Coupling Ecological Productivity with Anthropocenic Waste Streams to Regenerate Coastlines

The world’s coastlines are experiencing unprecedented levels of stress from global economic growth in the form of urban development, land reclamation, aquaculture and the concurrent pollution these alterations bring. Simultaneous to this, by constructing human habitat in coastal zones, hundreds of thousands within these communities fall victim to environmental catastrophes each year (tropical storms, tsunamis or environmental degradation). The economic damage from these events extends into the billions of dollars annually, leading some to question the viability of continuing to build-out coastlines with conventional structures in these hazard prone areas. Furthermore, the existing urban landscapes within these vulnerable coastal zones will be forced to adapt to these threats with a number of solutions, some of which may incur significant social, economic and political adjustments. This research project proposes design interventions at a number of scales that integrate living systems within engineered structures to create reinforced living shorelines. These integrated natural systems are further enhanced through a strategic alignment of anthropocentric waste streams to amplify the growth and diversification of a hybrid (urban-natural) ecosystem. The research takes a site located on the west coast of Florida as point of departure, and develops a framework that parameterizes the relationship between human impact on the environment and a remediative strategy utilizing living systems. The project uses local data on nutrient loading in Lemon Bay to determine an appropriate scale of system deployment, in the form of a coupled mangrove and oyster technology (Bio-remediative Mangrove Oyster Project, or “BioMOP”). The nutrient contributions of the community are used to scale the system, which in turn influences the design by determining characteristic length to width ratio for biological extraction of pollutants without compromising the economic appeal of local resorts and residences. By capitalizing on both the natural system’s inherent capacity for regenerative growth and human desires for waterfront property, an integrated solution may present opportunity to increase ecological activity through an articulated shoreline. Through this lens, the design challenge amounts to a relative balancing act between nonlinear ecosystem functions and simultaneous “performance” of economic development and human opportunity. These emerging solutions require a number of well-integrated researchers and experts to project multiple plausible outcomes for local and widespread interconnected social and environmental systems. In this regard, the conventional “all or nothing” preservation approach is in a sense antiquated, and the pending environmental collapse requires a new multidisciplinary research paradigm capable of modeling complex hybrid biomes (human-environmental). These “biomechanical” landscapes might not be easily assessed within conventional economic models but instead require advances in collaborative research to redefine “value” as a multi-faceted metric of human wellbeing and environmental health. Ultimately, our civil coastal landscapes must integrate adaptable and resilient infrastructure that capitalizes on the inherent regenerative capacities of ecological systems as a benefit to humankind while simultaneously addressing the need to increase diversity and improve environmental integrity.

Volume Editors
Anthony Abbate, Francis Lyn & Rosemary Kennedy

ISBN
978-0-935502-90-9