POLYVALENT ADAPTATIONS
projective infrastructures for sea level rise & regional migration
by
Alexander L. Ring
POLYVALENT ADAPTATIONS
projective infrastructures for sea level rise & regional migration
by
Alexander L. Ring B.Arch.Sci, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, 2005-2009
POLYVALENT ADAPTATIONS
projective infrastructures for sea level rise & regional migration
by
Alexander L. Ring B.Arch.Sci, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, 2005-2009
Committee Members:
Raymond Cole (GP II Chair) B.Sc., Ph.D.
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Kees Lokman B.Sc., M.Sc., M.De.Ss.
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Tony Osborn Architect AIBC, MRAIC, LEED AP
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Matthew Soules (GP I Mentor) B.A., M.Arch., Architect AIBC
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Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Architecture in The Faculty of Graduate Studies, School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Architecture Program
Š Copyright December 2015 University of British Columbia, BC, Canada
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POLYVALENT “Having many different functions, forms or facets.” - Oxford English Dictionary
ADAPTATION “The process of change by which an organism or species becomes better suited to its environment.” - Oxford English Dictionary
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Definitions
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Table of Contents
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List of Illustrations
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Acknowledgements & Dedication
Thesis Statement Field of Inquiry
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Intent & Position
Sea Level Rise
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Architecture, Infrastructure & Ecology Small Island Nations Kingdom of Tonga Precedents
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Polyvalent Adaptations: A Narrative Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
Bibliography
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Illustration Credits Appendices
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Table of Contents
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LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
For a list of illustration credits see the section at the end of the document.
Tables: Table 1. Historic and Projected Carbon Emissions Based on Most Likely Scenarios. 21 Table 2. Historic and Projected Sea Level Rise Based on Most Likely Scenarios. 21 Table 3. Population Growth in Tonga.
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Table 4. Number of Cyclones in Tonga per Decade. Table 5. Tonga’s Ecosystem Diversity.
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Figures: Figure 1. Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zealand.
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Figure 2. Extent of New Land Created in Wellington, New Zealand by the Wairapa Earthquake in 1855. 13 Figure 3. New Volcanic Island Formed in 2015 Near Tonga. Figure 4. Impacts of Coastal Erosion in Eita, Kiribati.
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Figure 5. Deforestation in Indonesia to Grow Red Palm Trees. Figure 6. Illegal Sand Mining in India.
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Figure 7. Aerial View of MalĂŠ City in the Maldives.
List of Illustrations
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Figure 8. Estimated Land Inundation with Six Metres of Sea Level Rise. 22-23 Figure 9. Representation of Amount of Population Affected by One, Two and Ten Metres of Sea Level Rise. 24-25 Figure 10. Reduction in Shoreline Protection.
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Figure 11. Physical Damage from Sea Level Rise and Extreme Weather. 27 Figure 12. New Jersey Shore Before Hurricane Sandy.
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Figure 13. New Jersey Shore After Hurricane Sandy.
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Figure 14. Erosion Damage in the Solomon Islands.
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Figure 15. Causes and Implications of and Exposure and Barriers to Sea Level Rise and Climate Change for Coastal Settlements. 32-33 Figure 16. Qian’an Sanlihe Greenway, Hebei Province, China.
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Figure 17. Impacts of Coastal Erosion and Drought on Coconut Palms in Kiribati. 54 Figure 18. Non-Continental Island Formation.
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Figure 19. Topography of Volcanic Island of Saint Lucia with Zero, Ten and Twenty Metres of Sea Level Rise. 59 Figure 20. Populated Valley in Saint Lucia with Rich Agricultural Land. Figure 21. Diagram of an Island Freshwater Lens.
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Figure 22. Topography of Typical Maldives Atoll with Zero, Ten and Twenty Metres of Sea Level Rise. 61 Figure 23. One of Over a Thousand Atoll Islands in the Maldives.
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Figure 24. Topography of the Raised Limestone Island of Tongatapu, Tonga, with Sero, Ten and Twenty Metres of Sea Level Rise. 63 Figure 25. View of the Capital of Tonga, Nuku’alofa.
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Figure 26. Map Showing the Locations of Small Island Nations.
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Figure 27. Mangrove Planting to Increase Island Protection from Extreme Weather Events in Tuvalu. 67 Figure 28. Tonganese National Rugby Team Performing their Ritual Dance. 72 Figure 29. Tonga Flag.
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Figure 30. Location of Tonga.
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Figure 31. Jurisdictional Map of Tonga.
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Figure 32. Geological Ridges of the Tongan Islands. Figure 33. Geological Make-up of Tongatapu.
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Figure 34. South Coast of the Island of Tongatapu. Figure 35. Handline-fishing Grounds Near Tongatapu.
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List of Illustrations
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Figure 36. Net-fishing Grounds Around Tongatapu.
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Figure 37. Spear-fishing Grounds Around Tongatapu. Figure 38. Satellite View of Tongatapu.
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Figure 39. Kingdom of Tonga Transportation Map.
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Figure 40. Island of Tongatapu Transportation Map.
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Figure 41. Historic Map of Tonga Created by James Wilson in the Nineteenth Century. 97 Figure 42. Traditional Yam Storage Building. Figure 43. Ha’Amonga. Figure 44. Traditional Fale.
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Figure 45. Fale With Wood Siding.
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Figure 46. Fale With Wood Siding and Flattened Kerosene Tins for Shingles. 103 Figure 47. Fale With Wood Siding and Corrugated Iron Roofing.
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Figure 48. Royal Palace Constructed During Baker’s Premiership.
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Figure 49. Contemporary Housing in Tonga.
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Figure 50. Housing in Swampland in Nuku’alofa.
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Figure 51. Inundation from 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 Metres of Sea Level Rise in the Kingdom of Tonga. 108-109 Figure 52. Inundation from 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 Metres of Sea Level Rise on the Island of Tongatapu. 111-113 Figure 53. Veta La Palma Parque Natural Estuary. Figure 54. Svalbard Global Seed Vault Entrance.
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Figure 55. Plan and Section of Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Figure 56. Veta La Palma Parque Natural Estuary.
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Figure 57. Aerial View of Veta La Palma Parque Natural. Figure 58. Arctic Ecologies.
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Figure 59. Proposed Arctic Food Network on Baffin Island, Nunavut. Figure 60. Projected Outcomes of Arctic Food Network. Figure 61. Architecture of the Arctic Food Network.
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Figure 62. Abandoned Ksars Near Ouarzazate, Morocco.
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Figure 63. Site Plans and Emergence Through Adaptive Management, Stan Allen and James Corner. 133 Figure 64. Proposed Sections Through Cantho Civic Spine. Figure 65. Existing and Proposed Urbanization. Figure 66. Infrastructural Diagram of IP2100.
List of Illustrations
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Figure 67. Rendering of IP2100.
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Figure 68. Rendering of IP2100.
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Figure 69. Aerial Visualization of IP2100. Figure 70. Plan of Extent of IP2100.
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Figure 71. Wilderness in Tommy Thompson Park.
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Figure 72. Aerial View of Tommy Thompson Park.
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Figure 73. Public Consultation Through Rebuild by Design. Figure 74. New Meadowlands Proposal.
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Figure 75. Lake Ontario and Downtown Toronto from the Toronto Harbour. 145 Figure 76. Watershed Areas of the Great Lakes.
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Figure 77. Construction of Town Square Structures and Paving, 2011. Figure 78. View of Town Square from Southwest Hill, 2011.
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Figure 79. Ise Grand Shrine Construction Almost Completed.
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Figure 80. Aerial Image of Ise Grand Shrine With Reconstruction of Right Shrine Almost Complete. 149 Figure 81. A Storm is Coming.
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Figure 82. Narrative Locations on Island of Tongatapu, Tonga. Figure 83. Existing House on the Outskirts of Nuku’alofa. Figure 84. Existing House Location Plan.
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Figure 85. Planting of the North Edge of the Vaota. Figure 86. Vaota Edge Location Plan.
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Figure 87. Planting of the Second Phase of the Vaota. Figure 88. Planting the Vaota Location Plan.
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Figure 89. Arriving at the Fo’ou Mu’a Market. Figure 90. Market Location Plan.
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Figure 91. View of Existing Quarry from the Market. Figure 92. Quarry & Market Location Plan.
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Figure 93. Approaching the Vaota in the Start of a Storm. Figure 94. Vaota Edge Location Plan.
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Figure 95. Famine Foods Harvesting.
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Figure 96. Famine Foods Location Plan.
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Figure 97. Aftermath of the Storm at Fokai’s Farm. Figure 98. Location Plan of Fokai’s Farms.
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Figure 99. Fokai’s New Residence in Fo’ou Mu’a.
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List of Illustrations
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Figure 100. New Residence Location Plan.
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Figure 101. Pedestrian and Bike Path in the Vaota. Figure 102. Location Plan of Path.
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Figure 103. Ha’amonga ‘a Maui Historic Site Relocated into a Container in the Vaota. 179 Figure 104. Ha’amonga ‘a Maui Location Plan.
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Figure 105. Royal Palace Relocated into the Vaota. Figure 106. Royal Palace Location Plan.
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Figure 107. View of the Cistern and Quarry from the Heilala Celebrations at the Market. 183 Figure 108. Cistern & Quarry Location Plan.
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Figure 109. Readying for the Coming Storm at Fokai’s Farm. Figure 110. Location Plan of Fokai’s Farm.
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Figure 111. Retreating with the Cattle Along the Egress Routes. Figure 112. Egress Route Location Plan.
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Figure 113. Temporary Cattle Holding Container in the Vaota.
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Figure 114. Cattle Holding Container Location Plan.
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Figure 115. Front of Fokai’s Residence in Fo’ou Mu’a.
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Figure 116. Urban Residence Location Plan.
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Figure 117. Market Being Used as an Emergency Food Hub. Figure 118. Market Location Plan.
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Figure 119. Island of Eua, Part of the Kingdom of Tonga.
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Figure 120. Infrastructure as an Independence Resource.
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Figure 121. Infrastructure as an Emergency Response Cache. Figure 122. Infrastructure as a Spine for New Settlement. Figure 123. Existing Plan of the Island of Tongatapu.
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Figure 124. Proposed Plan of the Island of Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga, with Narrative Locations. 202 Figure 125. Vaota Planting Rules Along the 20 Metre Line. Figure 126. Example Plan of the Vaota.
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Figure 127. Examples of Nodes, Lines and Containers that Make up the Vaota. 208 Figure 128. Example of Expansion of the Vaota Below 20 Metres.
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Figure 129. Example of Expansion of the Vaota Above 20 Metres.
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Figure 130. Sectional Zoning at Location One.
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Figure 131. Sectional Zoning at Location Two.
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Figure 132. Sectional Zoning at Location Three. Figure 133. General Zoning Plan.
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Figure 134. Food Zoning Plan.
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Figure 135. Water Zoning Plan.
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Figure 136. Energy Zoning Plan.
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Figure 137. Protection Zoning Plan. Figure 138. Waste Zoning Plan.
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Figure 139. Existing Urban Density in 2015 (50,000 people). Figure 140. Possible Future Urban Configurations.
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Figure 141. Existing, Minimum Existing & Proposed Urban Densities. Figure 142. Existing & Proposed Urban Lots.
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Figure 143. Existing Urban Density in 2015 Relocated (50,000 people).
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Figure 144. Existing Urban Density in 2100 Relocated (100,000 people).
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Figure 145. Proposed Urban Density in 2015 Relocated (50,000 people).
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Figure 146. Proposed Urban Density in 2100 Relocated (100,000 people).
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Figure 147. Building Code Zones.
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Figure 148. Perspective of Residence Below. Figure 149. Plans of Residence Below.
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Figure 150. Minimum Requirements for Residence Above. Figure 151. Possible Future Block Configurations. Figure 152. Possible Container Uses.
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Figure 153. Proposed Cistern & Quarry Container/Node. Figure 154. Concentric Space Use in Nodes. Figure 155. Node Site Plan.
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Figure 156. Market / Event Space / Emergency Food Centre Requirements 227 Figure 157. Potential Relationships Between Nodes. Figure 158. Different Types of Lines.
