Loading...
R9 K GSD_OFU_Miami Beach_Executive Summary_11 April 2018RESEARCH REPORT South Florida and Sea Level: The Case of Miami Beach EDITION 2017 S o u t h F l o r i d a a n d S e a L e v e l : T h e C a s e o f M i a m i B e a c h Fig. 1. Aerial view of South Beach looking south. “The infrastructure we have is built for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.”1 Nicole Hernandez Hammer, 2015 Environmental Studies Researcher, Union of Concerned Scientists Fig. 2. Sunny Isles Beach. “Ultimately, you can’t beat nature, but you can learn to live with it. Human ingenuity is incredible, but do we have the political will? Holland sets aside $1 billion a year for flood mitigation, and we have a lot more coastline than they do.”2 Jimmy Morales, 2013 City Manager of Miami Beach “In the face of climate change and sea level rise, Miami Beach will need to make a decision about what type of city and what type of community it wants to have. It goes back to the question of identity at the end of the day.”5 Greg Guannel, 2016 Director of Urban Programs, The Nature Conservancy Fig. 3. Aerial view of Venetian Islands and Venetian Causeway in the Biscayne Bay. 1312 SummarySouth Florida and Sea Level 1 The City of Miami Beach should mainstream climate adaptation in all infrastructural, environmental, economic, and social undertakings because climate issues have now become common to each sector. The city should continue to initiate experimental research, reports, and projects as well as engage with all relevant stakeholders and agencies to coordinate ongoing and future adaptation efforts. Additionally, the city should continue to engage with local civic and research institutions and professionals to solicit imaginative adaptation strategies. Through prototypes of projects and policies, the city has the opportunity to develop the appropriate pathways through trial and error. 14 15 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 2 The City of Miami Beach should continue to engage national, state, regional, and local actors through the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact in order to translate scientific consensus into support tools, guidelines, and design standards for managing infrastructure systems and the built environment. A uniform application of standards based on a range of direct and indirect climate change impacts can help local municipalities serve as leaders that other jurisdictions can learn from. 16 17 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 3 The City of Miami Beach should create a comprehensive and flexible medium-term plan for urban adaptation. This plan should project a shared, future cultural identity. This aspiration should draw upon the history of Miami Beach’s natural endowment and synthetic construction to inform a future imaginary that simultaneously respects and transcends nostalgia and heritage. This medium-term plan should be comprised of short-term, multi-scalar efforts that multiple stakeholders can cumulatively and sequentially complete. Within these short- term projects, the challenge is to respond to shifting environmental and economic conditions that preserve the economic and cultural value of prior investments. 18 19 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 4 The City of Miami Beach should expand flood mitigation projects from single- purpose engineering solutions to multi- functional green infrastructure. The city should commission a study that examines, among others, strategies to replace hard seawalls with living seawalls, increase permeable surfaces, maximize on-site stormwater capacity, and leverage different water types (e.g., saltwater, freshwater, greywater) according to their utility. In the medium term, the city should design urban environments around current and future hydrological performance. As jurisdictional oversight and permitting inertia pose the primary challenges, the city should seek joint cooperative agreements with cross- sectorial and cross-jurisdictional partners. 20 21 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 5 The City of Miami Beach should incorporate landscape ecology into the evaluation and design of all infrastructural projects. The city should commission a study of the resilience metrics for local species and ecologies to inform ongoing and future flood mitigation projects. Beyond studying the hydrological and ecological advantages of native mangroves and rhizomatic grasses, the city should promote their public perception and work with the private sector to mandate their deployment, particularly along jurisdictionally discontinuous coastlines. Finally, the city should differentiate between plants used for ecological versus aesthetic purposes and deploy them accordingly to environmental, public, and educational ends. 22 23 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 6 The City of Miami Beach should reconceive elevated streets and avenues to maximize infrastructural and public co-benefits and to contribute to multi-adaptive infrastructure. The city should commission a study or conduct a pilot program on using elevated roads for the conveyance, absorption, and storage of stormwater as well as for public benefits (e.g., recreation amenities). Furthermore, the city should commission a study on the use of interstitial block alleys for hydrological, environmental, and public functions. In the medium term, the city should develop sectional strategies for the gradual one-story elevation of streets and avenues and integrate them with ingress/ egress requirements, sidewalks, storefronts, and other public right-of-ways. 24 25 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 7 The City of Miami Beach should reconceive the historic district as a stormwater sink. The city should commission a study on specific typological and morphological strategies to elevate the historic district over time without sacrificing cultural identity. This study should develop codes and massing strategies to rewrite existing regulations, maximize permeable ground, increase on-site stormwater retention, and incentivize development interest. In the medium term, the city should consider prioritizing typological preservation over strict architectural or material preservation. 