LTC 308-2018 Resilience Accelerator - West Avenue ProjctAAIAMIBEACH
City of Miami Beach, 1700 Convention Center Drive, Miami Beach, Florida 33139, www.miamibeachfl.gov
Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
Tel: 305-673-7010 , Fax: 305-673-7782
308-2018
NO. LTC #
1
ETTER TO COMMISSION
TO: Mayor Dan Gelber and Members of he City C mission
FROM: Jimmy L. Morales, City Manager
DATE: May 31, 2018
SUBJECT: Resilience Accelerator — West Ave e Project
I am very pleased to announce an exciting opportunity that has been brought to us through our
membership in the 100 Resilient Cities Network. The Resilience Accelerator is a partnership between 100
Resilient Cities and the Center for Resilient Cities & Landscapes at Columbia University, funded by
a $3.7 million grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. While this is a competitive grant program,
Greater Miami & the Beaches was chosen to directly participate. This summer Columbia University will
be bringing multi -disciplinary expertise to advance strategy and project design for four projects in South
Florida. The Resiliency Accelerator will use an interdisciplinary approach to holistically integrate grey and
green infrastructure and identify larger co -benefits that are consistent with the ULI and Harvard
recommendations.
The West Avenue Neighborhood Improvement Project is an ideal project to put through the Resiliency
Accelerator to keep the project moving forward while integrating a more holistic resiliency approach. West
Avenue is one of the lowest lying areas in the City with elevations as low as 1.7 NAVD. Without the
deployment of temporary pumps, segments of the neighborhood flood regularly during intense rain events
and king tides. Concurrent to the Florida Department of Transportation's renovation of Alton Road, 10th
Street and 14th Street were raised by the City as the first phase of the West Avenue reconstruction,
creating an unharmonized existing condition. Columbia will be working with the West Avenue community
to build consensus on the design and will identify design opportunities to help the city better adapt to
climate change.
The Resilience Accelerator is a multi -day design driven workshop. The Columbia team will identify
appropriate enhancements based on the project's lifecycle where the workshop can integrate resilience
thinking and design expertise to produce better resilience outcomes. This is achieved by bringing together
key local stakeholders with creative thinkers and technical experts chosen for their ability to facilitate and
advise to help communities survive, adapt, and thrive no matter what kinds of chronic stresses and acute
shocks they experience.
Next week, a small team from 100 Resilient Cities and Columbia University will be in Miami Beach for an
initial scoping visit in preparation for the three-day workshop scheduled for August 6,7, and 8. The team
will be meeting with stakeholders from West Avenue and the various City departments including CIP,
Communications, Fire, Parking, Planning, Public Works, and Transportation to ensure an integrated
approach. They will be available at the June 6 Commission meeting for introductions and will be providing
a brief overview of the project. The workshop in August will be focusing on strategy and design,
stakeholder engagement, and benefits and costs.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to Susy Torriente, Chief Resiliency Officer
and Assistant City Manager or Elizabeth Wheaton, Environment & Sustainability Director.
Attachment: A — Resilience Accelerator Fact Sheet
RESILIENCE ACCELERATOR
We bring together creative minds and diverse resources to improve, accelerate, and implement
resilience projects in order to better the lives of people in cities.
The Resilience Accelerator is a partnership between MO Resilient Cities and the Center for Resilient
Cities and Landscapes at Columbia University GSAPP. New support from The Rockefeller Foundation
connects the diverse challenges of a global network of cities to the expertise of one of the world's top
schools of planning and design.
What We Do
The Resilience Accelerator spots key moments in a project's lifecycle where we can bring people together
to connect expertise, create more funding and investment opportunities, and produce better resilience
outcomes.
DESIGN
Convene immersive workshops that bring together multi -disciplinary expertise to advance strategy and
project design
CONNECT
Network hundreds of creative thinkers, designers and technical experts chosen for their ability to
facilitate and advise in order to help communities survive, adapt, and thrive no matterwhat kinds of
chronic stresses and acute shocks they experience
LEARN
Thread resilience concepts through the curriculum of Columbia University's Graduate School for
Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, and partner with cities and their local university and
implementation partners to improve projects and spread resilience thinking
Team of Accelerator
Technical) Staff visit city to
gain in depth knowledge
of project, collect data,
form relationships, and
define deliverables.
le City Ena er#ertt Process
Proje t +
Workshop
Preparation
FoHow
Throt:lq€h
Defining project through
analysis, mapping, and
precedent research.
Crafting of agenda and
tailoring of content.
Development cycle of new
exercises and content.
3-4 day design focused
workshop
Sample Outputs:
• Implementation Road
Map tinct Roles and
Responsibilities)
• Funding and Financing
Plan
• M+E framework
• Stakeholder
engagement plan
• Visual materials
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY COLUMBIA
IN THE CITY OF NEW YORK
GSAPP
Where appropriate,
10QRc team and partners
can own elements of
implementation road map_.
Prait€ntil BP Trig.
ROMi ' bLpR Pomp4t$'3'E