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List of Illustrations
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS & DEDICATION
It has been just shy of ten years since my first explorations in architecture began in my undergraduate studies. During that time, I have had the opportunity to work with and be inspired by some amazingly talented people. I have also been fortunate to have the unwavering support of my close friends and family. It is to all of you that I dedicate my current explorations!
I want to thank my commitee of Ray Cole, Kees Lockman, Tony Osborn and Matthew Soules for their time, valuable input and enthusiasm towards my thesis. Their interest resulted in inspiring committee metings that always extended long past the time we had alotted for them. This thesis would also not have been possible without the support of my friends and family with whom I spent long hours discussing the project; who helped to produce the final drawings and renderings; and who proofread my writing. Thankyou to Mamoud Bakayoko, Roy Cloutier, Jason Heinrich, Sue Mckenzie, Sally Miller, Kathleen Narbonne, and Len Ring
Acknowledgements & Dedication
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THESIS STATEMENT
As the implications of sea level rise begin to force human populations to migrate to higher elevations, new infrastructures can be designed and constructed to meet current needs, while also providing projective agency capable of assisting in the aftermath of extreme weather events and as polyvalent spines for new settlement patterns when populations and individuals choose to migrate.
Thesis Statement
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FIELD OF INQUIRY
Around the world human settlements are facing increasing pressures from anthropogenic climate change. In the least affected locations, changes are slowly taking place to mitigate human contributions to climate change; however, for those who are most affected by climate change, mitigation alone is not an option. Pressures such as prolonged droughts, rising sea levels and increases in extreme weather threaten their way of life, their culture and their homes. For these people there is no choice but to face the very real implications of climate change that have already begun to affect them. Even if we were to imagine that it is possible for humans to stabilize the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere today, a Herculean task that would require all emissions to cease, the effects of the contributions we have already made will continue. The time scale of climate change will cause global temperatures and sea levels to continue to rise for centuries as they catch up with current greenhouse gas concentrations. In the case of sea level rise, the changes are likely to affect hundreds of millions, if not over a billion, people globally. Based on 2000 population numbers, sea level rise of one to ten metres could impact between 56 and 634 million people globally. Projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast between 1.2 and 1.5 metres of global mean sea level rise by the end of the century and are for the most likely scenario not the worst case scenario. These projections are considered low by many scientists and are based on unknowns about Field of Inquiry
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how fast the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets are melting. Combined, these two ice sheets have the potential to contribute around seventy metres to sea level rise with several metres considered a possibility by the end of the century. On top of this, the rate of sea level rise is expected to vary by location; areas in the Pacific Ocean are currently experiencing rates of rise up to four times the global average. As lowland populations become exposed to sea level rise, high levels of embodied value, culture and density in some urban locations may justify the mass engineering projects and budgets required to protect them. However, for large portions of the population there will be little choice but to migrate to higher elevations. The vast majority of those who will be affected by sea level rise live in large mainland coastal cities; however, the locations which will be hit first and hardest are small island nations. With little to no higher ground to which to migrate within their countries, these islands are left with two choices, to migrate to a new country or to adapt their way of life to a drastically different environment using the minimal resources available to them. In 2014, New Zealand accepted what many consider to be the first climate refugees from the island of Tuvalu; Kiribati reportedly began the process of searching for property in Fiji for future relocation; and the Maldives began to design artificial islands. Although these and some other small island nations will likely be forced to migrate elsewhere, many island nations may be able to remain. However, they will be forced to change the locations of their large lowland coastal populations and the way they inhabit their shrinking islands. “Polyvalent Adaptations� proposes the use of infrastructure as a framework to guide the process of regional migration caused by sea level rise. The infrastructure design is intended to be reinterpreted through time, firstly as a resource and service system to support current needs, secondly as an emergency cache to provide support in the aftermath of extreme weather events, and thirdly as a future spine and magnet for new settlement patterns. Because of their varying interpretations these infrastructures can assist in all stages of migration without forcing the process. This allows for the individual or family to move when they are ready, whether they decide to be pro-active, or whether they are waiting to react to sea level rise or extreme weather destruction. 4
Field of Inquiry
It is in this vein then that the infrastructures of polyvalent adaptation can act to guide, support and adapt to the process of human migration caused by sea level rise. As a collection of islands that range from active volcanoes to atolls and as one of the countries most exposed to sea level rise, Tonga will be used for the explorations in this thesis as a testing ground for how such infrastructures might be designed to work with the intricacies of a specific culture and location.
Field of Inquiry
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Intent & Position
With a thesis looking at a foreign country and culture, but being explored by a Canadian-born Caucasian at a university in North America, it is important that I frame the intent and position of the research and design. Although I am a well-travelled individual, I have never been to a small island nation or to Tonga. Through my research I have created what could be considered a glimpse into the incredible complexities of the beautiful country that is Tonga. As a result of the prevalence of sources being in the English language, this image is likely skewed towards a Western perspective. In order to limit this bias, I have used Tongan documents wherever possible. This thesis is also being developed in isolation from Tonga and therefore is devoid of direct input from Tongans themselves. Having been involved in design projects in both Canada and Kenya that have had a high level of consultation and involvement from the local communities and individuals, I am aware of the importance of the value that this engagement brings to the success of a project. However, as a theoretical exploration, this project is attempting to test an idea and expand our imaginations using Tonga as a means to do so. I have developed and pursued this thesis with the best of intentions to further the global discussions about how to respond to the high-risk future implications of sea level rise.
Intent & Position
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SEA LEVEL RISE
Introduction
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Natural Causes of Sea Level Rise Geological Processes Geomorphological Processes Climate Processes
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Human Contributions to Sea Level Rise Climate Contributions Geomorphological Contributions
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Thermal Changes Thermal Projections Impact on the Natural Environment Impact on Human Populations
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Sea Level Rise Sea Level Projections Impact on the Natural Environment Impact on Human Populations
Increase in Extreme Weather Intensity and Frequency Extreme Weather Projections Impact on the Natural Environment Impact on Human Populations
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Human Actions to Increase Exposure to Sea Level Rise
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Mitigation
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Conclusion
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SEA LEVEL RISE
“Anthropogenic warming and sea level rise will continue for centuries due to the time scales associated with climate processes and feedbacks, even if greenhouse gas concentrations were to be stabilized’ - Susmita Dasgupta, 2014
Introduction Climate change is currently, and will continue to be, one of the greatest challenges facing human populations for centuries. Its effects range from changes in species migration, resource production and fresh water supplies to increases in extreme weather, droughts, rising temperatures and rising sea levels. As one of the major consequences of climate change, sea level rise will have drastic effects on human populations, ways of life and settlement patterns. Large portions of the human population and much of the world’s most productive farmland are located in lowland areas by the sea, therefore the inevitable future loss of land area is of significant concern. In addition to the obvious direct impacts of sea level rise, there will also be indirect impacts as sea level rise exacerbates many of the other consequences of climate change. It is important to understand that sea level rise is both a global and regional phenomenon. Although regional sea level rise is related to changes in the mean global sea level, there are many factors that can influence a specific region to have more or less rise than the global mean. This causes some areas to be more at risk than others. In order to develop approaches to respond to the repercussions of sea level rise, we must understand its causes, human contributions to these causes, their impacts, and the actions we are taking or have already taken to reduce or increase our Sea Level Rise
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Fig 1. Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zealand.
Fig 2. Extent of New Land Created in Wellington, New Zealand by the Wairarapa Earthquake in 1855.
exposure to those repercussions.
Natural Causes of Sea Level Rise Society has often erred by assuming that sea levels and coastlines are stable, or at least that they are changing at time scales that are imperceptible to human populations. This general assumption has led to the settlement of shorelines and lowland areas around the world. Right now we are in the middle of an interglacial period of natural mean sea level rise as the planet warms. In the last interglacial period, it is estimated that the average temperature on earth rose to three to five degrees Celsius warmer than temperatures today, resulting in a mean sea level more than six metres above the current level.1 Signs of these historically high sea levels can be seen in erosion lines high up on seaside cliffs, salt water fossils hundreds of kilometres from the ocean’s edge, and in raised limestone islands that at one time were atolls barely above sea level. The natural processes that have historically caused and continue to cause changes in mean and relative sea level are geological, geomorphological and climate-related.
Geological Processes
Fig 3. New Volcanic Island Formed in 2015 Near Tonga.
Resulting from both quick events and slow tectonic changes, geological processes affect the position of land in relation to water. Sudden-onset events such as volcanic eruptions and earthquakes can cause quite drastic changes to coastal environments. The Wairarapa earthquake of 1855 near Wellington, New Zealand caused large areas of land to uplift in the harbour. Much of the city’s business sector and suburbs now occupy these lands.2 Volcanic eruptions can also create new landforms, as in the recent eruption near Tonga, which deposited geological materials and created a new island.3 Slower geological processes are generally related to the movement of tectonic plates over extended periods of time. Tectonic plates are in constant flux and often move in relation to the plates around them. In the last ice age, the weight of the ice on the northern continents caused the plates to subside. In the current interglacial period, the warming planet is melting much of this ice, and as a result the plates are rebounding. Relative sea 12
Sea Level Rise
Sea Level Rise
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Geomorphological Processes
level rise in these areas is generally slower than the global mean.4 At a pace slightly more noticeable than tectonic plate movement, ongoing erosion and settling of sediments are geomorphological processes that shape landforms. Erosion is the continual breaking down of rock and other debris into ever smaller and smaller particles followed by their movement towards and into the ocean. Erosion is caused by heat, water, wind, freezing/thawing, chemical and mechanical processes. It supplies beaches, lowlands and deltas with new material. As this material builds up, it raises the level of the land relative to the sea. These sediments also protect the shoreline from wave action erosion. Although society has generally considered shoreline positions to be static, recent studies have found that the extent to which erosion changes coastlines is significant.5
Climate Processes
A certain level of global warming occurs naturally as a result of climate processes. Changes in the chemical composition of the atmosphere such as a build-up of greenhouse gases traps heat from the sun in Earth’s atmosphere. Chemical contributors to
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Sea Level Rise
the atmosphere include decomposing organic matter, carbon from thawing permafrost, and chemicals released during volcanic eruptions and fires. As the planet warms, the volume of existing water in the world’s oceans expands causing mean sea level to rise. In addition to this expansion, the amount of water in the oceans increases as land-bound ice sheets melt leading to further sea level rise. Increased cloud cover created as the earth warms also contributes to additional global warming since water vapour is a greenhouse gas.6 Human Contributions to Sea Level Rise Since the beginning of the anthropocene era, humans have increasingly contributed to relative and mean sea level rise. Our current contributions speed up global warming and influence geomorphological processes. Since human contributions to climate change are additional to natural processes, it is difficult to decipher to what degree our activities are affecting sea level rise. There is general consensus, however, that the significant increase in the speed of global warming is resulting from human activity.7 There are two key ways that humans are contributing to climate change, through greenhouse gas emissions and through the destruction of natural carbon sinks which sequester carbon. Both contributions increase the greenhouse gases in the atmosphere causing additional heat to be trapped which then causes the temperature of the planet to rise. Our transport, construction, manufacturing, electricity and agriculture rely on carbon-based energy sources to function. The resulting carbon dioxide released into the atmosphere is the biggest contribution to our greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to our emissions, we are releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere through the destruction of carbon sinks. Carbon sinks are natural environments that absorb and store carbon dioxide. Deforestation, coal mining, oil and natural gas extraction, and the thaw of permafrost all destroy or inhibit the capacity of these environments to store carbon or other greenhouse gases. Although there is a global understanding that we need to reduce our greenhouse gas contributions, our difficulty in doing Sea Level Rise
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Climate Contributions
Fig 4. Impacts of Coastal Erosion in Eita, Kiribati.
