Course Syllabus

WATER URBANISM 

RESILIENT CARIBBEAN - 2100 

Spring 2024

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Faculty 

Kate Orff (studio coordinator)

Geeta Mehta, Adriana Chavez, Thad Pawlowski, Dilip Da Cunha, Claudia Herasme

Teaching Associates:  Di Le,  Maria “Gaby” Flores

In alignment with Johanna Lovecchio & MA Climate & Society students 

 

Site Partners

Dominican Republic: Punta Cana Ministerio de Turismo, Universidad Nacional Pedro Henríquez Ureña

Colombia: Fundación Social Cartagena, Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar

Jamaica: Alligator Head Foundation, University of West Indies 

The Caribbean Sea at Night, NASA Satellite Image 

“The small island and low-lying coastal States of the Caribbean are especially vulnerable to what is perhaps the biggest challenge facing our world today — the climate crisis.  And the Caribbean is ground zero for the global climate emergency.  Across all these areas, we need to gather around bold solutions.” 

 -  António Guterres, UN Secretary General 

 

This studio will explore future regenerative urban design scenarios for Caribbean coastal communities that weaves together social, ecological and policy/government imperatives. What does urban design mean on a hotter earth, in a globalized context where those most vulnerable to earth systems collapse are the least to blame? How can we approach the concept of resilience critically and in light of centuries of extraction, but also offer bold ideas for the future?  How does the right to housing and the prerogative to invest in next century urban infrastructure intersect with the need to rebuild ecosystems, fisheries, forests ? How has a legacy of colonization and extraction led to climate risk? What is the role of urban design to catalyze resilient pathways forward in short term and long-term scenarios 2100 ? 

BEYOND DOUBLE JEOPARDY 

 

“We were the ones whose blood, sweat, and tears financed the industrial revolution…are we now to face double jeopardy by having to pay the cost as a result of those greenhouse gasses from the industrial revolution? That is fundamentally unfair.”

   - The Honourable Mia Amor Mottley, Barbados 

Caribbean leaders like Mia Mottley are voicing major concerns  on the global stage about debt and reparations and are redefining societal priorities and approaches to the global climate crisis.  With COP 26 failing to set international policy to significantly curb greenhouse gas emissions, and global landscapes in varying states of collapse, it is clear that urban design strategies need to scale to  the living planet’s massive critical landscapes and the cities that are sustained by them.  PM Mottley influenced the turn toward a focus on reparations for loss and damage, which dominated the conversation at COP 27 and a $700m fund was announced at COP 28.  Moreover,  at COP 28, the program “One Caribbean” was launched to coordinate financing and project preparation. The program aims “to promote integration and resilience across the region through the support of projects and partnerships that can have a regional impact. The program proposes establishing a Project Preparation Facility (PPF) along with a strategy for partnerships and resource mobilization with financial innovation at its core.”  We will take this program as a potential audience, linking up the community and landscape driven urban design approaches we devise in studio to larger political and financial systems at play in the world. 

 

The Caribbean Sea boasts a rich mosaic of mangroves, coral reefs, beaches, lagoons, coastal wetlands, mountain streams and is an intensively productive ecosystem that has sustained human settlements over deep time. It is home to 10% of the world’s remaining coral reefs and home to over 1000 species of fish that people depend upon for food and tourism.  Caribbean islands are facing more extreme Atlantic hurricanes and climate-induced migration while the United States, China and India remain top carbon emitters.  The World Meteorological Association has documented threats to the Caribbean  including extreme heat, rising water temperature,  crop failure, reef collapse and threats to the potable water supply. Water quality and temperature changes in the Caribbean threaten tourism, fisheries, and livelihoods across the region. Alongside the very real, local and immediate challenges, we are also tasked with looking globally and at long time horizons in terms of deep decarbonization,  a just energy transition, and a blue economy framework that avoids “double jeopardy.” 

 

 WATER URBANISM 

 

“Water is life. It’s the briny broth of our origins, the pounding circulatory system of the world. We stake our civilizations on the coasts and mighty rivers. Our deepest dread is the threat of having too little—or too much.”

