INTERNATIONAL INTENSIVE

WORKSHOP

CAMD EN 2018ENHANCING

URBAN RESILIENC E THROUGH GRE EN INFRASTRUCTURE

UNIVERSITA IUAV DI VENEZIA WWW.IUAV.IT/CLIMATECHANGE

DREXEL UNIVERSITY OF P HILAD ELP HIA D EPARTMENT OF CIVIL ARCHITECTURAL AND

ENVIRONMENTAL ENGINEERING

UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIAD EPARTMENT OF CITY AND REGIONAL P LANNING

P L A N N I N G

C L I M A T E

CHANGe

Leading University: Università Iuav di VeneziaPartner Universities: Drexel University of Philadelphia (Department of Civil, Architectural and Environmental Engineering)UPenn - University of Pennsylvania (Department of City and Regional Planning)

Coordinators: prof. Francesco Musco and Denis Maragno (Iuav), prof. Franco Montalto (Drexel), prof. Tom Daniels (UPenn)Tutors: Alberto Innocenti, Vittore NegrettoDuration: 10 days + travel18th– 27th May 2018

Background

Recent years have witnessed rapidly increasing attention to the climate change debate and to the wide range of challenges it brings to twenty-first century cities. Scientific studies based on empirical evidence brought by the Stern Review (Carraro 2009), followed by regular reports from the IPCC (2007, 2013), the EU report on temperature increases and the EEA’s (2012) report on “Urban adaptation to climate change” in Europe, are claiming the urge to adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change.

While historically adaptation has been focused largely at the national scale, a growing part of the scientific community (Betsill and Bulkeley 2006; Biesbroek et al. 2009; Musco 2012), together with international institutions’ research and policies (IPCC; EEA; EU White Paper, EC), recognizes the role that local territorial planning can play in addressing the consequences of climate change. The explicit translation of adaptation into territorial planning and design is yet far to be universally defined and it can only be shaped by constant research and testing.

It seems evident that adaptation, by its nature locally developed, needs to be supported by planning processes involving place-based (Measham et al. 2011) approaches to vulnerability analysis and solution design in order to counteract the impacts of climate change on local natural and anthropized systems.

International Intensive Workshop Enhancing Urban Resilience

through Green Infrastructures CAMDEN, NEW JERSEY 2018

The workshop

The international intensive workshop is part of the university’s activities in the forming cluster on cities and Climate Change and promoted by Planning Climate Change Lab of the Iuav’s Department of Design and Planning in Complex Environments involving all the Master Programs in Architecture, Design and Urban Planning activated at Iuav.

This workshop proposal follows up a previous experience developed within the collaboration between the University Iuav of Venice and the Drexel University of Philadelphia, with which there is an active Erasmus+ program, and it also aiming to strengthen last year agreement with the Department of City and Spatial Planning of the UPenn- University of Pennsylvania, an internationally-known university involved in urban and environmental studies, design and architecture.Drexel and UPenn universities have developed, during the last years, numerous studies, scientific articles and projects fostering the concepts of resilience, including knowledge fields such as planning, engineering and architecture with specific studies on climate change adaptation.

The international workshop is an opportunity to join institutions working in different fields and shape common methods to foster climate change adaptation in urban environments. This multi-disciplinary approach joins different knowledge and allows to develop new approaches to common problems that arise in urban planning. The workshop aims to develop the tools able to build a place-based strategy and action-kit that can foster climate change adaptation techniques and policies with the opportunity for replication across borders, insuring positive impacts for both the built environment and the propagation of successful methods in academic fields.

The proposal for this 8-days workshop is to target climate change through the strategic implementation of Green Infrastructures in the urban environment of the city of Camden, New Jersey.

Camden is located directly across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Its urban environment is particularly vulnerable to climatic impacts such as intense precipitation and heat-waves. Future planning in the area has to take in charge the climate proofing process necessary to guarantee a sustainable and resilient future to both the city fabrics and the local population. Green Infrastructures, intended as natural or semi-natural networks of green and blue spaces and corridors that maintain and enhance multi-functionality, are candidate to be the most effective tool to reach this goal.