Fig 5. Deforestation in Indonesia to Grow Red Palm Trees.
so is well-documented. With good intentions but little action in this area, it is difficult to predict the amount of greenhouse gas emissions we will release into the atmosphere in the future. It is also tough to estimate the effects these future contributions will have on climate change. It is generally understood, however, that even with a stabilization or eradication of our greenhouse gas emissions, sea levels will continue to rise for centuries as they catch up to global temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations.8
Geomorphological Contributions
Humans have also had impacts on natural geomorphological processes which affect relative sea levels. The extraction of liquids from the ground and reduction in its replenishment has led to localized land subsidence. The two main liquids extracted are water and fossil fuels. The latter is nearly impossible to replenish while water is replenished as part of the natural hydrological cycle. Constructed artificial drainage decreases the replenishment of ground water and also contributes to increased subsidence rates.9 Beaches, mangrove swamps, sea grass and coral reefs are all natural barriers protecting coasts from erosion. Human activities are causing damage to all of them. Beach aggregate mining10 and sandbar dredging11 harvest sand to supply materials for construction and landscaping, and to replenish beaches in other locations. Sea grass and mangrove swamps are often destroyed for land reclamation projects or for the harvesting of mangrove bark for use in tapa cloth.12 Coral reefs are being destroyed by destructive fishing techniques, tourism, pollution and ocean acidification. The location of coasts and their ecosystems are in constant flux due to natural geomorphological processes, however many of our coastal developments are constructed with the idea that coasts maintain a permanent location. As a result, physical manmade barriers such as sea walls are constructed to maintain the location of the coast. These barriers inhibit the natural migration of beaches and ecosystems and can cause them to become squeezed between the ocean and the barrier, often resulting in their disappearance. For those that do survive, human barriers also disrupt the natural replenishment of coastal sediments leading to sediment starvation.14
Fig 6. Illegal Sand Mining in India.
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Sea Level Rise
Sea Level Rise
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Thermal Changes Thermal Projections
By the end of this century, the mean global surface temperature is projected to increase by anywhere from one to four degrees Celsius.15 Over the past century and a half, mean ocean temperatures have paralleled the increases in global surface temperatures, leading to ocean temperatures which are a degree higher. This is a trend that is expected to continue.16 Warming oceans result in increasing acidity of ocean water. In 1950, global ocean surface pH was 8.15, by 2014 it had dropped to 8.1, and by the end of the century it is projected to drop to between 8.05 and 7.75.17 The biggest factor in how much global temperatures will rise is our ability to stabilize and/or reduce our carbon emissions.
Impact on the Natural Environment
Changes in global temperature affect sea level rise in a variety of ways. The main effect is the increased melting of the world’s land-bound icecaps and glaciers. This leads to an increase in the quantity of water in the ocean as well as an increase in its volume. There are also indirect ways in which global warming influences sea level rise. Thawing of the permafrost and fires caused by rising temperatures release stored carbon and methane into the atmosphere. Increasing droughts and intense rain events can reduce the effectiveness of plants in removing carbon from the atmosphere by slowing their growth, and therefore causing a reduction in the speed at which carbon sinks are created. Changes to the chemistry and temperature of oceans are also affecting coral reefs by increasing coral bleaching and decreasing coral calcification. Thermal changes are also causing reduction of and migration of flora and fauna. Warmer temperatures and changing rain patterns are making the growth of some plants, trees and animals difficult and are having negative effects on spawning fish.19 Along with plants, ocean and land species are also slowly migrating north and south, following the temperatures which they need for survival.20
Impact on Human Populations
In addition to sea level rise, discussed in the next section, global temperature changes have various implications for human settlements and ways of life. Increasing rain intensity21 and droughts can have major consequences for agricultural production and 18
Sea Level Rise
the types of plants that can be grown. They also create larger volumes of water runoff, which is not absorbed easily into the dry ground. This leads to a reduction in the replenishment of groundwater water, and increases erosion and flooding, leading to increased destruction of property. Die-off and slowed growth of coral reefs reduce the natural coastal protection of the land from wave action and extreme weather events. In the case of atoll islands, reduced coral growth also inhibits the ability of the atoll to keep up with changes in sea level.22 Damage to coral reefs and migrating fish stocks are also having an effect on food supplies and livelihoods in areas that depend on the sea for sustenance and for their economy. In addition to damage to land and sea food resources, tourism, which is a major source of income for many coastal regions, is also affected by thermal changes. The decline of coral reefs and damage caused to coastal ecosystems negatively affects the incredible visuals which are relied upon to attract tourists.
Fig 7. Aerial View of MalĂŠ City in the Maldives.
Sea Level Rise The rate at which mean sea level is rising has been increasing Sea Level Rise
Sea Level Projections
19
steadily. As a base point for comparison with current rates, over the past three thousand years mean sea level rise averaged only 0.1 to 0.2 millimetres per year. Over the past one hundred years, the average has been 1.7 millimetres per year, 2.0 millimetres per year since 1971 and 3.2 millimetres per year since 1993.23 It is important to note that these numbers are for the mean sea level rise globally, however sea level rise in some areas, and in the Pacific regions in particular, has been recorded at up to four times these rates.24 These increased rates are expected to level out over time, however, how long this will take is unknown. There are several main contributors to mean sea level rise, of which land ice loss and ocean thermal expansion account for the vast majority of the rise. Based on data collected from 19932010, ocean thermal expansion accounts for 38.7 percent, glacial melt 26.8 percent, land water storage extraction 13.4 percent, Greenland ice sheet melt 11.6 percent, and Antarctic ice sheet melt 9.5 percent of current mean sea level rise.25 The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) estimates that mean sea level will rise by between half a metre and a metre by the end of the century, with the possibility of ice sheets contributing several additional tenths of a metre.26 Based on this information, sea level is likely to be somewhere between 1.2 and 1.5 metres above current levels by the year 2100. The IPCC, however, has a mandate to provide the most likely scenarios for which there is scientific consensus, and there are many scientists who believe their projections are too low. Difficulties in modelling Antarctic melt, Greenland melt, and the effects of thermal expansion lead some scientists to nearly double these rates, bringing sea level rise to more than two metres by century’s end.27 There is also the potential of crossing a threshold which could drastically speed up ice flow changes, contributing further to the speed of melting, through phenomenon such as an “albedo flip�. These could dramatically increase the speed at which the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets melt. If this were to happen, several metres of sea level rise could be possible by 2100, as these two ice sheets alone hold enough water to raise sea levels by approximately seventy metres.28 During the last interglacial period where temperatures were three to five degrees Celsius warmer than they are today, that is, temperatures equal to the IPCC projections for global surface temperatures by 2100, sea 20
Sea Level Rise
30
Table 1. Historic and Projected Carbon Emissions Based on Most Likely Scenarios.31
30 25 20 20 15 15
projected
10
projected
10 5 5 0
historic
0
2 00 100 21
2 50 050 20
2 00 000
Year
20
19
18
1 50 850
-5
1 00 900
-5
1 50 950
historic
19
Carbon Emissions (billion tons) tons) Carbon Emissions (billion
25
Year
Table 2. Historic and Projected Sea Level Rise Based on Most Likely Scenarios.32
1200 1200 1000 1000 800
projected
600
projected
600 400 400 200 200
historic
0
historic
0
2 00 100 21
2 50 050 20
2 00 000
Year
20
1 50 950 19
19
1 50 850
-200
1 00 900
-200
18
Sea Level (mm)(mm) Sea Level
800
Year Sea Level Rise
21
level was more than six metres higher than it is today.29 Even with so much uncertainty, there are two points that the scientific community agrees upon. The first is that over the past several decades, sea level rise has consistently been faster than predicted.30 The second is that sea level rise is expected to continue for several centuries even if greenhouse gases are stabilized. The Dutch have taken both of these into account and are already designing for between four and five metres of sea level rise. It will be important to take these two factors into account, as well as regional factors influencing mean sea level rise, when predicting relative sea level rise in a particular location. Impact on the Natural Environment
The most obvious result of sea level rise is flooding and inundation leading to the destruction and loss of land. Much of the world’s most fertile land is located in coastal areas and in river deltas less than five metres above sea level. For lowland coastal areas, “a tipping point occurs when the surface elevation of a coastal ecosystem does not keep pace with sea level ... When this tipping point occurs, the coastal ecosystem
equator
22
Sea Level Rise
can be rapidly reduced (by flooding) to a point where it is a narrow fringe or lost.�33 Human-constructed infrastructure and architecture built in lowlands further disrupts the natural processes of sedimentation and exacerbates this process. The resulting sediment starvation hinders the ability of lowlands to keep up with sea level rise. Higher sea level also has implications for land that is not lost. As discussed in a later section, the higher base point for storm surges, tsunamis and extreme weather events increases the reach and damage of these events. In addition to the physical damage, salt from sea water infiltrating the ground destroys ecosystems, contaminates the soil, and makes groundwater and aquifers saline.34 Coastal ecosystems, which play important roles in regional livelihoods, biodiversity, and protecting coasts from erosion, are also highly susceptible to sea level rise. Historically, sea grass, mangrove swamps and coral reefs have all demonstrated their ability to keep pace with natural sea level rise. Coral grows upon itself, and therefore can continually grow up. Sea grass
Sea Level Rise
23
Fig 8. Estimated Land Inundation with Six Metres of Sea Level Rise37
and mangrove swamps on the other hand rely on their own organic matter and eroded sediment from the land to ensure that the water stays shallow enough for their growth.35 It is unknown whether these ecosystems can keep up with the rate of human-caused sea level rise, especially with the added pressures of pollution, sediment starvation, ocean acidification and human destruction.36 With reduced protection from erosion and a higher base point for waves and storms, the fertile soils of lowlands and future coastal areas are also at risk of being eroded away. Impact on Human Populations
Due to the fact that large portions of the world’s population live in lowlands adjacent to the world’s oceans, even modest sea level rise will have major repercussions globally. A one-metre rise in sea level is expected to impact 56 million people and will likely cause several small island nations, such as Tuvalu and the Maldives, to be uninhabitable. A two-metre rise would have major impacts on an estimated 187 million people, while five metres would affect approximately 250 million. An estimated
2m SLR would effect 187 million people (roughly the population of Germany, France and Spain combined)
equator
1m SLR would effect 56 million people (roughly the population of South Africa)
24
Sea Level Rise
634 million people live within ten metres of current sea level.3 These estimates were calculated using early twenty-first century population figures, however lowland populations are expected to continue to grow due to birthrates and migration.39 By the middle and the end of the century the number of people affected by sea level rise will likely be much higher. The impacts of sea level rise for those affected are: loss or damage to physical property and infrastructure; loss or damage to natural ecosystems; and a reduction in land area. Each of these has resulting social, cultural and financial consequences attached to them. Damage to physical property and infrastructure occurs as coastal lowlands become permanently covered by water. Buildings, utilities, personal artifacts, constructed cultural assets, roads, docks and man-made coastal protection would all be impacted. In the case of infrastructures that protect against sea level rise, their function may become obsolete as sea level rises above their design level. Loss of coastal ecosystems, wet or dry, will lead to a decline
Fig 9. Representation of Amount of Population Affected by One, Two and Ten Metres of Sea Level Rise
10m sea level rise would effect 635 million people (roughly the population of the United States, Mexico and Brazil combined)
Sea Level Rise
25
Fig 10. Reduction in Shoreline Protection.
in biodiversity and a reduction of renewable resources such as fish stocks. This would have effects on local sustenance, economies and tourism.40 Damage to these ecosystems also reduces the protection they provide against extreme weather events. The most obvious outcome from rising sea levels is the reduction of land area. For some countries land loss will be significant, while others, such as the Maldives, may disappear completely. Coinciding with land loss is a reduction in renewable and nonrenewable resources, such as fresh water, quarried materials and agricultural-quality soil. As large portions of the population typically have physical, financial, cultural and social investments tied up in their land and property, the web of consequences of sea level rise are substantial. Confrontations over land,42 increased costs and reduced incomes causing financial stress for governments and citizens, scarcity of regional resources to support existing populations, and loss of livelihood, way of life and cultural practices will likely become the norm. In addition to the impact the loss and reduction of natural protective barriers has on extreme weather events, sea level rise also provides a higher starting point for these events. These impacts are discussed in the following section.
Increase in Extreme Weather Intensity and Frequency Weather Projections
Fig 11. Physical Damage from Sea Level Rise and Extreme Weather.
