Landscape Architecture Master's Projects

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Browsing Landscape Architecture Master's Projects by Author "Barajas, Margo"

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    Designing for Sea Level Rise; Back Cove, Portland, Maine
    (2018-08-25) Barajas, Margo
    At the heart of Portland, Maine is a 500-acre tidal bay framed by a linden tree-lined trail and boulevard. Back Cove physically and visually defines the city and is regarded as an important natural, historical, and recreational resource. However, data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) projects sea levels in Back Cove to rise six feet over the next fifty years. This poses an immediate risk to the historic boulevard and trail—originally designed by Olmsted, Olmsted & Eliot, the bordering low-lying neighborhoods, and the extensive network of stormwater and sewer pipes that outlet into the Cove. Additionally, it has been more than twenty years since the city of Portland has published a comprehensive master plan for Back Cove, which did not account for climate change and predates the most recent sea level rise projections. This project engages in the constructivist ‘research-through-designing’ approach set forth by Lenzholzer, Duchhart, and Koh (2013) that emphasizes the contextual role of physical and social environments. Methods used in support of this approach include literature review, interviews, site visits, and archival research. Values of historic and ecological integrity and four sea level rise design strategies guide the outcome—a master plan design for the year 2070, when NOAA projects sea levels to rise six feet at Back Cove, and focal area designs across multiple spatial and temporal scales.