The workshop is structured with a solid initial analysis on site that will evaluate the current situation of the study area. From this deep and resilience-oriented analysis the students will be able to identify those opportunities and threats that characterize the area and its response to climatic events. To better understand the all-round impacts of flooding and heat-waves on the territory and on the population of Camden neighbourhood, meetings with local stakeholders are scheduled to furhter explore the flooding impacts and the community issues of Camden. This analysis part will be carried on with on-site visits, GIS analysis based on US census tract database, interpretation of floodplains and risk area maps, and vulnerability assessments in order to identify where best to focus resources and future action. The second part is oriented to a creative design approach in order to elaborate proposals to successfully target risks and enhancing multi-functionality green infrastructure solution.

Students will jointly elaborate scenarios and strategies that will highlight the results of their design proposals on the resilient growth of communities, showing the effects of the proposed policies and techniques. In doing so, students will be followed and supported by tutors, international professors and experts during direct comparison moments and step-by-step reviews.

Surrounded by an international environment, in a country where climate-proof approach is at an advanced experimental stage, the students will enrich their knowledge and build their method through an experimental learning process.

In particular, students will have the opportunity to approach and work on:

• Urban resilience to Climate Change;• Hydraulic vulnerability;• Shaping adaptation strategies to Climate Change;• Shaping real solutions with multi-functionality green

infrastructure;• Elaborating an integrated design proposal;• Building scenarios to test their Climate Change plan.

Activities include: field visits; meeting with local actors and stakeholders; reviews with highly qualified professors; and the development of a planning and design proposal. The workshop will recognize 4 CFU in D free activities to the participating students.

LEFT: Previsional Scenario elaborated by the students during the International Intensive Workshop Climateproof 2017 for the Eastwick Study Area

Workshop Structure

The workshop will have the duration of 8 days (with two additional days to travel), structured as it follows:

TRAVEL DAY | 17th May 2018 | Flight to PhiladelphiaEvening-time: Arrival, accommodation and meeting

DAY 1 | Friday | 18th May 2018 | Welcoming and Presentation of the Workshop

Morning: Visit at Drexel and UPenn Campus - Welcome presentation at Drexel University. Introduction of the workshop area project from Prof. Franco Montalto (Drexel University) - Starting the workshop Afternoon: City of Philadelphia and Green Infrastructures tour by Philadelphia Water Department

DAY 2 | Saturday | 19th May 2018 | Lectures + GIS Analysis

Daytime: Group work session - Territorial analysis, review on flooding plans, GIS analysis, risk analysis, vulnerability assessment

DAY 3 | Sunday | 20th May 2018 | Lectures + GIS Analysis

Daytime: Group work session - Territorial analysis, review on flooding plans, GIS analysis, risk analysis, vulnerability assessmentEvening: Movie presentation on Camden Community participatory process - Professor Franco Montalto (Drexel University) - Debate of the daily output

DAY 4 | Monday | 21th May 2018 | Field-trip

Day-time: Trip to Camden - Drexel bus to Camden - Visit of the project area Evening time: Meeting with the community of Camden involved in the participatory process

DAY 5 | Tuesday | 22th May 2018 | Enhancing GIS analysis and elaboration of Strategies

Daytime: Group work session - Supporting the GIS analysis adding the field-trip knowledge by design approachEvening: Group work session - Elaboration of strategies - Debate of the daily output

DAY 6 | | Wednesday | 23th May 2018 | Elaboration of Strategies and Concepts

Daytime: Group work session - Elaboration of strategies and conceptsEvening: Group work session - Working on concepts - Debate of the daily output

DAY 7 | Thursday | 24th May 2018 | Elaboration of Concepts

Daytime: Group work session - Working on conceptsEvening: Group work session - Finalizing workshop output

DAY 8 | Friday | 25th May 2018 | Final Presentation

Daytime: Group work session - Finalizing workshop outputAfternoon: Final Presentation to the professors of Drexel and UPenn Universities, Camden Community

There’s a chance that the Workshop includes a 2-day site-visit to New York City after the final presentation and before the flight back to Venice.

TRAVEL DAY | 26th (or 28th) May 2018 | Flight back to Venice