international airport. As some parts of the city sink, one recent studyfound that even more land is at risk than previously thought. The low-lying communities that are most at risk as the water rises also tend to have other challenges, including poverty, asthma, and other health issues from pollution, and an increased risk of earthquake damage, especially in areas that were built on rubble on former marshes. The designers looked at resilience holistically–not just how infrastructure might reduce flooding, but how communities could become stronger to bounce back when floods inevitably happen. They also looked at solutions beyond simple seawalls, which can’t prevent flooding if part of the problem is coming from stormwater and high groundwater.
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