WHAT ARE WE BUILDING ON THE EDGE OF THE FUTURE?

Storm surge events and sea level rise – an investigation of building typologies, urban and landscape spaces in port areas viewed over a longer time perspective.

Although several reports indicate that trends in sea level rise and storm surges are steadily increasing, many coastal cities seem to be developing their ports in a way that potentially makes them unnecessarily vulnerable as conditions change over time. They may reach a self-created (built) point of no return that could necessitate massive new investments. The research project “What are we building on the edge of the future?” examines the building practices, spaces, and landscapes of 48 coastal cities with an eye towards future coastal urban areas. The project establishes an architectural baseline and screening of recent urban development in the port areas of 48 coastal cities in relation to sea level rise and increased storm surges. The background is that in other project contexts, we see indications that we are developing the urban port areas based on planning and building practices that risk placing significant costs and challenges on future generations. At the same time, we see indications that the landscape features of coastal cities have underutilized potentials in relation to urban development strategies and solutions concerning sea level rise and storm surge events over time.

Economic calculations of damage costs have been made (COWI 2017, 2019) – this project builds on these to create further knowledge about the spaces and building practices we have today. The focus is to create an overview of trends with a focus on spatial tipping points (protection levels, height, and time) combined with field recordings of building typologies, urban and landscape spaces on the edge of the sea. This is compared with more fundamental landscape features, including historical maps of wetlands, river courses, etc. The purpose of the investigation is to provide both an indication and a comprehensive picture of recent trends in waterfront urban development. The project aims to establish a site-specific, visually and spatially based overview of what and where we are building, and thus also what we are passing on to future generations. The project “What are we building on the edge of the future?” is linked to the research track Cities and the Rising Sea; Danish cities’ adaptation to sea level rise – new solution spaces. The project is supported by Realdania.

Working Group

Aarhus School of Architecture Katrina Wiberg, Associate Professor in Landscape and Climate Adaptation, PhD, Cand. Arch. MDL (project leader)
Martin Odgaard, Associate Professor in Planning, PhD, Cand. Arch.
Tom Nielsen, Professor, PhD, Architect MAA
Amalie Lykke Baadsgaard, Research Assistant, Cand. Arch.
Student Assistants Selma Ettrup Boll and Laura Emilia Tyrrestrup.