Extreme weather events such as droughts, storm swells, tsunamis, heavy rain and tropical cyclones are all expected to increase in intensity and in frequency. These changes are directly related to the increase in global surface temperature. Warmer air can retain more moisture, which upon release causes an increase in rainfall. Warmer ocean surface temperatures have been correlated to more intense cyclones, higher storm surges, and changing wind speeds and directions.43 The largest storm surge on record took place in Australia in 1899 and was almost thirteen metres high.44 The storm surge that hit New Orleans in 2005 during Hurricane Katrina is estimated to have been around eight metres high, which is the same height as the storm surge that hit the tropical island nation of Vanuatu in 2015. Wind speeds, however, are predicted to increase by three to five percent for each degree Celsius of global 26
Sea Level Rise
coastal trees
buildings and infrastructure
agricultural land
future sea level & storm surge
mangrove
freshwater lens
sea grass existing sea level & storm surge
coral reef
damaged and lost coastal trees
damage and loss of buildings and infrastructure
damaged agricultural land
raised sea level
reduced and salinated freshwater lens
loss of mangroves historic sea level
loss of sea grass damage to and reduction in growth of coral reef
Sea Level Rise
27
Fig 12. New Jersey Shore Before Hurricane Sandy.
temperature rise,45 leading to between two and eleven percent increase in the intensity of cyclone storms and their resulting storm surges.46 Rainfall volumes are projected to increase or decrease depending on the location. Areas such as the Caribbean are expected to have a decrease of five to six percent by the end of the century while the Pacific is expected to have an increase of one to nine percent. Regardless of wether there is an increase or decrease in volume, rain patterns are already starting to change, and are expected to continue to do so.47 What we consider today to be one-hundred-year floods will be much more frequent in the future. One study has predicted that what we currently believe to be one hundred-year floods, would likely happen every five years with 350 millimetres of sea level rise, and every year with one metre of sea level rise.48
Impact on the Natural Environment
Increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather combined with a higher sea level base point and reduced coastal protection, previously discussed, will have major impacts on coastal areas. Surface runoff will increase and high storm surges will have the potential to flood and erode large areas of land previously not impacted by these types of events. In addition to short-term physical damage, sea water inundation also results in soil and groundwater salination which can destroy ecosystems that may have survived the initial forces of an extreme weather event.49 Changes in rainfall patterns are also impacting or eliminating the reproductive success of some species as their breeding times no longer correspond with rain and peak food abundance.50 Combined with the destruction of natural ecosystems and habitat due to human pressures, sea level rise, changing climates and extreme weather are contributing to a reduction in biodiversity.
Fig 13. New Jersey Shore After Hurricane Sandy.
Impact on Human Populations
Many of the worst impacts of sea level rise on human populations are from the degree to which it exposes people and the environments that support them to worsening extreme weather events. These events can be catastrophic, instantly exacerbating existing problems while creating new ones through loss of life and the destruction of physical property. With the destruction of physical property comes the likely loss of: stored food, water, and energy supplies, personal 28
Sea Level Rise
Sea Level Rise
29
belongings, items required to maintain livelihoods, and cultural assets. In addition, flooding, erosion and a reduction in biodiversity can lead to loss or damage to the marine ecosystems, land ecosystems, aquaculture and agriculture which support the sustenance and culture of coastal communities. Initial storm damage causes human injury and death. In the long term, a reduction in health resources, contamination of water supplies, and loss of food supplies can lead to malnutrition and increased transmission of diseases such as malaria, dengue, filariasis and schistosomiasis.52 In poorer, tourism dependent countries, water and food shortages are often worsened as available resources are used for tourist needs first.53 The financial losses and costs associated with extreme weather events are also severe. Immediate reconstruction and repair of infrastructures and buildings is often in the hundreds of millions or even billions of dollars. These costs would be a financial burden for individuals and jurisdictions in the best of times, let alone by an economy that has been drastically reduced due to storm damage. The problems caused by extreme weather events for a population are further exacerbated by damage to soft and hard infrastructures. Infrastructure provides resource flows, mobility and communication, all of which are important for the functioning of society. Without a dramatic change in how we inhabit coastal areas, the impacts of extreme weather events will continue to get worse and will lead to temporary or permanent dislocation of many coastal populations.
Human Actions That Increase Exposure to Sea Level Rise Sea level rise and extreme weather events themselves are issues to which humans must respond due to our own historic shortsighted choices and settlement patterns. For centuries, humans have inhabited coastal and lowland areas due to their proximity to marine ecosystems and fertile soils. As a result, a large portion of our urban and rural populations today are on the coast or on river deltas. These are the first places to be effected by sea level rise. Over the past century, population growth, financial and 30
Sea Level Rise
educational demands as well as globalization pressures have caused and continue to cause increasing human exposure to the hazards of sea level rise. Rising population numbers in coastal growth centres represent a trend that is fed by internal rural to urban migration and by immigration from other countries.54 The high demand for land close to these growth centres combined with low incomes and a lack of knowledge about climate change is resulting in the habitation of ever lower and more exposed locations. These locations include steep mountainsides, swamplands and inappropriate shorelines. The construction techniques used in these locations are often not suitable to withstand sea level rise or extreme weather.55 Loss of local resources due to sea level rise and extreme weather damage is made worse by the vulnerability of economies to global markets and tourism, both of which tend to fluctuate. Tourism also creates increased pressure on the limited regional resources, diverting them away from the locals.56
Sea Level Rise
31
Fig 14. Erosion Damage in the Solomon Islands.
NATURAL CAUSES OF SEA LEVEL AND CLIMATE CHANGE GEOLOGICAL PROCESSES Natural Vertical Movement of Plates Isostatic Rebound from Melting Ice Sudden Onset Events (Volcanoes + Earthquakes)
GEOMORPHOLOGICAL PROCESSES
KEY CHANGES TO THE ENVIRONMENT Increase in Air Temperature
CLIMATE PROCESSES Global Warming or Cooling (Natural)
HUMAN CONTRIBUTIONS TO SEA LEVEL AND CLIMATE CHANGE CLIMATE CONTRIBUTIONS Global Warming (GHG Emissions) Destruction of Carbon Sinks (Deforestation, Etc...)
Rise in Sea Level Acidification of the Ocean Increase in Extreme Weather Intensity + Frequency (+ Starting base point) Change in Precipitation Patterns and Quantities
De
PHYSICAL SYMPTOMS Declining Fish Stocks
Reduced Reproductive Success in Animals (timing and peak food/water)
Re
Increase of flooding Loss and Change of Coastal Wetlands (Mangrove + Sea Grass)
In (Bu
Increase in Coastal Erosion and Accretion (movement)
D
Reduction in Sedimentation (Mangrove, Sea Grass + Sand)
Low Land Subsidence (Artificial Drainage,+ Pumping of Liquids)
Salination of Soils Upward floating of Freshwater lense Reduced Area of Island
Human Protective Barriers (Permanent)
Worsening of Droughts, Tropical Cyclones, Storm Swells and Tsunami
Damage to Coral Reefs
Deterioration of fresh Water Quality
Tourism (Pressure on Resources)
Increase in Storm Surge Height
32
R Ex
Decrease in Coral Calcification
Salination of fresh water Aquifers and lenses
Beach Aggregate Mining and Beach Nourishment
Re
Increase in Coral Bleaching
GEOLOGICAL CONTRIBUTIONS
Extraction of In-ground Liquids
Mig
Increase in Water Temperature
Ongoing Erosion by Elements Low Land Subsidence (Compression)
HUM CREA
Sea Level Rise
In
De
St
O NT
HUMAN ACTIONS TO INCREASE EXPOSURE TO CLIMATE CHANGE Migration to Vulnerable Coastal Locations Population Growth
ccess eak
stal Sea
n and
ion and)
r
d
ropiand
Limited Human Resource Capacity High Financial Costs Financial Polarization
Lack of Knowledge
her
OMS
Limited Access to Technological Resources
Financial Pressures
an
n s
BARRIERS
Cultural, Ethical and Social Acceptability
IMPACTS Decrease in Tourism (Visuals and Extreme Weather) Reduction in Fishing and its way of life. Reduced Protection from Extreme Weather + Erosion Shortage of Fresh Water Supply Declining Biodiversity Reduction and loss of agricultural productivity + area Increased confrontation Related to land rights Increased Property Damage (Buildings, Infrastructure, Public Facilities) Damage or Loss of Cultural Assets
Political Framework Uncertainty Political and Climate Term Mismatches Lack of Local Awareness Precision and Resolution of Data Maintaining Confidence in Island Lack of Economies of Scale Legal Barriers to Migration Statelessness
MITIGATION Reduction of GHG
Increased Health Risks (Death + Injuries) Increase in disease Transmission Damage to Ecosystems Damage and loss of Aquaculture Damage and loss of Aquaculture Increase of Financial Costs
Fig 15. Causes and Implications of and Exposure and Barriers to Sea Level Rise and Climate Change for Coastal Settlements.
Decreases in GDP due to climate sensitive Economy Statelessness (various issues)
eight
Sea Level Rise
33
Mitigation Steps are being taken globally to reduce human contributions to climate change and the resulting sea level rise. However, even if human greenhouse gas emissions were to be completely halted, sea level rise and increasing extreme weather are projected to continue. Sea level rise lags behind the current global temperature increases and will continue for several centuries before it has caught up.57 What this means is that although mitigation is important in reducing the amount and speed of sea level rise, we must accept that coastal areas will be facing the implications of sea level rise for centuries to come.
Conclusion As Hunt Janin projects, “the long range outlook, is that the irresistible momentum of sea level rise will increasingly conflict with human development patterns and plans for the future.�58 With sea levels projected to rise by at least a metre by the end of the century, and with the increasing magnitude of the repercussions this has for human populations around the globe, it is becoming more and more apparent that we need to change how we inhabit coastal areas. As the devastation caused by disasters such as Hurricane Katrina have demonstrated, the human, environmental, financial, cultural and social costs of sea level rise and climate change can be catastrophic. An event such as Hurricane Katrina does not have to be catastrophic, since catastrophes are a direct result of the vulnerable situations that we put ourselves into. If we designed our coastal settlements to be less vulnerable to sea level rise, then catastrophic events may no longer be such. Also, in contrast to the costs related to rebuilding following natural disasters, economists suggest the cost to pro-actively adapt vulnerable coasts to sea level rise is much cheaper. Therefore, designing our cities, towns, infrastructure and architecture to reduce our vulnerability to sea level rise seems like the obvious approach for the future.
34
Sea Level Rise
Notes: 1 Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 181. 2 “3. The 1855 Wairarapa Earthquake – Historic Earthquakes – Te Ara Encyclopedia of New Zealand,” accessed April 6, 2015, http://www.teara.govt.nz/ en/historic-earthquakes/page-3. 3 “Hunga Tonga Volcano Eruption Forms New S Pacific Island - BBC News,” accessed April 6, 2015, http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-31848255. 4 Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, 181. 5 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 2014, 1620. 6 Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012), 15. 7 Ibid., 12. 8 Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, 182. 9 Ibid., 181. 10 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 2014, 1620. 11 Lu’isa Malolo, Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management 2010-2015 (Tonga: Kingdom of Tonga, 2010), 13. 12 Fabrice G. Renaud et al., The Role of Ecosystems in Disaster Risk Reduction (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2013), 202; N Mimura, “Vulnerability of Island Countries in the South Pacific to Sea Level Rise and Climate Change,” Climate Research 12 (1999): 137–43. 13 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 2014, 1623. 14 Ibid., 1623. 15 John Roy Porter, Summary for Policymakers, 2014, 21. 16 Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, 182. 17 John Roy Porter, Summary for Policymakers, 21. 18 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 58. 19 Ibid., 1621. 20 Matthias von Gunten, Thule Tuvalu, videorecording (Hessegreutert Film and Odysseefilm, 2014). 21 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1. 22 Ibid., 1621. 23 John Roy Porter, Summary for Policymakers, 11. 24 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1619. 25 John Roy Porter, Summary for Policymakers, 11. 26 Ibid., 23. 27 Susmita Dasgupta and Open Knowledge Repository, Climate Change and Sea Level Rise A Review of the Scientific Evidence (S.l.: World Bank, Washington, DC, 2014), 9-14. 28 Ibid., 10-13. 29 Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, 181.
