Woltz Symposium 2009

Adaptation: Urban Infrastructure and Climate Change

Organized by Kristina Hill, Director, Program in Landscape Architecture

Research on climate change has already revealed impacts in the United States and the rest of the world, and predictions are becoming more definite about the consequences of these trends for the rate of sea level rise, the number and intensity of heat wave events in cities, and changes in rainfall patterns that will pose challenges for urban water supplies. In this context, planning and design for urban infrastructure can no longer be done without incorporating a range of predictions for climate change. Many questions exist about how to do this well, given the enormous financial, political, and cultural consequences of urban infrastructure investments.

Key questions for the Symposium will include:

What scale of infrastructure changes are needed, and where?

What strategic approaches have been developed to provide a planning and design context for building adaptive infrastructure? Do existing technologies offer solutions, or are new systems and designs needed to meet these challenges? Can cities keep up with an unprecedented rate of sea level rise, or must entire districts be relocated? How will the systems that provide urban water supplies, wastewater treatment, and stormwater drainage keep up with a pattern of less frequent, more intense rainstorms?

Whose health and safety will be most vulnerable in the climate we can expect in 2050 and beyond, and what investments will protect our most vulnerable citizens?

Income inequality, as well as differences in age, social capital, and mobility can all impact an individual’s or a family’s vulnerability to the consequences of climate change. Environmental justice and social justice questions become even more significant as the challenges of supporting health and quality of life in cities multiply. Will the New Orleans scenario be repeated in future environmental extremes, or will public and private efforts be organized to protect people who are less mobile, less well–informed, elderly, or responsible for the safety of children?

What multi–functional approaches might allow urban regions to make these investments to produce fundamental benefits to quality of life and a robust urban economy?

Every dollar spent on a single function is a dollar that could be spent to gain multiple benefits, producing a greater return from the same investment. What are the best examples of projects around the world that have supported economic and cultural goals while meeting the changing functional needs of infrastructure systems?

Are there any insights we can gain from these challenges about what it means to be human in our time?

How have human beings thought about flexibility in urban systems in the past? Does the need to build more adaptive systems conflict with the expectations of stability and permanence that have been attached to most cities in history? Does the need for adaptation to uncertain changes raise fundamental questions about the ethics of social roles and our philosophies of governance, especially with regard to collective vs. individual actions and responsibilities? Must we re–evaluate expectations developed during the modern era about the level of control we can achieve through human design? Will we continue to seek to protect the habitat of non–human species, and how can this be done in a landscape that will become less hospitable to many?

Outcome

The goal of the Symposium is to produce a set of essays, cases and visionary ideas that address the potential of adaptive infrastructure to meet the challenges of climate change in cities. The focus of the invited speakers contains an emphasis on water systems because water is essential to urban sustainability, but the questions that frame the event have been selected to link water systems to the larger issues of establishing a social and philosophical context for adaptation, specific spatial and temporal strategies, and the need (with both financial and aesthetic motivations) to produce multi–purpose investments.

These essays, cases, and visionary ideas will be recorded at the Symposium for publication on a website first, and then published in book format. We are looking for an appropriate publisher for that work while we plan the event. We will also invite several prominent journalists to attend the event, especially people who write about urban design and planning for major US and European media outlets.

Format

The Symposium is scheduled to run for one evening keynote session (October 8) and two full days of panels and presentations (October 9 and 10).

Day 1: Thursday, October 8, 2009

6 pm, Keynote Lecture: William Hudnut III
“What is the scope of the infrastructure challenge that faces American cities?”
Campbell Hall, Room 153
Reception to follow

Day 2: Friday, October 9, 2009

9 am — 12 pm: Presentations and panels
Projects: What are cities doing now?
Campbell Hall, Room 158

Bruce Hayden,
Professor of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia

Matthew Gandy,
Urban Historian, UC London, UK

Alex Nickson,
Mayor’s Office, City of London

1 pm — 6 pm: Presentations and panels (continued)

Will Travis,
Executive Director, Bay Area Conservation and Development, San Francisco, USA

Piet Dircke,
ARCADIS engineering, Rotterdam, The Netherlands

6pm: Reception (by invitation only)

Day 3: Saturday, October 10, 2009

8:30 am — 12 pm: Presentations and panels
Visions: What should we be doing in cities to adapt to climate change with equity?
Campbell Hall, Room 153

Antje Stokman,
Leibniz University, Hanover, Germany

Kongjian Yu,
Landscape Architect and Dean, Peking University, Beijing, China

Martin Prominski,
Leibniz University, Hanover, Germany

Anne Spirn,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA

Jane Wolff,
Director, Program in Landscape Architecture, University of Toronto, Canada

1 pm — 3 pm: Respondent Panel

University of Virginia Participants

Tim Beatley	Environmental Planning, Sustainability
Kristina Hill	Landscape Architecture/Urban Design, Urban water systems
Elizabeth Meyer	Landscape Architecture/urban history, aesthetics and sustainability
Robin Dripps	Architecture/Urban Design, Water and design at multiple scales
Jorg Sieweke	Landscape Architecture/Urban Design, Delta cities and modernism
Bruce Hayden	Environmental science/climate change/coastal processes
Michael Pace	Environmental science/urban water systems/limnology