Defining the City as a Commons: Mitigating Sea-Level Rise at the Intersection of Planning Policy Instruments and Public Space Networks

Public urban environments define a city as a commons, a place that is jointly shared. These environments make up the part of the city that is economically, environmentally, and socially advantageous toward the common good. In this study, we examine how the concept of urban commons can be characterized in the space of a city. The first part of the research is project-based. The project site is Fort Lauderdale, Florida where we utilize an alternative future scenario-based design model to examine urban environments in at-risk areas. The model can be defined as a plausible description of future climatic states which guide the reimagining process. Green infrastructure concepts and resiliency principles redefine public space opportunities. The project highlights the dynamics of the natural environment as a frame for reconfiguring public space as an open, permeable, and adaptive system that mitigates exposure to adverse conditions including pluvial flooding and storm surge events. The second part of the research presents a review of planning policy instruments and suggests how these instruments help shape long-term strategy toward the repair of natural habitat and the development of public space networks. The conclusions suggest that creating a rich and vibrant urban commons in synthesis with the evolution of a city hinges on the ability of designers and policy makers (in collaboration with other stakeholders) to choreograph and layer multiple scales of resiliency interventions. While interventions are site specific, when based on time-oriented planning of present and future conditions, land-use decisions and adoption of policy mechanisms can be applied across other land reform scenarios. At the scale of street, block, neighborhood, and region, efforts can intersect toward the development of unique urban environs that supports social and environmental resiliency.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.110.84

Volume Editors
Robert Gonzalez, Milton Curry & Monica Ponce de Leon

ISBN
978-1-944214-40-1