Urban Design for Natural Disasters

Low-Income Families Hit Hardest in Hurricane Harvey Photo by Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Image 

From catastrophic climate change to natural disasters, doomsday seems closer than ever. According to the International Disasters Database, natural disasters have been steadily increasing over the past few decades, from 78 in 1970 to 348 in 2004. With global media coverage being so vast, disasters that kill hundreds of people around the world are becoming not uncommon. Natural disasters including floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis kill on average 60,000 per year and displace and injury millions. 

How does this impact the way we design cities and buildings? Should we be putting more emphasis on designing for natural disasters? Today, I am going to explore the ways architects, engineers, and urban designers are looking at ways to combat catastrophic climate change through the way we design and build our cities.      

Working with Rising Sea Levels 

As our planet heats up, our glacier and ice caps are melting, resulting in a dramatic rise in sea level that is already starting to take effect. It is shown with the rate we are heading, the global sea level could rise 1 m by the end of the century. Most notable in paving the way for sea-level rise urban planning is a country whos been battling it for decades. 1/3rd of The Netherlands is under sea level, and they have been building complex dike systems since their own natural disaster flood of 1958, which killed over 2,500 people. Rotterdam has learned how to deal with rising sea levels in multiple ways. The Dutch have embraced and accepted their situation and are actively trying to work with the water, not against it. The Dutch have invested hundreds of millions of euros into storm surge technology that includes dykes, and robotic walls that shut off main waterways. The biggest natural occurrence problem is rainwater, and where does the excess runoff go when the ground can't absorb any more. Rotterdam's solution is building more green spaces and gardens to absorb excess water. When the undeniable flood hits, the city has designed many city parks and plazas to improve neighborhoods in the interim but designed to hold and store water when it floods, as seen below in Benthemplein.  

 Photo: DE URBANISTEN 

In New York City, Big-Bjarke Ingles Group has proposed a protective greenway that wraps the city's lower end of Manhattan. Similar to the Netherlands, this waterfront park acts as a vibrant community space that adds value for the residence but acts as a safety device when a storm surges. Although a great idea, the plan requires many existing buildings to be removed, not an ideal solution to an already overpopulated densified city.        


Low Income and Natural Diasters 

What about countries that do not have millions to spend on protecting themselves? According to the United Nations, most deaths from natural disasters are in underdeveloped and poor countries. Even in North America, Hurricane Harvey's damage was worst in low-income areas of Huston. No mother nature is not bais towards the rich, it was due to irresponsible city planning. Due to the need for housing, Huston develops affordable housing over wetlands, against expert opinions, which in turn put low-income in harm's way.

We have the technology and data to understand these storms and see the areas they will hit. And with natural disasters becoming more frequent, hopefully, Governing bodies will recognize how urban design can affect the catastrophic outcomes.     

Emergency Shelter Design

Disaster strikes, now what? Architects and Designers have had the ability to design temporary and modular shelters for those affected in natural disasters. Successful shelter designs have to be fast to erect, be made from low-cost materials, and provide the comfort and privacy users require. Most notable at designing successful shelters is Pritzker Prize-winner Architect, Shigeru Ban. The solution appears to be quite simple, paper tubes. Shigeru Ban started his humanitarian efforts in the early 1990s, using his paper tube model all across the globe in Japan, Haiti, Rwanda, and recently Nepal. This low tech construction type has been utilized as partitions in large assembly spaces, to hold evacuated residences in Japan. Or as stand-alone structures, recently sent to Nepal. What really sets Shigeru Ban's approach apart is his emphasis on the community and worship spaces being as important and shelter, which can be seen here in the Cardboard Cathedral in New Zealand.

Cardboard Catherdal by Bridgit Anderson