Sea Level Rise
35
30 Susmita Dasgupta and Open Knowledge Repository, Climate Change and Sea Level Rise A Review of the Scientific Evidence, 30. 31 Graph based on infromation from Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 94. 32 Ibid., 49. 33 Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact, 33. 34 Matthias von Gunten, Thule Tuvalu; Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, 184. 35 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1621. 36 Ibid. 37 Pierre Belanger, “Infrastructural Ecologies: Fluid, Biotic, Contingent,� in Landscape Infrastructure: Case Studies by SWA (Basel, Switzerland: Birkhauser, 2013), 23. 38 Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, 185; Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact, 32. 39 Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, 185. 40 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1621. 41 Ibid., 1622. 42 Ibid., 1625. 43 Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact, 39-40. 44 Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact, 40. 45 Susmita Dasgupta and Open Knowledge Repository, Climate Change and Sea Level Rise A Review of the Scientific Evidence, 16. 46 Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact, 40. 47 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1628. 48 Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact, 41. 49 Matthias von Gunten, Thule Tuvalu. 50 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1622. 51 Ibid., 1634. 52 Ibid., 1624. 53 Ibid., 1619. 54 Ibid., 1623. 55 Ibid., 1623. 56 Ibid., 1619. 57 Susmita Dasgupta and Open Knowledge Repository, Climate Change and Sea Level Rise A Review of the Scientific Evidence, 14. 58 Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada)
36
The Science of Sea Level Rise
Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact, 37.
The Science of Sea Level Rise
37
38
ARCHITECTURE, INFRASTRUCTURE & ECOLOGY
Introduction
41
Architecture Agency Through Design Architecture as Infrastructure
42 42
Infrastructure Hard & Soft Infrastructure Infrastructure & Design
43 43
Temporality Responsive Infrastructure Appropriatable Design
45 45
Ecology Defining Ecology Ecological Design Ecological Feedback
46 46 47
Conclusion
48
39
40
ARCHITECTURE, INFRASTRUCTURE & ECOLOGY
“Urban infrastructure sows the seeds of future possibility, staging the ground for both uncertainty and promise. The preparation of surfaces for future appropriation differs from merely formal interest in single surface construction. It is more strategic, emphasizing means over ends, and operational logic over compositional design”
- James Corner
Introduction With the certainty of the looming threats of sea level rise, but uncertainty about the extent of these threats or what they mean for how we occupy the planet, the act of proactively designing for sea level rise becomes extremely important. Designs that address sea level rise must find a balance between the large scale of the physical implications and the domestic scale of those affected, as well as a balance between the ability to meet the specifics of immediate needs and maintaining flexibility to meet changing future needs. Infrastructure, architecture and ecology are all greatly affected by sea level rise, but are also the tools that we must use in addressing sea level rise. The successful use of these tools depends on how each is defined, how each works with the others, how each may be appropriated to meet changing needs, and the sensitivity with which each is applied to existing social and cultural intricacies. This section will provide an overview of some of the theoretical discussion around the role and agency that architecture, infrastructure and ecology can have and how this might be adapted to address the issues of sea level rise. The conclusion of this section will lay out the theoretical approach to Polyvalent Adaptation.
Infrastructure, Architecture & Ecology
41
Fig 16. Qian’an Sanlihe Greenway, Hebei Province, China.
Architecture Agency Through Design
In the first half of the twentieth century the grand utilitarian, utopian and social architecture and planning of the Modern era responded to contexts that extended well beyond the limits of their sites. Attempting to address a rapidly changing social and technical world, these projects drew from and had implications on issues far beyond their physical reach. Although the success of modern projects can be debated, and rightly so, these projects had a trait that is so often missing from architecture today, agency. Generally confined by zoning bylaws and property lines, post-modern architecture has dominated the built environment for the past fifty-plus years, with its focus on ornament, form and visual reference. If, as Richard Neutra puts it, “design is the cardinal means by which human beings have long tried to modify their natural environment, piecemeal and wholesale”,1 why have post-modern architects so often worn blinders to contextual social, economic, cultural and environmental issues? In recent years, the discussion of agency and disposition in architecture has been rekindled. The firm Lateral Office posits that architecture should be more than appearance and form, that architecture be designed as “actors with agency”. Their argument looks to the use of the word ‘architecture’ within the fields of computation and business, where it signifies both “organisational complexity and networked wholeness”. By grafting this definition onto the architectural profession they believe architecture can be re-integrated into the broader world context. It can respond to and influence social, economic, political, land-use and data systems.2 Jesse LeCavalier and Keller Easterling both argue that architecture requires more agency as well, and look to how architecture can co-opt infrastructure and its disposition and agency.3 In a similar manner, Rem Koolhaas believes that architects “need to step out of this amalgamation of good intentions and branding and move in a political direction and a direction of engineering.”4
Architecture as Infrastructure
Although infrastructure offers the designer a path to increased agency in the world, is proceeding along that path justifiable, or is this beyond the realm of the architect? Stan Allen argues that 42
Infrastructure, Architecture and Ecology
although we understand infrastructure as a given necessity, we should be questioning what these infrastructures are.5 How does infrastructure benefit us, how will it evolve as our needs change and how do we as humans relate to infrastructure? These are all questions that could benefit from the engagement of the architect, and as Lateral Office suggests, requires us to “look at the roles and challenges of the public realm, civic space, landscape and infrastructure.”6
Infrastructure At its simplest, infrastructure is “the basic physical and organisational structures and facilities needed for the operation of a society.”7 Physical infrastructure is commonly referred to as hard infrastructure and includes transportation systems, utilities and communications networks. Organisational infrastructure is otherwise known as soft infrastructure and includes infrastructures such as governments, institutions and human capital. In academia, the definition of infrastructure is expanding. Theorists such as Easterling reference everything from shared standards in construction materials and credit card dimensions to shared ideas that shape policies, physical space and human interactions.8 It is both the traditional and broader definitions which will be explored through this thesis.
Hard & Soft Infrastructure
Since the implementation of infrastructure has historically focused on its technological and utilitarian aspects the resultant social and cultural aspects of infrastructure could benefit greatly from increased design attention. LeCavalier suggests that by shifting infrastructure from solely a technical construct to a socio-technical construct infrastructure has the potential to have a longer-lasting and greater impact.9 The addition of ‘socio’ opens up a realm of design potential for infrastructure that could positively impact culture, economics, the environment and every day human life. With the high costs related to infrastructures, it only makes sense that they provide additional services beyond their initial function. There appear to be three dominant perspectives on the role architecture and design can play in and as infrastructural projects. All three perspectives can be considered complementary to
Infrastructure & Design
Infrastructure, Architecture & Ecology
43
each other and could be implemented within the same project. The first perspective looks at infrastructure as a system of material and information flows, and positions the architectural design at the points of access to these flows.10 In this case, architecture is considered to be the user interface between the medium and the end user and can range from the space for the consumption of water and food, to schools, public space and government buildings. The second perspective requires the understanding of infrastructure not as a system, but as objects in space. Lateral Office sees the objective elements of infrastructure as conduits, containers and surfaces,11 while others describe them as lines, nodes and planes. As Alexander D’Hooghe describes it, “infrastructure, instead of continuous, breaks up into a sequence of finite moments or bubbles of experience, corresponding to particular spatial-formal configurations.”12 By thinking of infrastructure in this way it at once becomes a candidate for additional public amenities, resource production and new cultural artefacts, while demanding the same attention usually reserved for culture and the arts.13 The architecture of the objects of infrastructure will likely be heavily influenced by material and geometry, but have the potential to create new forms of architecture at scales and forms beyond those of a conventional architectural project.14 The final perspective looks at the role of aesthetics in infrastructure. Alexander D’Hooghe suggests that infrastructure needs to be an authoured system with a “human poetic element” to it, rather than a purely calculated construction. To D’Hooghe, both the view from the road and the view of the road are important aspects in the design of infrastructure.15
Temporality The twentieth century has been dominated by the construction of major infrastructures, from ports, railroads and highways to telephone, internet and cell phone networks to health care, public housing and national parks. Many of these infrastructures are crumbling due to the fact they are outdated, too inflexible and expensive to maintain. As closed systems, their inability to adapt to changing needs and context has hindered them. Open systems on the other hand have been adapted and flexed and 44
Infrastructure, Architecture and Ecology
have therefore maintained their relevance. As change and uncertainty in the world around us speeds up, the understanding of the importance of open systems of infrastructure has increased. Although infrastructure is often and inevitably linked to data analysis and technological development, it is important to remember that the design and construction of infrastructure is an anticipatory and projective act. With the impossibility of our predictions ever being fully accurate, we should therefore look at infrastructure as both material objects and as processes.16 Infrastructure should anticipate the inevitability of changing external forces that include the natural environment, climate, society, culture, and financial availability. Infrastructure can respond either through mitigation or opportunism, something that Lateral Office has explored in their designs. Through opportunism, infrastructure has the potential to have agency by cultivating and enhancing ecosystems and local cultures alike.17 Linking contingency to design opens a realm of infrastructural possibilities as both are anticipatory acts. In the nineteen sixties this thinking lead to the founding of the Architecture Machine Group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) which began designing “a machine that can work with missing information”.18 Applied to infrastructure, diversified, overlapping and redundant supplies, flows and connections can lead to more resilient systems with the ability to absorb, mitigate and adjust to both gradual changes and abrupt crises. These changes also include technological innovations and allow for current and future infrastructures to combine.19
Responsive Infrastructure
Throughout history, infrastructure has been used as a tool designed to initiate, guide and structure patterns of settlement, “with the imposition of infrastructure, landscape becomes colonized.”20 Stan Allen notes that infrastructure is not only about performance to minimum engineering requirements, but is also about the unpredictable effects it triggers. Infrastructure is an investment into systems that supply and transport resources and information without defining its use or content, allowing flexibility in what infrastructure supports.21 Open spaces are flexible in that there is room for almost anything to happen, yet as Koolhaas, Allen and LeCavalier all
Appropriatable Design
Infrastructure, Architecture & Ecology
45
suggest, without irrigation of the space with potential, its appropriation becomes difficult. Concentrations of human, resource and information density through the construction of infrastructure can lead to concentrations of creativity, interaction and activity.23 Through the design of infrastructure, designed space can become appropriatable and adaptable to changing needs and external forces.
Ecology Defining Ecology
Generally defined, ecology is “a branch of biology that deals with the relations of organisms to one another and to their physical surroundings.”24 In relation to infrastructure, architecture and design, Allen positions the temporal measure for ecological adaptation and change somewhere between the millions of years required for geological changes and the minutes, hours and days required for biological changes. This suggests that there is much that can be learned from ecology for use in the design of infrastructure and architecture, but also the potential for increased flows between man-made infrastructures and natural or constructed ecologies.
Ecological Design
Ecosystems are complex systems that “negotiate hierarchies and scales”25 while at the same time being responsive to change. Ecological systems are also open systems with constantly varying inputs and outputs and no respect for either man-made or natural boundaries. For these two characteristics, and the speed at which changes occur, ecologies can be important contributors that are designed into the functioning of infrastructural systems. In the nineteen-thirties, the United States Natural Resource Committee completed a report, titled ‘Regional Factors in National Planning,’ that suggested this same approach. The report mapped the overlap the likes of national infrastructures, geography, geology, ecosystems, watersheds and soil conditions with administrative jurisdictions. It recommended a rethinking of the extent and relationships of infrastructural systems based on the interactions they may share with ecological, geological and social mapping rather than by jurisdiction.26 In addition to the usual ecologies, Pierre Belanger suggests that we should also be including other occurrences such as sewer 46
Infrastructure, Architecture and Ecology
overflow, sediment contamination, invasive flora and fauna, depleted water reserves and seasonal floods as part of the new constructed ecologies to which infrastructure must relate, rather than treating them as “unfortunate isolated incidents�.27 By including ecology, landscape, geology and geography as essential contributors to designed infrastructure, they can themselves become infrastructural.28 Where constructed and ecological infrastructures overlap, meet at transfer points, or relate to their surroundings and to humans, they become important locations for design and are full of potential.29 Due to the inevitability of change within designed ecological landscapes, landscape architects have taken various approaches to anticipating and/or allowing response to these changes. Chris Reed describes four different approaches that have been taken by ecological designers - analog, hybrid, curated and structured ecologies.30 The design of analog ecologies assumes a level of simplicity in ecology and relies generally on if/then statements. An example would be responsive facades such as the hydroskin by Achim Menges which has wooden flaps that open and close as a their material properties respond to changes in humidity. Hybrid ecologies are designed to respond to both human and non-human dynamics such as other ecologies, engineered entities and social interactions. Curated ecologies are designed to receive periodic input from humans to help guide them in a desired direction.31 The final approach by ecological designers described by Reed is structured ecologies. Structured ecologies have a physical scaffolding of conditions which are designed, such as wet/dry, low/high and sheltered/exposed, and into which ecologies are seeded. Over time, the ecologies battle with each other while responding to macro and micro environmental conditions until a level of stability in the ecologies is achieved.32 Every human act of intention is dependant on the biosphere, whether it be for: renewable or nonrenewable resources; biological, physical and chemical processes; end point processing of waste; or the physical space that we occupy.33 Historically, we have taken these dependencies for granted and our economies have developed based on the destruction of the natural environment. However, as we reach the limit of our exploitation, the economy and natural environment are becoming inseparable.34 Infrastructure, Architecture & Ecology
47
Ecological Feedback
We need to embrace the idea that to each act of human intention there is an ecological reaction, for each change in an ecological system there is a re-balancing of the system and a chain reaction of changes in all systems. Just as our infrastructure needs to be responsive to social and cultural changes, it needs to be responsive to the unpredictably of ecological change and the predictability of resource depletion.
