EXPLORING RESILIENCY

AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN

“When you think of just the economic piece—the town of Paradise lost their tax base in a day,” said Barry J. Long, Jr., AIA, LEED AP,  principal and president of Urban Design Associates (UDA).

“They had to get outside funding to backfill their tax roll to 2055.

They had naturally occurring affordable housing in a three-county region—but much of that will be lost because of the high cost of rebuilding.”

Long said building back affordably is a higher priority for disaster survivors than building back to be fire resistant.

He said many cities push back on building codes that require more than the International Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) Code, which sets minimum regulations for safeguarding life and property from the intrusion of wildfires.

EXPLORING RESILIENCY

AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN

Barry J. Long, Jr., AIA, LEED AP, is principal and president of Urban Design Associates (UDA), a Pittsburgh-based firm that has a national practice of helping communities recover from disaster.

UDA worked to rebuild Paradise, Calif., where a 2018 fire destroyed more than 18,000 structures, including over 14,000 homes, and killed 85 people.

Long noted that more than six years after the fire, Paradise is only about 25 percent built back.

Businesses have been slow to come back, because there’s not enough population to support them.

EXPLORING RESILIENCY

AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN

“Even before the fires, a shortage of affordable housing in Los Angeles created a pall on overall economic growth …

Renters in Los Angeles County need to earn $48.04 per hour—nearly triple the minimum wage—to afford the average monthly asking rent of about $2,500, according to the California Housing Partnership.

That average is about 45 percent higher than national rents …” stated the report by Costar.

EXPLORING RESILIENCY

AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN

Costar, a real estate data and analytics company reported “the most destructive wildfires in California history are expected to send insurance rates surging, adding another headwind for owners of multifamily properties in Los Angeles and potentially hindering affordable housing goals.”

The report notes that The American Property Casualty Insurance Association has lobbied Congress to pass more laws to address wildfire risks—such as the Fix Our Forests Act that seeks to increase the pace and scale of forest management and establishes a program to better coordinate federal agencies to reduce wildfire damage to properties.

EXPLORING RESILIENCY

AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN

Areas devastated by flooding and windstorms are looking to the nature-based resiliency and self-sufficient sustainability of Florida’s Babcock Ranch—which has survived a hurricane that virtually destroyed nearby Gulf Coast communities.

When communities rebuild after wildfires and other disasters, the president elect of the American Institute of Architects and a leading Disability/Aging in Place/Environment advocate, Illya Azaroff, champions the benefits of Universal Design.

Residential and commercial space that is designed to accommodate all ages and abilities adds flexibility, durability and cost efficiency—similar to green building.

EXPLORING RESILIENCY

AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN

Today, more brutal (in terms of loss of life and billions in property) natural disasters are happening more frequently.

Wildfires, hurricanes, floods and other disasters threaten all that we hold dear.

Planners, architects, builders, developers, REALTORS® and even insurance companies are rallying to get a handle on resilient design.

From protecting individual buildings to entire communities, the professions that shape our built environment and way of life are searching for best practices that will prepare us for and protect us from extreme-weather impacts.

EXPLORING RESILIENCY

AND SUSTAINABILITY DESIGN

For centuries, vernacular building techniques used local materials and a knowledge of local conditions to create buildings that were naturally resistant to disastrous weather.

Somewhere in the mid-20th century, conventional building was reflected in suburban sprawl building patterns and mass production with materials sourced from far away.

When LEED was introduced in 2000 by the U.S. Green Building Council, sustainable building and the long-term financial rewards of investing in sustainable building became part of our vocabulary.

HONORED TO BE A KEYNOTE SPEAKER

AT ONE OF THE NATION’S LARGEST CONFERENCES FOR

RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERIAL REALTORS

 

I will bring my expertise in planning, urban design and real estate development to a huge statewide conference in Florida this year.

I will speak to thousands gathered for the annual statewide convention of the largest trade association in America.

I will speak on Sustainability, Resiliency and how everyday people can promote planning and policy that supports climate adaptation in the Sunshine State.

I also unveil a world premiere of my work that proves Universal Design is Sustainability’s missing link – as it creates flexible, resilient, cost-effective and durable housing for multiple generations and all physical abilities.

More details to come and the August event takes place.

NATURE-BASED SOLUTIONS

 FROM THE HEART OF MIAMI TO THE OBSERVANCE OF EARTH DAY

I'm incredibly proud to see my friend and colleague Aida Curtis' work profiled in this story of national importance.

I covered her nature-based solutions for On Common Ground magazine in April 2022.

I am honored to have collaborated with Aida on some writing and marketing projects over the years.

Curtis + Rogers Studio was practicing top drawer resiliency and sustainability before those words became part of our common vocabulary.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

The image is from the New York panorama created for the Word's Fair 1964 and last updated in 1992. The Queens Museum has left the World Trade Center twin towers in place despite the tragedy of 9/11/2001

Rutgers University-Newark Professor Jason Barr said deadly flooding will happen more often and working-class people will be cut off from jobs if dramatic action isn’t taken. 

He understands the cynicism toward his project, but said the time for design for action is now.

“Doing nothing is much more expensive than doing a big project,” he said.

“In all climate change adaptation, we are going to be weighing the cost of inaction versus the cost of action,” Barr said.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

The image is from the New York panorama created for the Word's Fair 1964 and last updated in 1992. The Queens Museum has left the World Trade Center twin towers in place despite the tragedy of 9/11/2001

“Of course, I want some buildings for billionaires — that would raise the money to help subsidize the affordable housing,” said Rutgers University-Newark Professor Jason Barr. 

