The impact of natural disasters is often exacerbated by a disparity between resources for relief and recovery. When the barrio of Punta Santiago in Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria in September of 2017, many of its residents lived in the remains of their homes for over a year while they rebuilt from wind damage and flood waters that rose over 6 feet. As climate change leads to an even more constrained timeline for response with increasingly frequent and intense storms, the future of Punta Santiago and other coastal communities worldwide will necessitate strategies ranging from nature-based shore protection systems, coastal setbacks, and managed retreat. This thesis investigates the time disparate processes of disaster relief, recovery, and climate adaptation through the lens of their impact upon the interdependent identities of people and place as informed by theorists and designers including J.B. Jackson and Patrick Geddes. My approach works from the scale of the Antón Ruíz watershed to the delta to uncover the historical and contemporary processes that knit people in the region to the land. I identify commonalities in the immediate recovery needs and long-term resiliency of the community and ecosystems, and seek to support ongoing globally significant research of the rare coastal systems surrounding Punta Santiago. The proposed design, a causeway linking the coast to the hills, dovetails disaster relief and recovery with climate adaptation by providing a persistent connection that restores and reveals the dynamic coastal landscape. / Master of Landscape Architecture / Global warming is correlated with an increase in sea level rise, atmospheric moisture (water content in the air), and surface sea temperatures. The body of research around the complex interaction of these factors is growing, but current projections are that warmer seas will cause more intense hurricanes. Coastal communities, particularly those with fewer economic resources, bear the brunt of this trend and recovery is more difficult with each passing storm. After Hurricane Maria struck in September 2017, many residents of the barrio of Punta Santiago in Puerto Rico lived in the remains of their homes for over a year with little resources to rebuild from the severe wind damage and flood waters that rose over 6 feet. Recovery is still underway almost two years later. A sustainable way forward for Punta Santiago and other coastal communities worldwide necessitates strategies ranging from natural shore stabilization techniques like mangrove buffers and living reefs to restrictions on coastal development, and even the relocation of communities. This thesis investigates the time disparate processes of disaster relief, recovery, and climate adaptation through the lens of their impact upon the interdependent identities of people and place as informed by theorists and designers including J.B. Jackson and Patrick Geddes. My approach works from the scale of the Antón Ruíz watershed to the delta to uncover the historical and contemporary land use that knit people in the region to the land. I identify commonalities in the immediate recovery needs and long-term resiliency of the community and ecosystems, and seek to support ongoing globally significant research of the rare coastal systems surrounding Punta Santiago. The proposed design, a causeway linking the coast to the hills, dovetails disaster relief and recovery with climate adaptation by providing a persistent connection that restores and reveals the dynamic coastal landscape.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:VTETD/oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/91404 |
| Date | 10 July 2019 |
| Creators | Schiavoni, Alexandra Elizabeth |
| Contributors | Landscape Architecture, McSherry, Laurel, Heavers, Nathan, Marcucci, Daniel J. |
| Publisher | Virginia Tech |
| Source Sets | Virginia Tech Theses and Dissertation |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | ETD, application/pdf |
| Rights | In Copyright, http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
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