Conclusion The impacts of sea level rise form a complex web of issues for coastal communities which are overlaid on existing needs. By linking architectural responses to these issues to the larger systems of infrastructure and ecology, the architectural design can gain the agency required to play a larger role in tackling the vast array of issues caused by sea level rise. In a world based mostly on short political terms and living day-to-day to survive, the support of citizens and governments is key to the success of any design proposal. In order to gain this support, projects must combine adaptive solutions to sea level rise with solutions to the current needs of the population while respecting the choices of the individual. With architecture and ecology playing important roles, the design of new infrastructure has the potential to act as a catalyst to transition from current forms of coastal habitation to ones that are adapted to the inevitability of sea level rise and climate change. This can be achieved by designing a framework of infrastructure that can be interpreted and used differently throughout this process. Here the role of polyvalence in design becomes important to replace the idea of flexibility. While flexible designs are typically neutral containers, devoid of agency or purpose, polyvalent designs can have agency and purpose. Polyvalent designs allow for new uses and meanings based on how they are interpreted. Polyvalent Adaptation to sea level rise proposes that adaptation is an intricate and complex process which will require migration to higher elevations. In this proposal, infrastructure takes on an important role as a polyvalent framework that is re-interpreted through time. First of all, it will act as a resource and service system to support current needs, secondly, as an 48
Infrastructure, Architecture and Ecology
emergency cache following extreme weather events, and thirdly, as a future spine and magnet for re-settlement. With its varying interpretations this infrastructure can assist in all stages of the process of migration without forcing the process. This will allow for the individual or family to move when they are ready, whether they decide to be pro-active, or whether they wait to react to sea level rise or extreme weather destruction. It is in this vein then that the infrastructure, architecture and ecologies of Polyvalent Adaptation can themselves act to guide, support and adapt to the process of human migration caused by sea level rise.
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49
Notes: 1 Richard Neutra, “Survival Through Design,” in Rethinking Technology: A Reader in Architectural Theory (New York, NY: Routledge, 2007), 119. 2 Mason White, Neeraj Bhatia, and Lola Sheppard, PA 30: Coupling : Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism (Princeton Architectural Press, 2010). 3 Jesse LeCavalier, “Let’s Infrastructure,” in Infrastructure as Architecture (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 100; Keller Easterling, “Disposition and Active Form,” in Infrastructure as Architecture (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 98. 4 Rem Koolhaas, “Advancement versus Apocalypse,” in Ecological Urbanism (Baden, Switzerland: Lars Muller Publishers, 2010), 70. 5 Stan Allen, “Landscape Infrastructures,” in Infrastructure as Architecture (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 38. 6 Mason White, Neeraj Bhatia, and Lola Sheppard, PA 30: Coupling : Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism, 49. 7 “Infrastructure - Definition of Infrastructure in English from the Oxford Dictionary,” accessed March 30, 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/ definition/english/infrastructure. 8 Easterling, Keller, Extra State Craft: The Power of Infrastructure Space (Brooklyn, NY: Verso, 2014). 9 Jesse LeCavalier, “Let’s Infrastructure,” 100. 10 Keller Easterling, “Disposition and Active Form,” 96; Jesse LeCavalier, “Let’s Infrastructure,” 109. 11 Mason White, Neeraj Bhatia, and Lola Sheppard, PA 30: Coupling : Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism, 8. 12 Alexander D’Hooghe, “The Objectification of Infrastructure: The Cultural Project of Suburban Infrastructure Design,” in Infrastructure as Architecture (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 82. 13 Alexander D’Hooghe, “The Objectification of Infrastructure: The Cultural Project of Suburban Infrastructure Design,” in Infrastructure as Architecture (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 78. 14 Keller Easterling, “Disposition and Active Form,” 98. 15 Alexander D’Hooghe, “The Objectification of Infrastructure: The Cultural Project of Suburban Infrastructure Design,” in Infrastructure as Architecture (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 80–83. 16 Jesse LeCavalier, “Let’s Infrastructure,” 105, 111. 17 Mason White, Neeraj Bhatia, and Lola Sheppard, PA 30: Coupling : Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism, 7-8, 49. 18 Ibid., 7. 19 Kelly Shannon, “Structuring Emerging Urbanism: Interplays of Infrastructure and Landscape in Cantho (Vietnam),” in Infrastructure as Architecture (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 145; Jesse LeCavalier, “Let’s Infrastructure,” 106; Mason White, Neeraj Bhatia, and Lola Sheppard, PA 30: Coupling : Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism, 49. 20 Kelly Shannon, “Structuring Emerging Urbanism: Interplays of Infrastructure and Landscape in Cantho (Vietnam),” 144. 21 Stan Allen, “Landscape Infrastructures,” 38, 43. 22 OMA, Rem Koolhaas, and Bruce Mau, S, M, L, XL (New York, NY: Harper & Row, 1971), 965; Stan Allen, “Landscape Infrastructures,”; Jesse LeCavalier, “Let’s Infrastructure,”. 23 Rem Koolhaas quoted in Stan Allen, “Landscape Infrastructures,” 41. 24 Ecology - Definition of Ecology in English from the Oxford Dictionary,” accessed March 30, 2015, http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/ english/ecology.
50
Infrastructure, Architecture & Ecology
25 Mason White, Neeraj Bhatia, and Lola Sheppard, PA 30: Coupling : Strategies for Infrastructural Opportunism, 49. 26 United States. National Resources Committee. Technical Committee on Regional Planning, “Regional Factors in National Planning and Development,” 1935, http://archive.org/details/regionalfactorsi1935unitrich. 27 Pierre Belanger, “Landscape As Infrastructure,” Landscape Journal 28, no. 1 (January 2009), 86. 28 From Stan Allen quotation in Pierre Belanger, “Landscape As Infrastructure,” Landscape Journal 28, no. 1 (January 2009), 89. 29 Ken Yeang, “A Theory of Ecological Design,” in Rethinking Technology: A Reader in Architectural Theory (New York, NY: Routledge, 2007), 392. 30 Chris Reed, “The Agency of Ecology,” in Ecological Urbanism (Baden, Switzerland: Lars Muller Publishers, 2010), 326. 31 Ibid. 32 Ibid. 33 Ken Yeang, “A Theory of Ecological Design,” 391. 34 Pierre Belanger, “Landscape As Infrastructure,” 79.
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51
52
SMALL ISLAND NATIONS
Introduction
55
Geology
56
Ecology
56
Human Habitation
58
Impacts of Sea Level Rise and Climate Change
60
Barriers to Adaptation Resources Financial Cultural and Social Statelessness
62 64 66 66
Mitigation of Sea Level Rise
67
Conclusion
67
53
54
SMALL ISLAND NATIONS
“There is clear consensus that adaptation to the risks posed by global climate change is necessary and urgent in small islands’’
- IPCC Report, 2014
Introduction For the purpose of this exploration, small island nations are independent nations with a land area of less than one thousand square kilometres. As a location to test the ideas of Polyvalent Adaptation, small island nations represent both the first countries to be affected by the implications of sea level rise and the countries with the most to lose. The three and a half million people living in small island nations are incredibly exposed to sea level rise and extreme weather. Based on the percentage of the population and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) affected by extreme weather events from 1998 to 2009, small island nations hold eight of the top ten spots for percentage of population affected and seven for the percentage of GDP lost. This means that, following a disaster, the ability of unaffected areas of the country to assist is greatly reduced. As these ratios worsen and the threats of loss of life, land and culture increase, small island nations are on the cusp of requiring major interventions. From an academic perspective, choosing a specific small island nation provides a scale that is manageable for understanding the cultural, social, economic, environmental and historical context to which the project is responding. In addition, these small islands have been dealing with changing shores and extreme weather events ever since they were first populated thousands of years ago. This prolonged history in direct relation Small Island Nations
55
Fig 17. Impacts of Coastal Erosion and Drought on Coconut Palms in Kiribati.
to the sea could also provide valuable knowledge for current and future adaptation both on the islands and along mainland coastlines elsewhere.
Geology Although some of the islands that make up small island nations are continental, the vast majority of them have been formed by volcanoes or as a result of volcanic action. When active volcanoes break the surface of the ocean, they become cone-shaped islands with steep sloping sides. Coral growth begins on their perimeters as the volcano becomes inactive. As sea level rises or land subsides, the perimeter coral continues to grow, keeping pace with sea level.1 Once the volcanic cone has completely disappeared below sea level, what remains is a coral atoll characterized by either a series of islets or one island surrounding a lagoon. If sea level subsides or the atoll island rises, a raised limestone island is formed.2
Ecology Non-continental islands typically have little or no soil due to their formation as limestone and coral islands, so plant life is usually minimal. In addition, due to their flat nature and relatively new formation on a geological time scale, there are often no rivers or lakes. Freshwater is available only from the rain and from the island’s freshwater lens. Freshwater lenses are formed as a result of rainwater infiltrating into the ground. As fresh water is lighter than the salt water in the ground, it floats on top, creating a lens of fresh water near the island’s surface,3 as shown in figure 21. Islands are typically surrounded by a combination of coral reefs, mangroves and sea-grass ecosystems which act to protect the island and its ecosystems and inhabitants from extreme weather events and waves.
56
Small Island Nations
1. active volcanic island
2. inactive volcanic island, subsiding, with coral growth on perimeter
3. coral atoll, following complete subsidence of volcanic cone
Fig 18. NonContinental Island Formationxx
4. raised limestone island, following sea level subsisdence
Small Island Nations
57
Fig 19. Topography of Volcanic Island of Saint Lucia with Zero, Ten and Twenty Metres of Sea Level Rise.
Fig 20. Populated Valley in Saint Lucia with Rich Agricultural Land.
Human Habitation Having been settled at different times throughout their history and having evolved in relative isolation, the social, economic and ecological environments of small island nations vary greatly. The locations of traditional settlements range from coastal lowlands to higher areas which provide increased protection from waves and extreme weather events.5 In both cases, dependency on the ocean for sustenance results in strong relationships between settlements and the coast. Ocean food sources are typically supplemented by land food sources. With the rise of colonialism in the nineteenth century and globalization in the late twentieth century, settlements have slowly occupied more and more exposed coastal locations. In addition to their own internal growth, the increasing rural/urban economic divide in small island nations is contributing to rapid population growth of coastal urban areas.6 The attempt to be closer to urban centres, coupled with financial issues and the lack of appropriate space, continues to drive the rural poor to settle in badly-constructed housing in increasingly more vulnerable locations.7 Swampland, edges of bluffs and exposed coasts are being co-opted both legally and illegally for housing. Approximately sixteen percent of the land area of small island nations lies below ten metres above current sea levels, compared to the global average of two percent. In addition, the increasing movement to urban areas has raised the percentage of urban areas below ten metres above sea level to thirteen percent, as opposed to the global average of eight percent.8 The colonial period and recent globalization have also resulted in small island nations that were once isolated and socially, economically, culturally and resourcefully independent, becoming highly dependant on external sources. Due to a rise in consumerism and the importing of Western resources, construction materials and ideas, most islands import much more than they export. The shortfall in exports is subsidized by a reliance on a combination of foreign aid and citizens living abroad sending money back to their home country. The discrepancy between imports and exports is exacerbated by the fact that almost all island energy, production and transportation is powered by imported fuel, which has costs that have 58
Small Island Nations
Existing Sea Level 10m Sea Level Rise 20m Sea Level Rise
Small Island Nations
59
generally trended upwards in recent years. The increase in fuel costs also causes an increase in long distance shipping costs for other imports, imports that are already costly due to the inability of small island markets to take advantage of savings from buying in bulk9.
