Revisiting Riverfronts: Creating Safe Urban Waterfronts That Can be Used Outside of Large Storm Events

Abstract

Blue Spaces - areas along rivers, lakes, oceans, etc ... - in Urban Areas have shown to improve pedestrians physical and mental health. Due to climate change these spaces are in danger of becoming deserted and forgotten. Rising sea level and stronger storm systems are causing these urban waterfronts, that were once destination draws of the city, to become overly engineered spaces that are uninviting to pedestrians. Rather than designing these spaces to fight against these storms by using floodwalls and dikes, which create areas that are inaccessible to the public. How can we design a waterfront that embraces flooding and utilizes the waterfront making it easily accessible for everyone to enjoy? Creating a space that does not fight against mother nature but works with her to make our planet a safer and cleaner place for all. Giving people a more positive experience and sense of peace with our ever-changing world. Studying past flood resilient parks for how they designed to work with our changing climate can help show which ways are more effective than others. By using survey research to further explore the psychological relationship between people and water will be beneficial in understanding of what experiences and interactions with water cause positive and negative thoughts and feelings. Analyzing the findings from flood resilient parks, results from surveys and additional research into the psychology between people and water will help in integrating these principles into the design. This thesis project will be a design that will create positive interactions with water in Urban Waterfronts threatened by climate change.