Genetic Water-Energy-Food Nexus Design Research for Miami’s Greater Islands - Climate Resilient Urban Nexus Choices (CRUNCH), and Scripting

The International COP 21 Paris Agreement was created to generally support professional and municipal architecture and urban design practice emphasizing greenhouse gas reductions and carbon-neutral city planning and operations. Miami benefits through multiple large-scale grants focused on strategic solutions to combat and adapt to the effects of global warming, sea-level rise, flooding, hurricane impacts, and salt-water intrusion. However, Miami’s sustainability master plans do not sufficiently target the International COP 21 carbon-neutrality targets. This paper critically describes a recently funded three-year research project by EU agencies and the US-National Science Foundation in partnership with nineteen partners from six countries (the UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, Poland, USA, and China). The paper describes how transdisciplinary, parametric-algorithmic, generative design research workflows, combined with cloud-based artificial intelligence and machine learning simulation engines can produce architectural and urban-infrastructural outcome scenarios for the period from 2019 to 2100. These genetic scenarios are generated by the Miami research team at the Urban Living Lab (ULL), part of Miami Beach Urban Studios (MBUS). The ULL’s research sectors include green-blue infrastructures to combat sea-level rise, synthetic biology scripting, robotic urban farming, local food production and hydroponics, mixed renewable energy design, and carbon-neutral power generation with adaptive infrastructure projects that support the local and regional Food-Energy-Water Nexus.

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ISBN
978-1-944214-31-9