 - Barbara Kingsolver, 2010 

 

Over many years the spring semester MSAUD studio has explored how water can be a generative frame for connected, ecologically-driven and equitable urban design on a heating planet. This semester, the search for alternative forms of water- driven development patterns continues. With potable water increasingly scarce, coastal waters rising, and water temperatures boiling hot for longer and longer periods of time, water in the Caribbean is central to the region's habitability. The goal of our studio is to workshop and test the implementation of water sensitive urban design in a justice context moving from the Caribbean scale to towns and neighborhoods in our study areas.  We will work across edges of upland forests and coastal plains, urban life and agriculture. On our study trips, and in class lectures, we will learn about  current initiatives in Caribbean fisheries management,  innovative green infrastructure finance models, shoreline restoration and riverine repair, and how to magnify these ongoing efforts.  Students and faculty will work together to devise alternative futures in these ecoregions that address pressures of housing, livelihoods, transportation, and social justice issues with water as a connective thread.

 

Importantly we will not look at these solely as spatial sites, but we will take the shifting frame of the Caribbean and migration as a starting point for design. 

This studio will explore positive, regenerative “ridge to roof to reef” visions for these sites, integrating ecological imperatives and urban design across a broad transect. Image below:  Parrytown Jamaica Source: © Ocho Rios Nature Preserve Trust. See also: Maroons 

 

Topics may also include:  

 

• Just planning & equitable relocation;  land trust models
• Climate driven migration & the Carib diaspora - US small ‘receiving’ cities like Woburn, MA 
• Green-blue infrastructure
• New models of non-extractive eco-tourism
• Waste reduction & circular economy
• Renewable energy including wind and tidal
• New housing and urban typologies
• River’s edge design, coastal design & zoning  
• Regenerative agriculture 

The studio will focus on the intersection of policy and design, on restorative justice, and on socio-ecological design in a range of scales and geographies. Our three sites / cities share many challenges. 

 

• CARTAGENA COLOMBIA

The Bay of Cartagena, where many local residents and internally displaced people (both internally and from Venezuela) have settled,  has been drastically modified over decades. With water quality declining, plastic and nitrogen pollution increasing,  subsistence fishing is increasingly impossible.  Coastal environments and polluted bays threaten its tourist economy. Informal settlements are facing increasing flood risk. Meanwhile, the community is actively working on mangrove restoration, regenerative and social entrepreneurship, and programming around reimagine transportation and housing rights. How might they go from pilot to scale? What is a long-term vision for the Bay’s prosperity? 

 

• PUNTA CANA DOMINICAN REPUBLIC  

In the Dominican Republic, the need for more sustainable tourism, for Resilience hubs, and for  balancing rapid urbanization and agricultural production is provoking serious fragmentation of the urban and rural landscapes. There are two extreme forces at play, centralization of economic resources in Santo Domingo and Santiago (the two largest cities), and development sprawl along the coast seeking to capitalize on coastal natural resources for local and international tourism. Concentration of capital in two major cities and at tourism-oriented destinations have served as engines of displacement. How does exclusion from the housing market create and formalize risk?  What is an inclusive, long-term vision for Punta Cana that values landscape function, connectivity and biodiversity? 

 

• EAST PORTLAND JAMAICA   

East Portland faces a number of stresses that are compounded by the impacts of the climate crisis. Situated on the windward edge of Jamaica, it bears the brunt of increasingly intense coastal storms, sea level rise, and coastal erosion. Additionally, a chronic drought coupled with damming of freshwater from the Rio Grande to urban areas such as Kingston is depleting local aquifers and freshwater resources for drinking and agricultural uses. Immediate pressures stem from urbanization, long-term disruption to critical infrastructure projects including a major roadway, extraction of riverbanks for construction, lack of adequate housing and public spaces, decreasing opportunities for young people,speculation from large-scale tourism operations, privatization of the coastline and loss of publicly accessible waterways, destruction of the coral reefs, and lack of water infrastructure and watershed management. Interrelated and compounding, these stresses not only affect the local environment, but also the day-to-day wellbeing, health, and livelihoods of communities. East Portland is in many ways at a tipping point. With the anticipated completion of a new major roadway, an acceleration of privatization of land and a large influx of tourism operations is anxiously anticipated. What is a long term vision for East Portland that brings prosperity to its people without trampling the complexity of its living landscapes? 