26 27 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 8 The City of Miami Beach should commission studies that transform its main public right-of-ways into green infrastructure and exemplify innovative urban adaptation. One of the studies should reconceive Collins Canal as stormwater infrastructure that also provides new waterside development, a public promenade, and coastal vegetation. Another study should reconceive the Biscayne Bay coastline as a living seawall that also connects a system of elevated street-end plazas over pump stations with a continuous public bay walk. A third study should reconceive Flamingo Park as a hydrological and ecological resource that also maintains its public landscape. 28 29 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 9 The City of Miami Beach should include the public realm as a metric of evaluation in all adaptation efforts. The city should commission a study on strategies to incorporate public space and programming into all hydrological, ecological, and infrastructural landscapes by integrating promenades, open spaces, public amenities, and educational opportunities. This study should also examine maintaining and increasing public access around large luxury developments along the waterfront. In the medium term, the city should continue to enhance public transit options along major corridors (e.g., Alton Road, Washington Avenue) by prioritizing buses, pedestrians, and bicycles over vehicles. 30 31 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 10 The City of Miami Beach should commission a transportation study on fortifying connections with mainland Miami in terms of mass transit and transportation resilience. This study should explore designs that expand transit options on existing causeways by widening and/or decking in order to accommodate bike paths, light rails, and rapid bus lanes. The city should coordinate with the Miami-Dade Transportation Planning Organization (TPO) and Miami-Dade Transit (MDT) to streamline intercity and multi-modal commuting. 32 33 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 11 The City of Miami Beach should incentivize, guide, and coordinate future adaptation efforts. The city should revise its zoning regulations and land use practices to reflect regional and local policy initiatives. The city should create a finer-grained regulatory system, beyond the catch-all Adaptation Action Areas designation, for areas vulnerable to flooding and prioritize or restrict funding accordingly. Finally, the city should: 1) standardize Base Flood Elevations by location, use, and program; 2) negotiate Flood Insurance Rate Maps that incorporate current probabilities for sea level rise and frequency of storm events; and 3) explore strategies that qualify for credits under the pending FEMA rule for Public Assistance Deductibles. 34 35 South Florida and Sea Level Summary 12 The City of Miami Beach should channel its real estate market toward uses and co- benefits that inure to public and private realms. The city should commission an economic study on maximizing development contributions without diminishing the inherent values in retail, commercial, and housing sub-markets. This study should examine policies that incentivize or require new developments to not only incorporate engineered resilience but also contribute to the resilience of the contextual public realm. Additionally, the city should require transparency in real estate transactions by requiring brokers to disclose current and projected risks to properties based on current data from the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact. 98 99 Scenario 01 Types in the Park Boxia Wang Advised by Charles Waldheim Drawing from Miami Beach’s history as a mangrove swamp, this project reintroduces this species, and its associated hydrological habitats, as the basis for a new urban adaptation model to sea level rise. The mangrove’s four typical habitat conditions inform a gradated, sloped living seawall on the Biscayne Bay coastline which in turn shapes its block structure and urban form. A meandering elevated path weaves the landscape into a public promenade and park. > Fig. 14. Axonometric view of project proposal showing the integration of novel urban form with hydrologically performative landforms. 110 111 Scenario 02 Hydrological Urbanization Andrew Madl Advised by Charles Waldheim Rising ocean levels, increasing magnitude of storm events, and the implementation of new stormwater infrastructure necessitate a re-tooling of the current urban paradigm. As such, factors associated with the deconstruction of oceanic systems and ecosystems; such as pH levels, salinity levels/gradients, plant community patterns, and landform typologies should be leveraged to imagine new integrated urban and ecological systems. > Fig. 23. Aerial perspective showing adaptive urbanization driven by hydrological factors and functions. 120 121 Scenario 03 Paradise in Process Jessy Yang Advised by Charles Waldheim This project perceives imminent sea level rise and the ongoing real estate boom in Miami Beach as opportunities to reshape the future collective image of the city. The proposal deploys a new grid framework along the city’s Biscayne Bay coastline. This opens up access to the waterfront through existing superblocks, crenellates a resilient living seawall to protect from future storm events, and stages the future developments of the city through a consistent formal language that is informed by sea level rise adaptation and solar performance. > Fig. 30. Oblique plan showing proposed urban form, waterfront park, and mangrove buffer. 