“But an authority would own the land and have full control of the long-term leases. That would allow large tracks devoted to middle- or low-income housing.”

When the remnants of Ida dumped heavy rain on greater New York, dozens of people lost their lives and subway lines — the lifeblood of commerce in the city — were heavily damaged by flooding. 

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

The image is from the New York panorama created for the Word's Fair 1964 and last updated in 1992. The Queens Museum has left the World Trade Center twin towers in place despite the tragedy of 9/11/2001

New York city has started a major climate resiliency project along Manhattan to help reduce future flood risk.

“If we’re going to spend billions of dollars on this, why not create more of the most valuable real estate in the world?” Rutgers University-Newark Professor Jason Barr asked.

Barr said the value of the new land could leverage a new subway line, parks, infrastructure and most important of all — mixed-use housing with a strong percentage of it affordable.

 Barr has heard much “it can’t be done” skepticism and incorrect claims that the vision would end up as a giveaway to billionaires.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

“New York started in Lower Manhattan and it expanded the shoreline many times there, from the time the British took over. 

Other cities are doing large infill projects. 

Hong Kong, suffering from housing affordability and being land constrained, is doing 2.5 times my suggestion — 1,700 hectares,” said, Rutgers University-Newark Professor Jason Barr, whose vision for New Mannahatta includes absorbing Governor’s Island.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

While some communities’ answer to resiliency will include retreat, Rutgers University-Newark Professor Jason Barr’s answer for New York is a resounding — EXPAND! 

The economist created quite a stir when his January 2022 New York Times Op-Ed urged incoming Mayor Eric Adams to expand Lower Manhattan substantially by reclaiming land — 1,760 acres to be exact — from New York Harbor. 

Barr suggests the city’s housing crisis could be answered with 250,000 new residences — a good chunk affordable.

Barr, who points out that New York has a history of expanding by expanding the shoreline, even has a name for his new city tacked onto the city — New Mannahatta.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

“After years of planning, some 40 homeowners will have the opportunity to move to the new community that they’ve named Audubon Estates,” the Advocate reported, noting many Pecan Acres residents are low- to moderate-income and moved to the area after previously living on nearby sharecropping land.

The new town is about two miles from the oft-deluged Pecan Acres.

Once all residents move from Pecan Acres, the area will be restored to a wetland that could help mitigate regional flooding.The Advocate reported that Pecan Acres was built in the late ‘60s and ‘70s on a parish dumpsite that previously was low-lying swampland, making it vulnerable to floods. 

Many in the neighborhood couldn’t afford flood insurance, which is needed to obtain federal grants for flood repairs.

Efforts to curb flooding in the Baton Rouge-area town by installing pumps and other measures failed.

The inability of pumps and infrastructure to resolve flooding could be a canary in the coal mine warning that retreat could be the only ultimate solution in below or barely above sea level cities in Florida and Louisiana.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

In Louisiana, where sea level rise is erasing land each year, relocation of entire cities is an option. 

In early 2021, the state Community Development Department broke ground on a 22.5-acre plot aimed at resettling people from a flood-plagued neighborhood that earned the nickname “Flood City.”

The Advocate newspaper in Baton Rouge reported that the small community of Pecan Acres has flooded 17 times in the past 30 years. 

The state earmarked about $19.4 million for the resettlement effort, funded through a mix of federal and state grants used for disaster and relocation initiatives.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

“Instead of removing trees to construct — move the trees and/or build around them. Add more nature to your buildings — people in Italy are building vertical forests,” Aida Curtis observed.

“Use more nature-based solutions for flooding: permeable parking lots, invest in the public spaces around your projects and invest in renewable energy for your building.

Create wider sidewalks — permeable to store water, with the ability to support large trees to create shade.”

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

“We came up with a series of hybrid solutions, nature based — that would add living shorelines, natural breakwaters, near-shore artificial reefs, and raised seawalls. It would add 39 acres of open park land for the citizens of Miami,” said Aida Curtis,

who also generated visuals of how bad the seawall would look — to further the argument for more equitable nature-based solutions.

Inland, Curtis’s landscape architecture and planning encourages development and other rules that truly create a sustainable network through all of Miami’s diverse communities.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

In Miami, Landscape Architect Aida Curtis, principal of Curtis+Rogers Design Studio, has been immersed in resilient design, decades before the city became synonymous with ground zero for climate disaster — 

both the slow variety from sea level rise and the immediate knockout punch from the killer winds and storm surge of increasingly frequent hurricanes. 

She stresses that mitigation can be beautiful and practical.

After Hurricane Irma, a federally funded study proposed a 10- to 30-foot-high floodwall that would run along the Miami’s picturesque bayfront spanning from downtown Miami, south across the Miami River (with floodgates) and to the Manhattan-like Brickell Area.

 Curtis’ firm was hired to illustrate alternatives to what most saw as a hideous wall.

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS

START WITH ASSESSING THE RISK TO YOUR OWN PROPERTY/COMMUNITY

USGBC's David Abell said to become LEED certified, cities must assess their green and gray infrastructure and their relationship to equity.

“We help them mine data to ensure decisions are centered around equity. 

We want to ensure that communities historically left behind are addressed in all aspects of quality of life — including infrastructure investment,” he said.

USGBC's Hilari Varnadore said the USBGC also wants to make sure cities are working with diverse groups — so neighborhood solutions are tailored to the needs of the residents, not a top-down approach that often fails. 

The steps to LEED certification also make sure cities are working collaboratively with regional nonprofits and foundations capable of leveraging dollars with grant funding.