The Case of Miami Beach

South Florida and Sea Level: The Case of Miami Beach South Florida and Sea Level: RESEARCH REPORT South Florida and Sea Level: The Case of Miami Beach EDITION 2018 SOUTH FLORIDA AND SEA LEVEL The Case of Miami Beach South Florida and Sea Level: The Case of Miami Beach Principal Investigator Charles Waldheim Lead Researchers Aziz Barbar, Rosetta Elkin, Helen Kongsgaard, Jessy Yang. Project Team Javier Ors-Ausin, Matthew Coogan, Francesca Romana Forlini, Christian Lavista, Mariano Gomez-Luque, Chris Merritt, Richard Peiser, Lindsay Woodson. Scenario Contributors Myrna Ayoub, Mikela De Tchaves, Kent Hipp, Geunhwan Jeong, Andrew Madl, Chris Merritt, Izgi Uygur, Boxia Wang, Daniel Widis, Sonny Xu, Jessy Yang, Ziwei Zhang. Editor Jessy Yang Copy Editor Maggie Tsang Printer blurb.com This research report documents the work of an investigation sponsored by the City of Miami Beach and Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Additional support for the investigation was generously provided by the Harvard GSD Irving Innovation Fund. Harvard University Graduate School of Design Office for Urbanization Mohsen Mostafavi, Dean Charles Waldheim, Director SOUTH FLORIDA AND The Harvard University Graduate School of Design is dedicated to the education and development of design professionals in architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning, and urban design. With a commitment to design excellence that demands the skillful manipulation of form and technology and draws inspiration from a broad range of social, environmental, and cultural issues, the Harvard GSD provides leadership for shaping the built environment of the twenty-first century. SEA LEVEL The Harvard GSD Office for Urbanization draws upon the School’s history of design innovation to address societal and cultural conditions associated with contemporary urbanization. It develops speculative and projective urban scenarios through design research projects. The Office imagines alternative and better urban futures through applied design The Case of Miami Beach research. The Office aspires to reduce the distance between design innovation and societal impact. Harvard University Graduate School of Design 48 Quincy Street Cambridge, MA 02138 www.gsd.harvard.edu www.officeforurbanization.org ISBN: 978-0-9991618-5-2 Copyright 2017 © President and Fellows of Harvard College. “The infrastructure we have is built for a world that doesn’t exist anymore.”1 Nicole Hernandez Hammer, 2015 Environmental Studies Researcher, Union of Concerned Scientists Fig. 1. Aerial view of South Beach looking south. Contents ix Acknowledgments 1 Introduction ~ Recommendations 11 Summary 39 Prospects 93 Scenarios Process 194 Contexts 210 Fieldwork ~ 218 Notes 220 Bibliography 224 Credits 225 Biographies Acknowledgments This report documents the work of an investigation conducted at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design’s Office for Urbanization from 2015 to 2017. The research and this report would not have been possible without the generous contributions of many people and institutions. We must begin by thanking the City of Miami Beach, Mayor Philip Levine, and City Manager Jimmy Morales as well as city representatives who served on the Blue Ribbon Panel on Flood Mitigation and Sea Level Rise: Scott Robins, Special Advisor to the Mayor and Chairman; Michael DeFilipe, community activist; and Wyn Bradley, architect and faculty at the University of Miami and member of the City Planning Board. We are deeply grateful to the committed public servants who were generous and insightful consultants, including Eric Carpenter, Public Works Director; Amy Knowles, Deputy Resiliency Officer; Rogelio Madan, Chief of Community Planning and Sustainability; Bruce Mowry, City Engineer; Susanne Torriente, Chief Resilience Officer and Assistant City Manager; Margarita Wells, Environmental Resources Manager; and Elizabeth Wheaton, Director of Environment and Sustainability. We also acknowledge the contributions of those from Miami-Dade County, in particular Maria Nardi, Director of Miami-Dade County Parks, Recreation, and Open Spaces Department. This report would not have been possible without all of their support. viii ix We must also thank our academic collaborators in Miami for offering their generous Urban Planning and Design; Jerold Kayden, Professor of Urban Planning and Design; assistance, intellectual rigor, and educational facilities: Florida International University, Jesse M. Keenan, Lecturer in Architecture; Sergio Lopez-Pineiro, Lecturer in Landscape University of Miami, and Florida Atlantic University. First, we thank Director of The Architecture; Nicholas Nelson, Lecturer in Landscape Architecture; Richard Peiser, Michael Wolfsonian-FIU Timothy Rodgers for opening his beautiful venue to host our