 

STUDIO- RELATED TRAVEL

 A Kinne Travel Stipend has been  budgeted for a four night hotel stay, five day study trip  for graduate students and faculty members of Columbia University MSAUD.  Please plan accordingly. You will go to one site and be responsible for getting your own Visa, if any is needed.  The stipend is subject to U.S. taxation law.  Please see this link for more in depth information about the trips planned. We will set aside studio time on Jan 25 to discuss the itineraries in detail. LINK 

 

• DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | Kinne Week  | Monday, March 4 – Friday, March 8 

• COLOMBIA | Kinne Week  | Monday, March 4 – Friday, March 8 

• JAMAICA | Spring Break | Monday March 11 - Friday March 15

CULTURE AND COLLABORATION

 

“Now, obviously in real life you’re not always going to agree with everything everyone says. But the Rule of Agreement reminds you to “respect what your partner has created” and to at least start from an open-minded place. Start with a YES and see where that takes you.” - Tina Fey 

 

The studio is conceived of as one design initiative that is propelled by the expressed needs of our site partners. We will begin the studio by undertaking cultural and historical research, and a mapping and drawing exploration. The Spring UD studio will abide by the community agreements established in the fall semester studio. Developing a robust, welcoming, active studio design culture is critical to our shared success. The studio promotes a design culture of “yes, and!” This reflects a stance of openness to possibility, to positively  build on each other's thought processes, and an environment where constructive dialogue, innovation and the exchange of ideas is possible.  The MSAUD program at Columbia  is a collaborative teaching and learning environment. Each of the three sites will be anchored by three respective faculty members with three faculty rotating with desk crits and connecting the dialogue across the studio. 

MEETING TIMES: Faculty and students will meet for desk crits in New York on Mondays (1:30 PM - 6:30 PM in Studio/Fay203). On Thursdays (1:30 PM - 6:30 PM in Studio/Fay203) we will have desk crits, special workshops. On Fridays (3:30 PM - 5:30 PM), we will typically have invited lectures and workshops in Avery 114 or on Zoom and/or additional lectures or events and workshops. Generally, we may have some desk crits via Zoom as necessitated for maintaining health and wellness of all or in the case of travel,  or covid or other illness in the studio. 

 

STUDIO ETIQUETTE:  Please do not eat any meals in the studio space, and instead use the basement cafe area for this purpose. Dry snacks and covered drinks are fine. Please dispose of all food asap outside of the classroom. Keep backpacks, coats and personal items off of  the working desk surfaces.  We need this space for drawings and models. We ask that you try to work together to clean out the studio space every Monday before the studio commences. 

 

RESOURCES:

Please review the additional resources available in the studio drive. 

 

Review the drive for spatial data and base maps. GIS geodatabase

• Landscapes and ecosystems 
• MPAs and administrative boundaries
• Ports and infrastructure 
• Water quality (monitored or as determined by LANDSAT?) 
• Urban footprint (parcels, buildings, roads) 
• Land uses and zoning 
• Climate change projections 
• Satellite imagery change maps

Initial GIS Data Library:  

Spreadsheet:  LINK

GIS Folders: LINK

STUDIO DRIVE AT THIS LINK 

MIRO “Home Page” HUB AT THIS LINK

SCHEDULE note: all events are subject to change

 

WEEK 1 STUDIO ORIENTATION

 

JAN 16 Tu First Day of Classes

 

JAN 18 Th First Day of Studio  Avery 114 1:30 PM 

All faculty - Meeting;  Teams & Site Organization;  Distribution of Assignment 1 and Reading Circles. Review of Community Agreements & Studio culture. 

Remarks by Dilip Da Cunha 

 

JAN 19 Fr Fr Speaker Session: Introductions

Working Topic: Global Climate Action and Governance, Caribbean

3:30pm-5:30pm Avery 114: Joe Romm, Climate expert & author, and Isatis Cintron, Columbia Climate School, Climate Action Network International (CAN)

WEEK 2 CARIBBEAN GEOGRAPHY & CULTURE  

 

JAN 22 Mon 1:30 PM  Desk Crits on Assignment - Sign up 

Complete the reading and research your object using the 

 Caribbean Geography and History book shelf. Try to find your object in a narrative passage. 