Impacts of Sea Level Rise and Climate Change
Fig 21. Diagram of an Island Freshwater Lens.
Fig 22. Topography of Typical Maldives Atoll with Zero, Ten and Twenty Metres of Sea Level Rise.
Many of the large body of general issues related to sea level rise and climate change that were discussed earlier are magnified or will happen sooner for small island nations. In addition, small island nations have their own unique issues. A large number of small island nations are located in the Pacific Ocean and are exposed to current sea level rise rates up to four times the global average.10 As a result of sea level rise and the increase in extreme weather events, Pacific Island leaders have identified climate change as the “single greatest threat to the region�.11 Sea level rise of less than a metre is expected to make the countries of The Maldives and Kiribati uninhabitable, while a meagre 0.2 to 0.4 metres of sea level rise is estimated to do the same for Tuvalu.12 For other nations with higher elevations, large portions of the country may become uninhabitable. As sea level rises, the size of most islands is expected to be reduced, which brings with it a series of issues. Inhabitants of islands such as Tuvalu are worried for their coastal settlements due to rising tides and coastal erosion and are expecting to move further inland one day.13 Loss and shrinkage of an island nation will cause a reduction in the amount of arable land, personal property and resources, along with a reduction in the size of the country’s exclusive economic zone and territorial seas.14 These reductions in physical resources will occur in countries that are
Fig 23. One of Over a Thousand Atoll Islands in the Maldives.
freshwater lens
60
Small Island Nations
Existing Sea Level 10m Sea Level Rise 20m Sea Level Rise
Small Island Nations
61
Fig 24. Topography of Raised Limestone Island of Tongatapu, Tonga with Zero, Ten and Twenty Metres of Sea Level Rise
Fig 25. View of the Capital of Tonga, Nuku’alofa.
already dependent on foreign aid, money and imports. Access to freshwater on small islands is minimal. With little to no lake or river water, small islands typically rely either on rainwater collection or extraction from the island’s freshwater lens. Freshwater lenses are located underground floating on top of the sea water and are typically replenished by rainfall as well. As sea level rises the freshwater lens does as well and could potentially cause the creation of small lakes in low points on the island, further reducing land areas.15 As the extent of a freshwater lens is directly related to the extent of the island, the volume of water in a freshwater lens will be reduced in relation to the size of the island. As sea levels rise and extreme weather worsens, freshwater lenses are becoming more vulnerable to salination from washovers. Although a lens can recover from being brackish, it can take a long time for this to occur. A recent freshwater salination on one of the Cook Islands took eleven months to recover.16 Contamination of freshwater lenses from washovers at landfill sites and factories are likely to have much longer recovery times. Many of these landfills and factories are located in lowland areas adjacent to settlements.
Barriers to Adaptation As with all locations affected by sea level rise there are barriers which must be addressed or removed in order for small island nations to properly adapt to sea level rise. There are also barriers unique to each island, nation and culture. Resources
The effects of sea level rise and climate change can vary greatly with only minor shifts in location. Data collected globally is not accurate enough for localized predictions for the micro-climates of small islands or nations.17 Most islands also have a limited capacity to access the technological and human resources needed to collect and to analyse their own local information. This lack of reliable local information makes it difficult to respond appropriately to future conditions. Most of the focus in research and literature for small island nations addresses the short-term day-to-day effects of sea level rise, as well as looking at avoiding, transferring and spreading 62
Small Island Nations
Existing Sea Level 10m Sea Level Rise 20m Sea Level Rise
Small Island Nations
63
risks. There are very few resources that look at the long-term risks for small islands, adding to the already difficult task of planning for the future.18 Traditionally, approaches to dealing with extreme weather included both cultural practices and physical construction techniques that had evolved over time. Research into these practices and into their effectiveness is limited and, if expanded, could go a long way in helping local communities plan for the future.19 Access to the physical resources for adapting to sea level rise and for rebuilding following extreme weather events is also an issue. Having migrated away from many of their traditional construction techniques, which used locally-sourced renewable materials, construction now relies heavily on imported Western construction materials and techniques. Therefore, responsive rebuilding and pro-active adaptation often have significant costs. Financial
It is generally understood that being pro-active in adaptation to climate change would be much cheaper than reacting after each blow, however, most nations tend to be stuck in a cycle of expensive rebuilding following each new disaster. With major drops
Bahrain
Northe Maldives
equator
Seychelles
combined population of small island nations is approximately 3.4 million.
64
indian ocean
Small Island Nations
in GDP following extreme weather events due to economies that are highly sensitive to climate change,20 the costs to rebuild can be devastating. Compared to the global average, small island nations are disproportionately challenged by the percentage of people affected and by the percentage of GDP required to rebuild following a rise in sea level and/or extreme weather events.21 Small island nations typically have limited access to the financial capital needed to rebuild and to adapt and therefore often depend on foreign aid. Financial pressures inhibiting adaptation not only take place at the country or regional level, but also at the level of the family unit or individual. The capacity of an individual or family to adapt and cope to sea level rise and extreme weather events is directly related to their income level.22 Those at the lower end of the income spectrum often do not have the financial means to build resilient housing, to purchase property in higher areas, or to migrate regionally or internationally. These populations often do not have the knowledge or access to the knowledge required to address the issue. This results in trapped populations which do not have the means to either adapt or relocate in the face of
pacific ocean
atlantic ocean
ern Mariana Islands Nauru
Marshall Islands
Aruba
Saint Lucia
Kiribati
Tuvalu
Tonga
Small Island Nations
65
Fig 26. Map Showing the Locations of Small Island Nations.
rising sea levels.23 Cultural and Social
In order for pro-active adaptation to sea level rise to take place there are also many social, cultural, religious, ethical and political barriers that must be addressed. Many of these are particular to each small island nation. There are some barriers however that are typical for all or most small island nations. A lack of awareness about sea level rise and its implications, is worse in rural areas than in urban areas, and is hindered additionally by religious views suggesting that there will be no more flooding.24 For those who are aware of sea level rise, access to the information resources required to adapt is limited or worse the information does not even exist. At both the regional and national scale, systems of decisionmaking and politics typically have short terms, often five years. This makes it difficult for leaders to address the long-term issues of sea level rise.25 Coupled with uncertainties around land ownership and tenure, both governments and individuals are often hesitant to make long-term investments in adaptive measures or measures to develop the economy.26
Statelessness
For the nations at the lowest elevations, such as Tuvalu, Maldives, Kiribati and the Marshall Islands, the issues resulting from sea level rise surround the potential for the land and country to become uninhabitable or to disappear completely. In these cases there are many international legal uncertainties. These include questions such as whether a nation can continue to exist without land or with constructed land and what financial and physical responsibilities other countries have to support a nation that has lost its land.27 In the face of land becoming uninhabitable, some nations are looking for alternatives. The Maldives is in the process of artificially raising some of its islands and building new ones.28 Kiribati is looking at buying property in other countries and has already announced its intention to leave its islands behind.29 Other countries have been attempting to set up agreements to allow for migration to other countries. All of these approaches have legal uncertainties tied to them which will likely require global discussion and reworking of the frameworks around the definition of a nation and the responsibilities of other countries.
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Small Island Nations
Mitigation of Sea Level Rise Although small island nations are the first affected by sea level rise and are expected to be proportionally the worst affected, their contributions to climate change are minimal. The reduction of or halting of their national emissions would create almost no effect on global climate change. However, these measures would go a long way in reducing their dependency on foreign imports, and could help send a message to the major contributors to climate change. The most productive form of mitigation for small island nations is to make a statement through their own policies and to pressure other countries to reduce their emissions. For small island nations, mitigation of climate change alone is likely never going to be a solution.
Conclusion Among small island nations, there is a clear consensus that major adaptation to sea level rise is required. The majority of Pacific
Small Island Nations
67
Fig 27. Mangrove Planting to Increase Island Protection from Extreme Weather Events in Tuvalu.
Island leaders have identified climate change as the “single greatest threat to their regions.�30 These nations have been applying pressure on the global community to reduce carbon emissions while simultaneously attempting to address the now inevitable changes happening on their own land. Much of the literature and discussion surrounding the implications of sea level rise for small island nations concerns present-day risks.31 Although immediate and obvious, these risks pale in comparison with the long-term implications of sea level rise. The social, environmental and financial pressures created by growing populations and a reduction in land area will be exacerbated by the pressures of sea level rise which will force major portions of the population into migration to higher elevations on their islands. Small island nations are being forced to look at extreme solutions in response to the high future risks related to sea level rise. This makes for an ideal location to explore how polyvalent adaptation techniques could be utilized to assist in these responses.
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Small Island Nations
Notes: 1 Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014), 185. 2 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 2014, 1619. 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid., 1621. 5 Ibid., 1623. 6 Ibid., 1623. 7 Ibid., 1623. 8 Ibid., 1639. 9 Ibid., 1642. 10 Ibid., 1619. 11 Prime Minister’s Office, “Tonga and the Pacific Addressing Climate Change at the 44th Pacific Islands Leaders’ Forum in Majur,” September 4, 2013. 12 Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact (Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, 2012), 86. 13 Matthias von Gunten, Thule Tuvalu, 2014. 14 N Mimura, “Vulnerability of Island Countries in the South Pacific to Sea Level Rise and Climate Change,” Climate Research 12 (1999), 139. 15 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1621. 16 Ibid., 1623. 17 Ibid., 1626. 18 Ibid., 1636. 19 Ibid., 1636. 20 Ibid., 1626 21 Ibid., 1636. 22 Ibid., 1641. 23 Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, 190. 24 Matthias von Gunten, Thule Tuvalu, 2014. 25 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1626. 26 N Mimura, “Vulnerability of Island Countries in the South Pacific to Sea Level Rise and Climate Change,”, 139. 27 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1618. Also see Michael Gerrard and Gregory E. Wannier, Threatened Island Nations: Legal Implications of Rising Seas and a Changing Climate (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2013). 28 “Maldives To Fight Rising Sea Levels With Floating Islands Koen Olthuis Maldives Island – Inhabitat - Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building,” accessed April 13, 2015, http:// inhabitat.com/maldives-to-fight-rising-sea-levels-with-floating-islands/ koen-olthuis-maldives-island5/. 29 Matthias von Gunten, Thule Tuvalu, 2014. 30 Prime Minister’s Office, “Tonga and the Pacific Addressing Climate Change at the 44th Pacific Islands Leaders’ Forum in Majur”. 31 Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 1639.
Small Island Nations
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70
KINGDOM OF TONGA
Introduction
73
Information & Statistics
74
History Pre-European Contact 18th Century & First European Contact European Influence Nationalization & Globalization Democracy & Climate Change
76 77 78 78 81
Physical Environment Geography Geology Natural Resources Ecology Climate
Constructed Environment
Hard Infrastructure Soft Infrastructure Traditional Architecture Contemporary Architecture
82 82 84 88 89
92 96 98 100
Current Issues Social & Cultural Infrastructural Environmental Climate Change
102 102 106 106
Past Solutions
110
Conclusion
115
71
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Kingdom of Tonga
“Tonga’s susceptibility to impacts of climate change and disaster risks is principally due to its geographical, geological and socioeconomic characteristics.”
- Lord Ma’afu Tukui’aulahi
Introduction The series of islands that make up the Kingdom of Tonga are located in the South Pacific Ocean in an area with some of the fastest rates of sea level rise in the world. A combination of Tonga’s “geographic, geological and socio-economic characteristics”1 make it one of the most at-risk countries to sea level rise. Approximately seventy-five percent of the islands’ one hundred and six thousand inhabitants live on the main island of Tongatapu. Tongatapu slopes from a high point of sixty-five metres in the south to the urban areas of Nuku’alofa at sea level in the north. Nearly half of the island’s population lives in the lowland areas surrounding the lagoon on the north shore, at elevations below ten metres above sea level. Tonga has a history of pro-active thinking, a rich and long-standing culture, and a governance structure that is increasingly becoming democratic. Tonga is also feeling pressure from volatile global markets due to its dependency on foreign imports, from increasing population and resource pressures, and from its inability to consistently provide basic services to its citizens. With its strong cultural identity and history, its nagging national issues, and its position on the front line of sea level rise, Tonga becomes an interesting testing ground to explore the potential of polyvalent adaptation through the construction of infrastructure.
