landscape architecutre response to natural disaster

We design alterations to the land whether it is new development or re-development. Hopefully, we all analyze the site and the goals of every project to avoid problems in the future.

We should not have to change how we go about our business. However, the sites may be dictating what we should or should not propose for activities in certain areas and it may dictate the need for different physical requirements than we might typically have for the same activities elsewhere.

The process is the same. The discovery is what is different. It follows that the design will be different based on the discovery.

The other issue is that there will be a great need for services in a short period of time. That will require some people to take some big measures to organize design teams, possibly bring in more employees, coordinate with others from other places, deal with government bureaucracy, deal with dangers directly related to the disaster, deal with dangers of the clean up activity, dangers from damaged infrastructure, ….

One of the professors at Berkeley charged in in the face of governmental incompetence, and mapped  the new shoreline and floodplains, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Our part is also to advocate for environmental solutions, and to design them responsiblly when we can- can you imagine all the edges of New York’s outer boroughs transformed into beautiful grassy wetlands?

The New York project is just a dream, a newspaper article, no more, in response to Hurricane Sandy – that is all I know.

The Berkeley professor, I would not like to use the name, if you don’t mind. 

both answers characterize our responses to natural disasters, actually – they amount to nothing or dreams.http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/20/arts/design/changes-needed-after-hurricane-sandy-include-politics.html?pagewanted=all

Weren’t the buildup, by greed, areas swamps and wetlands in the past?

The ordinary flood impact could be minimized by a respectful observation and study of old elevation maps. It is our all duty to guide and mentor to have these areas being brought back to their natural function.

Tornados, hurricanes, taifuns, usually going together with heavy winds, thunder and lightning, and storm water are also semi predictable natural catastrophes. Shore line protection is Landscape; inland storm resistant architecture design is out of our hands and imagination.

Heavy snow, sandstorm, avalanches, mud slides, wild fire, all Landscape, yes not urban but rural, still landscape. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, modern industrial disasters like nuclear failure, chemical factory fires, or the like, are difficult to manage with our potential abilities.

What about war impact, crashing airplanes, train and other vehicular accidents? What about oil spill disasters and other water and shore line semi human created catastrophes?

There is much more out there. Let’s face it, somewhere along the line we have to deal with it. We got to clean up the mass, make it look good again in short time, protect interests, prevent future happenings.