 

JAN 25 Thur 1: 30 PM -2:30 PM  TRAVEL LOGISTICS MEETING 

ALL GROUP & BREAKOUT BY SITE

Finalize Itineraries, Hotels, Flights 

2:30 - 6:30 Desk Crits - three scales of object revelation & analysis 

JAN 26 Fri Stakeholder Exchange / Review : Climate Justice & Ethic Workshop

Working Topic: Level Setting: On-Ground Stakeholders

3:30pm-5:30pm on Zoom: Nickie Myers from Alligator Head Foundation, Maristella Madero from Fundación Grupo Social , Shaney from DR Ministry

 

WEEK 3 NATURE, MATERIALS, AND GLOBAL ENTANGLEMENTS 

 

JAN 29 Mon Reading Groups - come to class having read part of your assigned fiction book! 

Desk crits on object geography  during the remaining class time. Develop a work plan for Assignment #2. 

 

FEB 01 Thurs Pin Up on Assignment 1 - Object Geography

Use tape to neatly place your object geography study on the studio walls. Submit your drawing as one PDF to the TAs for inclusion in the class Object Glossary.  Continue to research  & coordinate  for Assignment #2. 

 

FEB 02 Fri Speaker Session: Resilience & Built Environment 

Working Topic: Level Setting: Academic Partnership (Faculty & Students) 

3:30pm-5:30pm on Zoom: Dean Michael Taylor (Uni. of West IndiesI), Mauro Maza 

(Uni. Tecnologica Bolivar)

 

WEEK 4 MAPPING & THEMATIC RESEARCH  

 

FEB 05 Mon Desk Crits on Assignment #2 Thematic Mapping

The 2024 Urban Design Lecture by Damon Rich (all must  attend) 

6:30 PM Wood Auditorium 

 

FEB 08 Th Desk Crits on Assignment #2 

 

FEB 09 Fri UDxCS Workshop: Resilience & Built Environment

Working Topic: UD + Climate School Exchange

3:30pm-5:30pm Avery 114: bring 5 key preliminary slides 

WEEK 5 SITES  & SYSTEMS 

 

FEB 12 M Slide Presentations  Assignment #2  Avery 114 

Distribute Assignment #3 “Edge Effects”

 

FEB 15 Th Introduction to Assignment 3 & desk crits 

Coordination of all base map data with the Ambassadors 

 

FEB 16 FR Speaker Session: Considering Law, Policy, and Governance

Working Topic: Historical Geography

3:30pm-5:30pm on zoom: Caribbeanist @ Columbia, (Natasha Lightfoot )

WEEK 6 SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE 

 

FEB 19 M Desk Crits - Assignment #3  

FEB 22 Th Desk Crits - Assignment #3  

 

FEB 23 Fr Speaker Session: Considering Stakeholders and Engagement 

Working Topic: Tourism and The Blue Economy 

3:30pm-5:30pm on zoom: Jake Kheel

WEEK 7 EDGE EFFECTS

 

Feb 26 M Desk Crits Assignment #3 

Introduction to Assignment #4 & #5- Thad Pawlowski 

Workshop Preparation 

Feb 29 Th Slide Presentations  - Assignment #3  

In-class review & organization  of all Workshop Materials

 

March 1 F Pre-Travel Briefing: Case Study Share-Out

3:30pm-5:30pm on Zoom

Trip Planning, Safety and Research Protocols 

WEEK 8 KINNE WEEK  - Travel to Cartagena & Punta Cana March 4-8

Assignment #4 due with site partners  

 

 

WEEK 9 SPRING BREAK -    Travel to Jamaica  March 11-15 

Assignment # 4 due with site partners 

 

WEEK 10   SYNTHESIZING & REPORTING BACK 

 

MARCH 18 M Desk Crits on Vision Frameworks & Edge / site agendas

Refine your Program Statement & Unit of Change

 

Draft Program Statement of Purpose due. Begin to combine previous assignments into narrative form and Email to faculty as a Google doc - include all names / UNIS. Submit a one to three paragraph project narrative that states your group's purpose and how it advances the shared vision established with site partners . Why are you a team? What sense of purpose has brought you together? What are the broad outlines of your team’s projective framework and how does it link up to broader housing and resilience goals? What are your shared aspirations?  What issues and urban- water phenomenon do you wish to explore? How do you propose to work together toward a vision? How will you communicate? 

