Living Breakwaters- Scape/Landscape Architecture
#MoveTheDate Solutions
Personal / Community: Community project
Nature sub-categories: Conservation, Ecosystem health
Description: BFI Award "Living Breakwaters" 2014: The LIVING BREAKWATERS project combines COASTAL RESILIENCY infrastructure with HABITAT ENHANCEMENT techniques and COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT, deploying a layered strategy that links in-water protective forms to on-shore interventions. We aim to mitigate the risk to humans from periodic weather extremes, improve the quality of our everyday lives, and rebuild our ecosystem. The LIVING BREAKWATERS project acknowledges the fact that risk is embedded in all coastal resiliency strategies. Rather than cutting communities off from the water with a levee or wall, our approach embraces the water and its economic and recreational opportunities, using shallow water landscapes to stabilize the shore and rebuild diverse habitats. Sitting at the mouth of the New York Bight, Staten Island is particularly vulnerable to wave action and erosion. Our pilot project at the southern-most tip of Staten Island, in Tottenville, utilizes a layered system of breakwaters, constructed of ecologically engineered concrete, to attenuate wave action, create habitat for juvenile fish, and provide calm waters for recreation on the landward side. We have designed "reef streets" - micro-pockets of habitat complexity to host finfish, shellfish, and lobsters, and hydrodynamically modeled the breakwater system at a macro scale to understand how and where they can most effectively protect communities. Structures called Water Hubs are located at critical points along the shore to serve as places of gathering for classes, orientation, kayak & equipment. Our initial project aims to protect the South Shore of Staten Island but the concept, through site-specific study, could be replicable along much of the U.S. coastline.
Website about this solution: http://www.scapestudio.com/projects/living-breakwaters/
Video about this solution: https://vimeo.com/274803157
Why I love this solution: The Living Breakwaters project combines coastal resiliency infrastructure with habitat enhancement techniques and community engagement, deploying a layered strategy that links in-water protective forms to on-shore interventions.