130 131 Scenario 04 Living Landforms Ziwei Zhang Advised by Charles Waldheim As sea levels rise, Miami must adopt new urban models that embrace the incoming waters. In the coming decades, new construction of seawalls, breakwaters, and other coastal defense systems must be coupled with green infrastructure to maximize resilience and local ecological assets. This project integrates landform as a new kind of infrastructure that simultaneously informs the city’s future urban block structure. > Fig. 41. Aerial view of waterfront showing proposed landforms staging ecological habitats. Zoning envelopes based on solar performance are rendered in white. 138 139 Scenario 05 Biscayne Barnacles Sonny Xu Advised by Charles Waldheim The project aims to build a more resilient and ecologically performative Biscayne Beach shoreline while simultaneously creating a new urban and cultural identity for the city. Through analyzing the form, function, and the aggregation of barnacles; a species commonly found in the bay, the project deploys a comprehensive urban design that holds water, provides habitats, and stages a new littoral urbanism. > Fig. 51. Axonometric view showing proposed landform and urban form expansions into Biscayne Bay. 144 145 Scenario 06 Flamingo Waterpark Izgi Uygur Advised by Rosetta Elkin Sub-tropical Florida usually suffers an excess or a deficit of water due to highly stochastic weather patterns unique to this region in the United States. By defining the varying merits of increased salination, this project balances freshwater availability through seasonal fluctuations using a series of stormwater retention tanks. In this way, Flamingo Park can become a model for water collection and distribution without drastically modifying its existing character as a critical open and vegetated landscape. > Fig. 58. View of a proposed water tower on raised ground by the Flamingo Park track field. 150 151 Scenario 07 Collins Reservoir Kent Hipp Advised by Rosetta Elkin First cut in 1912 to move produce across the island, Collins Canal is an artifact from the city’s past which has received little design attention since its construction. Today, the canal lies adjacent to many publicly owned parcels and a major roadway/ evacuation route; and it remains sparsely developed. This project suggests that the canal should be considered as a test site for a novel, adaptive infrastructure. Fig. 62. Analytical site plan of Collins Canal showing extent of water shed and proposed pump stations adjacent canal. 250m0 158 159 Scenario 08 Higher Lanes and Public Planes Myrna Ayoub Advised by Rosetta Elkin The proposed new flood level floors and raised roadways are a deliberate re- articulation of the ground-plane that creates a new urban threshold. By reworking these modifications, water can be absorbed, moved, or retained as opposed to shed, concealed, or pumped. The fluctuation of urban boundaries, manifest in the section in particular, reveals an exploration of levels that augment civic context. Fig. 67. Street and building elevation scenario. c. d. b. a. a. Sea level rise prompts elevating roads, disrupting public realm thresholds. b. Elevated buildings are economically feasible through floor bonuses. c. Elevated roads and buildings pose a pedestrian continuity challenge and opportunity. d. Landscape connections and architectural gestures choreograph a more urban, porous, and continuous "ground plane" experience. 164 165 Scenario 09 Ocean Courtyards Daniel Widis Advised by Rosetta Elkin In a city lacking accessible public space, Ocean Courtyard reclaims and reimagines the interstitial areas behind the iconic Ocean Drive. This project rejects adaptation as a purely functional endeavor and instead argues for the benefits inherent to elevating as a means of reconceiving civic space. By carving new physical and visual connections within adjacent alleys, novel forms of engagement are proposed to a city in need of truly public landscapes. > Fig. 72. View of Ocean Court transformed from a hardscaped block alley into a public deck over porous ground. 168 169 A New Public Realm in Miami Beach Scenario 10 Biscayne Baywalk Chris Merritt Advised by Rosetta Elkin The bayside coastline holds the potential to become infrastructure for storm surge while functioning as an augmented public promenade. Recently, the City of Miami Beach has installed pumps along the Bay to handle the pressures of large volumes of stormwater runoff. The proposed Biscayne Baywalk is designed to alleviate stormwater quality issues and enhance the quality of the civic realm, serving as a continuous, connected, and visible system that returns the bayside as a destination. > Fig. 74. View of a new pubic promenade at the bayfront. “Resiliency and adaptation are processes, not outcomes. It is a periodical cycle.”26 Jesse M. Keenan, 2016 Lecturer in Architecture, Harvard GSD Fig. 80. Passengers exiting a bus during a "sunny day" flood in Miami Beach. “As Miami’s coastal barrier islands form one of the most recognizable and singularly valuable cultural landscapes in the world, the conditions in Miami Beach reveal the potential for ecological and infrastructural strategies to act as alternatives to large single purpose engineering solutions.”27 Rosetta Elkin, 2016 Assistant Professor of Landscape Architecture, Harvard GSD Fig. 93. View of newly raised sea wall along the Collins Canal. “As the climate changes, the sea rises, and storms increase, Miami Beach is transforming the baseline assumptions underlying its infrastructural and architectonic identity. In doing so, the City’s work raises larger-scale and longer-term questions of the nature of the public realm as well as the potential for new relations between sun and sand, water and sky.”28 Charles Waldheim, 2016 Director, Harvard GSD OFU Fig. 97. Aerial view of Trump Towers condominium resort in Sunny Isles Beach just north of North Miami Beach. RESEARCH REPORT South Florida and Sea Level: The Case of Miami Beach EDITION 2017 S o u t h F l o r i d a a n d S e a L e v e l : T h e C a s e o f M i a m i B e a c h