spring 2016 D. Spear Professor of Real Estate Development; and Andrew Witt, Assistant Professor in South Florida and Sea Level colloquium. Additionally, we thank Roberto Rovira, Associate Practice of Architecture. In addition, we would like to extend our gratitude to Gerald E. Professor of Landscape Architecture and Chair of Landscape Architecture + Environmental Frug, Louis D. Brandeis Professor of Law at the Harvard Law School and Dr. Alan Blumberg, and Urban Design at FIU, for his collegiality, leadership, and support with our on-site Oceanographer and Director of the Center for Maritime Systems at the Stevens Institute of programs and field visits. We are grateful to others at the University of Miami, including Technology. Lastly, we also acknowledge the valuable design feedback provided by those Sonia Chao, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Urban and Community visiting from other universities and institutions, including Mitesh Dixit, Assistant Professor Design; Benjamin Kirtman, Professor of Meteorology and Physical Oceanography; Joanna of Architecture and Urbanism at Syracuse University; Martin Felsen, Director of the Master Lombard, Professor of Architecture; and Harold Wanless, Professor of Geology. Thanks of Architecture Program at the Illinois Institute of Technology; Paul Lewis, Associate equally to Marta Canaves, Instructor of Landscape Architecture at the Florida International Professor of Architecture at Princeton University and Principal of LTL Architects; Ashley University. Lastly, we acknowledge members of nonprofit and journalism organizations that Schafer, Professor and Graduate Chair of Architecture at Ohio State University; and Mason shared their unique insights, including Alistair Gordon, Contributing Editor of Architecture White, Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Toronto. We could not have and Design, Wall Street Journal; Greg Guannel, Urban Programs Director, The Nature developed our projects as deeply and richly without all of their contributions. Conservancy; and Rachel Silverstein, Executive Director and Waterkeeper of the Biscayne We also want to highlight all of the students who participated in the seminar and Bay Waterkeeper. studios and thank them for their dedication, imagination, and hard work: Myrna Ayoub, We are indebted to our professional contributors in Miami for offering their multi- Adria Boynton, Jenna Chaplin, Dave Hampton, Justin Henceroth, Shanika Hettige, Kent disciplinary expertise on urban adaptation. From participating in our colloquium, to hosting Hipp, Geunhwan Jeong, Elizabeth Langer, Rebecca Liggins, Andrew Madl, Patrick Mayfield, our field trip visits, to attending our design reviews; these individuals deserve our sincere Chris Merritt, Tyler Mohr, Thomas Nideroest, Althea Northcross, Emma Schnur, Brodrick appreciation, including Reinaldo Borges, Principal of Borges Architects and Associates; Spencer, Andrew Taylor, Mikela de Tchaves, Izgi Uygur, Foad Vahidi, Boxia Wang, Yifan Jeremy Gauger, Vice President of ArquitectonicaGEO; Rene Gonzalez, Principal of RGA; Wang, Daniel Widis, Lindsay Woodson, Han Xu, Mengze Xu, Sonny Xu, Jessy Yang, and Chad Oppenheim, Principal of Oppenheim Architecture; Eric Rodenbeck, Founder and Ziwei Zhang. The projects presented in this report capture only a small fraction of their Creative Director of Stamen; Eric Rothstein, Managing Partner and Engineer of eDesign remarkable efforts and contributions. Dynamics; Laurinda Spear, Principal of ArquitectonicaGEO; Marcia Tobin, Principal and Finally, we owe a debt of gratitude to the four committed lead researchers of the Vice President of AECOM; Justine Velez, Principal of Urban Robot; and JJ Wood, Principal Harvard University Graduate School of Design’s Office for Urbanization on this project: of Urban Robot. Their perspectives and inquiries challenged us to think more holistically Aziz Barbar, Research Associate; Rosetta Elkin, Professor of Landscape Architecture at the and critically about designing for urban adaptation. Harvard University Graduate School of Design; Helen Kongsgaard, Research Associate; We thank our academic contributors at the Harvard University Graduate School and Jessy Yang, Research Associate. Last but not least, the eight team members of the of Design as well as the University at large for their time, perspectives, and productive Office who contributed their talents in different ways deserve recognition: Javier Ors-Ausin, criticism, including Anita Berrizbeitia, Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture; Matthew Coogan, Francesca Romana Forlini, Christian Lavista, Mariano Gomez-Luque, Neil Brenner, Professor of Urban Theory and Director of Urban Theory Lab; Brad Cantrell, Chris Merritt, Richard Peiser, and Lindsay

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