Coding Resilient Urbanism in South Florida

Ongoing research and design work generated through the Terra Sorta Firma - Coding Resilient Urbanism in South Florida urban design studio has been gaining momentum and traction at a regional level in Florida. The studio composed of planning and architecture students, and co-taught by Fadi Masoud, Adele Naude Santos, and Alan Berger looked at ways in which Broward and Palm Beach Counties may incorporate elements of dynamic ecological and environmental systems in the future design and planning of their counties.  Earlier this year, Deputy Director of Environmental Protection and Growth Management in Broward County, Leonard Vialpando presented studio work at the Regional Climate Action Plan Implementation Workshop: Essential Tools: Integrating the Southeast Florida Sea Level Rise Projections Into Community Planning. Key concepts such as clustering development along elevated transit corridors and ridges, inland islands generated through “flux zones”, and the design of interconnected water corridors as open space, are all being discussed as near term adaptation strategies for the County as envisioned by the studio members. A second installment of the studio co-taught by Fadi Masoud, Lecturer of Landscape Architecture and Urban Design and Miho Mazereeuw, Assistant Professor of Architecture and Urbanism is currently investigating the potential of resilient urbanism along the C-11 Canal in Broward County.

Image credit: Philip Hu (MCP’16) for Transit-Orinted Ridge Spines