Sapphire Necklace: Resilient Shoreline Communities Along the San Juan Bay Estuary
1st Prize- Building 4Humanity Design Competition (Unbuilt Projects)Team: Anita Berrizbeitia (Advisor), ngel Rodrguez-Coln, Eduardo LLins-Meseguer, Judith Rodrguez-Portieles (Project Coordinator)The San Juan Bay Estuary is a 3,400-acre estuary system in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It encompasses more than 15 miles of shoreline and waterways, including the San Juan Bay, five lagoons (Condado, San Jos, Los Corozos, Torrecilla and the Piones Lagoon), several rivers and creeks, and a network of channels interconnecting these bodies of water.Today, the estuary is home to more than 1. 5 million inhabitants in the eight municipalities that surround the system. Much of the islands economic activity takes place along its waters, with major passenger and commercial ports located within the system. With more than 30% of the total of mangroves in Puerto Rico and over 3,000 acres of wetlands and waterways, the estuary provides habitat to more than160 species of birds and over 300 species of plants, 16 of which are considered endangered and endemic to Puerto Rico. Nevertheless, despite its inherent ecological value and numerous benefits to the city, low-lying areas along the estuarys waterways have been historically marginalized, resulting in poor integration between the citys physical fabric and the water bodies that surround it. Driven by drastic rural-to-urban migrations during early 20th century, many of the communities established along the systems shoreline did so informally through land reclamation, making them prone to various disaster hazards including flooding, storm surge, and coastal erosion. These risks are currently being exacerbated by climate change, posing significant challenges on the estuarys natural systems and the communities that inhabit it. As Puerto Rico undertakes its prolonged recovery process from the impact of Hurricane Maria, it is imperative for government officials, community leaders and professionals involved in this process, to weight in the inevitable and potentially irreversible effects of climate change upon all long-term planning and disaster preparedness efforts. On October 2018, the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report pictured a dire future for coastal cities such as San Juan. If CO2 emissions continue to grow at current or slightly lower rates, rising global temperatures will result in a dramatic increase of sea levels, more frequent flooding events, extensive droughts, severe coastal erosion (as result of substantial or complete disappearance of coral reefs), and stronger and more frequent storms, as evidenced during the 2017 hurricane season. This proposal, developed by a group of young architects, urban designers and landscape architects from the island, lays out several preliminary strategies that, if implemented, could provide coastal protection from sea level rise and storm surge while enabling opportunities for recreational activities, environmental restoration, and economic growth. In the aftermath of Hurricane Maria, long-term recovery and preparedness efforts provide Puerto Rico with one in a generation opportunity to build back better. To think big and holistically, integrating local communities with municipal, statewide and federal agencies to make our cities more resilient and reduce the impact of future disasters like Maria. A Natural Event; a Man-Made DisasterIn September 2017, Puerto Rico endured the catastrophic impact of two category 5 storms after Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit the island only two weeks apart. Maria made a direct hit on the island, becoming the worst natural disaster in Puerto Ricos modern history and the deadliest natural disaster in modern US history, with approximately 2,975 casualties from direct and hurricane-related causes.To understand the full impact of this event and the multiple challenges it poses for the islands long recovery, its important to stress the low level of resiliency Puerto Rico had before Maria. Over the last 12 years, the US territory has been in the midst of a long economic recession, with more than $70 billion in public debt and $43 billion in unfunded pension liabilities. Its population has been shrinking steadily as families flee to the continental united states. Between 2006 and 2017, the islands population decreased from 3. 8 to 3. 3 million; a half-a-million reduction. With an already declining infrastructure and a long history of mismanagement and weak governance, the hurricanes undermined the already low level of resiliency, triggering significant structural, demographic, health, social, and infrastructure stresses.Decades of inadequate planning and unsustainable urbanization patterns in flood-prone areas only contributed to worsening the crisis. Nearly half-a-million people live in coastal zones and 2. 3 million in the 44 coastal municipalities of the island. As the most densely populated estuary in Puerto Rico and home to the largest share of people living in vulnerable, flood-prone areas, the San Juan Bay Estuary area was severely impacted by these events.Once a Wetland, Today Home to Thousands of Working-Class Families:Environmental Challenges:Climate Change Stressors:Building 4Humanity Design Competition final submission deliverablesMethodology:The approach to design was to develop a proposal informed by the context, historical data, future projections, official master plans, community-driven plans, and existing efforts on the recovery of the island. An extensive review process that involves mapping and modeling, is integrated into the proposal, which includes the following: Community driven master plans: Cao Martin Pena, Plan of the Ecological Corridor of San Juan. Historical maps of the San Juan Bay: c.1700s, 1766, 1776, 1791, 1911, 1917, 1940. Transportation Plan of San Juan Metropolitan Area USGS, History of Dredging and Filling of Lagoons in the San Juan Area, Puerto Rico (1970). Sea Level Rise Projections from the Puerto Rico Climate Change Council Data Tool GIS mapping using data from government portal USDA and Forest Service, The Ro Piedras Watershed and Its Surrounding Environment Ecosystem services modeling outputs for flood regulation potential, using AI for Ecosystem Services ReImagina Puerto Rico reports, Resilient Puerto Rico Advisory Commission (2018). FEMA Flood Maps (2009, 2018). Phase I Sea Level Rise Adaptation Review of Design Criteria for Coastal Infrastructure in Puerto Rico, Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (2015). USDA National Priorities Section Puerto Rico Forest Action Plan (2015). Management Plan for the Estuarine Natural Reserve of Laguna del Condado (2016) Official government recovery plan proposal for Puerto Rico: Transformation and Innovation in the Wake of Devastation. An Economic and Disaster Recovery Plan for Puerto Rico (2018).The materials on this website may not be reproduced in print or any other media without written permission. Contact info: Cor RELATED QUESTION Is an acrylic kitchen sink a good replacement choice for a builder grade flimsy stainless steel one? Stainless, even the thin ones, are far superior to acrylic for a kitchen sink. I havent seen any acrylic kitchen sink last more than a few months before they showed a lot of stains, damage and wear. They easily mark from copper clad and aluminum pots and pans. Cast iron pans will easily scratch the acrylic. A dropped knife will take a gouge out. Staining is a persistent issue especially from grease, oil, spaghetti sauce, coffee and juice drinks. Personally, I would not use an acrylic sink anywhere other than a bathroom. MarkKw