 

MARCH 21 Th MID TERM REVIEW - FRAMEWORK & VISION PLANS + SITE EXPLORATIONS

AVERY 114 1:30 PM 

MARCH 22 Fr Discussion: Class debrief

Working Topic: Culture & Legacies of Colonization

3:30pm-5:30pm Avery 114: Suzy Wong, Debra Jack, Ronelle King

WEEK 11 SITE DESIGN TO SCALE - MICRO TO MACRO SCALES OF IMPACT

 

MARCH 25 M Desk Crits Assignment #6 

 

MARCH 28 Th Desk Crits Assignment #6 

MARCH 29 Fr UDxCS Workshop: Policy Workshop

3:30pm-5:30pm In-Person location tbd

WEEK 12 ENVISIONING CHANGE OVER TIME

 

APRIL 01 M Desk Crits - time based drawings

 

APRIL 04 Th Desk Crits - time based drawings 

 

APRIL 05 F Speaker Session: Post-Colonial Finance and Urban Development

Working Topic: Climate and Landscape Finance

3:30pm-5:30pm Zoom: IDB One Caribbean, Minister Samuda (jamaica), Green 

Climate Fund - DR, Finance

Connect with Caribbean student partners where possible!

Advance your StoryBoard & Outline Progress. 

WEEK 13 NARRATIVE & LINKING SCALES OF CHANGE 

 

APRIL 08 M ¾ Review 

 

APRIL 11 Th Desk Crits & Final Review Prep  

Video & Story Map, StoryBoard & Outline Progress. 

 

APRIL 12 F Stakeholder Exchange / Review

Working Topic: Level Setting: On-Ground Stakeholders

3:30PM-5:30PM Zoom: Nickie Myers from Alligator Head Foundation, Maristella 

Madero from Fundación Grupo Social , Shaney from DR Ministry

Final Draft- Text copy edited & approved 

WEEK 14 FINAL REVIEW WEEK  

 

APRIL 17 W Last Day of Arch & UD Classes

 

APRIL 18 Th Optional Desk Crits on Zoom by Appointment - DRY RUN PRESENTATIONS  

APRIL 22 M Optional Desk Crits on Zoom by Appointment - DRY RUN PRESENTATIONS

 

APRIL 24 Wed C+S Students to Share Final Content with GSAPP for incorporation into StoryMap

 

APRIL 25 Th FINAL REVIEW on Zoom  (9:00 -12:30, 1:00- 4:30)

APRIL 26 Fri FINAL REVIEW on Zoom  (9:00 - 12:30)

MAY 03 Fri FINAL PRESENTATIONS & EXHIBITION FOR CLIMATE SCHOOL 

FINAL UD - SCIENCE FAIR POSTER SESSION &  RECEPTION 

 

WRAP UP 

 

MAY 06 M FINAL BOOK PAGES DUE - PDF INTEGRATION OF ALL CHAPTERS 

 

Graduation Portfolios Due to the Dean’s Office this week 

 

MAY 07 STORY MAPS DUE 

 

MAY 08 W Grades Due 

 

MAY 09-10 Th END OF YEAR SHOW FINAL INSTALLATION 

 

MAY 11 Sa GSAPP GRADUATION DAY

 

 

Assignment 1 - OBJECT GEOGRAPHY 

 

We can understand “materials as…fragments of other landscapes; as the livelihoods and habitats of people who live near them, as connections between the most tactile aspects of design and the global circulation of matter driven by capitalism.”    - Jane Hutton, Reciprocal Landscapes p 8 

 

INDIVIDUAL ASSIGNMENT  Due: Feb 01, 2024.  Tape your printed object drawing to the wall in an organized fashion and be prepared for a brief, 3 minute “walk through” of your object drawing. 

The objective of this first assignment is to be introduced to the Caribbea