Kingdom of Tonga
73
Fig 28. Tonganese National Rugby Team Performing their Ritual Dance.
Information & Statistics2
Fig 29. Tonga Flag (red).
Official Name:
Kingdom of Tonga (Pule’anga Tonga)
Governance:
Constitutional Monarchy
Legal System:
English Common Law
Time Zone:
+13 hours
Location:
Oceania, between New Zealand and Hawaii
# of Islands:
172 named islands (36 inhabited)
Area:
750 km2 (700,000 km2 territorial sea)
Coastline:
419 km
High point:
1,003m
Land Use:
21% cultivated crops, 15% permanent crops, 6% pasture, 12.5% forested area
Capital:
Nuku’alofa
Population:
106,440 (with 100,000+ living abroad)
approx. 70,000 on Tongatapu
approx. 25,000 in Nuku’alofa
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Kingdom of Tonga
23% urban and 77% rural
Life Expectancy:
75.8 years
Demographics:
96.6% Tongan and 1.7% part Tongan
Religion:
65% Protestant, 17% Mormon and 15% Roman Catholic
Languages:
97.7% Tongan and 88.2% English
Literacy:
99%
Unemployment:
13%
Poverty:
23 %
Currency:
1 Pa’anga = approximately $0.48 US
Revenues:
$112,400,000
GDP:
$477,000,000 (increase of 1% per year)
40% from Tongans abroad, 25% agriculture and fisheries, 12% foreign aid, 12% tourism and 11% other
GDP per capita: $4,480 Exports:
$15,600,000 (90% agricultural)
squash, vanilla beans, root crops, fish, coconut oil, copra and coffee
to South Korea, United States, New Zealand, Fiji, Japan, Samoa, American Samoa and Australia
Imports:
$199,200,000
food stuffs, consumer products, machinery, transport equipment, fuel and chemicals
from Fiji, New Zealand, US and China
CO2 Emissions:
154,600 Mega tonnes
1.5 tonnes per capita (133 in world) Kingdom of Tonga
75
History Tonga’s history can roughly be divided into five different eras, each with its defining characteristics which have helped for better or for worse to shape the country and culture that exists today. For a time line of major events see appendix A. Pre-European Contact (c. 1200 BCE 1615 CE)
Fig 30. Location of Tonga
It is believed Tonga was first inhabited around 1200 BCE by the Lapita people in their migration from the west to the east. Originating from the south-east Asian area, the Lapita people, characterized by their pottery, settled in the islands that make up present day Samoa, Fiji and Tonga. The Lapita are believed to have brought coconuts, taro, breadfruit, yams, bananas, rats, pigs, dogs and fowl. In isolation from other Polynesian islands, except for some trade for pots from Fiji, different cultures began to emerge including that of early Tonga.3 Chiefs were chosen by their birth and ruled small chiefdoms, controlling the production and consumption of food resources. Predominately living from the sea and navigating long distances using the stars, men would fish from outrigger canoes
equator
indian ocean
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and large double-hulled vessels using tools made from shells and stones. Women maintained small subsistence farming on land to supplement what was caught at sea. As the culture evolved within the Tongan islands, the area became stable and maintained a population of approximately thirty thousand people due to secure food supplies and shelter. Stability and surplus foods led to more free time and the diversification of culture to fill it. Tongans worshiped many gods and constructed a large number of religious buildings and monuments during this time period. Surpluses in both food and crafts led to a regional trade network between Fiji, Samoa and Tonga, where Tonga became the trade link between the three regions. It was not uncommon also to trade high-ranking Tongan men and women for Fijian and Samoan spouses.4 The first European contact with Tonga was in 1616 when the dutch explorers Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Marie briefly visited the island. Many other explorers would make contact with the islands during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
atlantic ocean
pacific ocean
Tonga
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18th Century & First European Contact (1616 - 1789)
European Influence (1790 - 1879)
Fig 31. Jurisdictional Map of Tonga
Nationalization & Globalization (1880 - 1991)
however their influence was small until the 1790’s.5 Commercial ships began stopping in Tonga to replenish their supplies of water and food and are likely the sources of some of the first foreign diseases on Tonga. In 1797, ten missionary tradesmen were sent by the Missionary Society in London in hopes that by teaching trades, learning the language, winning trust and raising the standard of living, that they could then influence religion on the islands. Three of the missionaries were murdered in 1799.6 Throughout the nineteenth century, contact with Europeans was typified by the observation and incorporation of European skills and knowledge into local culture. The changes were seldom a direct swap, but were rather innovations and adaptations through the lens of the existing Tongan culture. Foreigners were welcomed for their goods and technology, but as time passed, many foreigners began to fear for their lives Although the first missionaries were unsuccessful in converting Tongans to Christianity, by 1832 approximately forty to fifty percent of the population were attending Christian churches.7 With the aim of protecting Tonga from colonization, by showing independence and a strong leadership structure, Tonga became a constitutional monarchy in 1875 under King George Tupou I. The constitution, drafted by the King’s European confidant Shirley Baker, is considered to have been far more than the locals needed or could understand, but was written instead to satisfy foreigners.8 The constitution describes a system of nobility and land ownership that has had strong implications up to the present day in Tonga. Royal and government property was separated; town land and beach frontage became government-owned and the remaining land was divided up among twenty nobles, all former chiefs, who could rent it to their people at rates determined by the legislative assembly. Nobles’ land was only transferable through inheritance to males in the family and could never be sold. Beginning in the 1880’s, national reform and soft infrastructure was introduced prescribing agricultural and maintenance requirements, preservation of good order in towns, hygienic practices and the treatment of animals. Education was also nationalized and a new land law was created which gave each male Tongan 78
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Niuas Islands Group
Vava’U Islands Group
Neiafu
Pangai
Ha’Apai Islands Group
Tongatapu Islands Group
Nuku’alofa (capital)
N
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79
0
25
50km
on his birthday eight and a quarter acres of property under a perpetual lease.9 In the early twentieth century, hard infrastructure projects began with the construction of new roads, wharves, hospitals and village cisterns to provide clean water. Again, in the nineteen twenties, there were major changes to the soft infrastructure in Tonga. A government dentist was appointed to make annual tours of the islands, and guidelines for public health were developed. The public health changes included the funding of an international medical school in Fiji where Tongans were sent to be educated. Public health improvements led to population growth in a society that, up until this time, had maintained a relatively stable population. A new Education Act created a more relevant and vernacular primary education and added middle schools to bridge to the new academic English high schools. A new Land Act increased land leases to twelve and three eighths acres, and for the first time allowed commoners to lease additional land from the nobles.10 The first major impacts of consumerism were felt in Tonga during the Second World War. Approximately nine thousand American soldiers were stationed to defend the islands from 120
Population (thousands)
100
80
60
40
20
Year
80
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25 20
00 20
75 19
50 19
25 19
00
0
19
Table 3. Population growth in Tonga
Japan. With this influx of soldiers came new jobs based on increased food production and other labour needs. The resulting increase in wealth was spent almost completely on commercial items, with little being saved or put into long term investments in business or agriculture. By the time the Americans left Tonga, all that remained from their time there was built infrastructure in the form of a new wharf, new and improved roads, and upgraded sanitation systems. Following the war, both hard and soft infrastructure development was funded by foreign aid and grant programs. This began the trend of imports heavily outweighing exports. This situation was further exacerbated by the import of commercial products and the lack of investment or development in agriculture. Although Tonga was trading with foreign partners throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and although countless leaders attempted to diversify crops, production and exports, only one major export has typically dominated exports at any given time. By 1989, this had shifted from copra to squash exported to Japan. The lopsidedness of the imports and exports was, and still is today, propped up by continued foreign aid and by money sent back to Tonga by the large number of Tongans living abroad. Damage from extreme weather and volcanic eruptions throughout the twentieth century has had continually-increasing economic implications due to the increased use of imported Western materials in reconstruction. As a result of commoners becoming educated and land pressures increasing from the ballooning population, the pro-democracy movement formed in 1992. Tonga’s first political party was founded two years later. Increased pressures on the monarchy and government led to a minority of Members of Parliament being elected from the commoners. The nobles were still appointed. By 2010, democratic reform provided for the election of the majority of the Members of Parliament, and the requirement that the Prime Minister be recommended by and be elected from and by the Legislative Assembly rather than being appointed by the King. During this period, pressures exerted on Tonga due to climate change started to become more obvious. Sea level rise Kingdom of Tonga
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Democracy & Climate Change (1992 - present)
Table 4. Number of Cyclones in Tonga per Decade. Decadal Occurrences of Cyclones in Tonga
20
15
10
5
’s 00 20
’s 90 19
’s 80 19
’s 70 19
19
60
’s
0
Decade
Fig 32. Geological Ridges of the Tongan Islands
began to threaten low-lying areas, and to create a higher base point for storm surges and extreme weather, both of which are expected to increase in frequency and intensity. Physical Environment
Geography
Tonga is located approximately eighteen hundred kilometres north of New Zealand and eight hundred kilometres east of Fiji in the international standard time zone of plus thirteen. It is comprised of approximately one hundred and seventy-two islands grouped into four clusters, of which thirty-six islands are inhabited. With a total area of just under seven hundred and fifty square kilometres and a coastline of four hundred and twenty kilometres, the country of Tonga has approximately seven hundred thousand square kilometres of territorial ocean. The high point in Tonga is at one thousand and three metres above sea level.24
Geology
The islands that make up Tonga are located on the Pacific Ring of Fire in the subduction zone where the Pacific plate passes 82
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axis of Tofua ridge
axis of Tonga ridge
shelf boundary Tonga-Kermadec Trench
N
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83
0
25
50km
Fig 33. Geological Make-up of Tongatapu.
under the Indian-Australian Plate. The islands are generally arranged along two main axes. Active and inactive volcanic islands are located along the Tofua ridge to the west and raised limestone islands along the Tonga ridge in the east. The island of ‘Eua is an outlier from these two ridges as it was formed by the uplifting of the Indian-Australian plate. The island of Tongatapu is one of the most southern islands on the Tonga ridge and is comprised of a volcanic base supporting raised limestone and is topped with free-draining rich and fertile soil of approximately four metres of depth. The island is still rising at a rate of approximately three-quarters of a metre every eight hundred and sixty-nine years, a number that has been exaggerated by the lowering of the sea following the last interglacial period.11 Most of the uplift is along the southern edge of Tongatapu and is the cause of the slope from the cliffs at its high point in the south to Nuku’alofa and sea level in the north. Although the island is rising at a rate of almost a millimetre each year, it does little to slow the documented local sea level rise of nearly six and a half millimetres per year from 1993 to 2007, which is more than double the global average.12
Natural Resources
There are only a few natural resources available in Tonga, which can generally be categorized into land, ocean and the people. In addition, there is the potential for renewable energy from tides, wind and sun. Land resources are in the form of materials, space and the potential to grow crops, and come from both renewable and finite sources. Dense and hard volcanic rock found on the islands has traditionally been used to make tone adzes, chisels and agricultural tools. The raised limestone structure of the island and the coralline sand beaches continue to be used as construction materials, but have limited quantities. The top layer of fertile soil on the islands was created from the volcanic ash landing on the island as nearby volcanic eruptions took place. Typically atolls and raised limestone islands have poor soil, however the minerals added by the volcanic ash have created rich soils. The soil, combined with the climate of Tonga that allows for year-round planting, makes Tonga an excellent agricultural prospect. Crops such as squash, vanilla beans, yams, coconuts, copra, bananas, cocoa, coffee, ginger, and black pepper have been grown on the island, as well as
Fig 34. South Coast of the Island of Tongatapu.
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main ridge
pleistocene reef terraces
Tongatapu
5m high holcene escarpment
hill of pleistocene reef patch
pliocene reef core N
0
2.5
5km
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85
Fig 35. Handlinefishing Grounds Near Tongatapu14 Kao Tofua
Lulunga Group
Nomuka Mango ‘Otu Tolu Group handline-fishing grounds
Kelefesia shelf boundary
Hunga
coral reef
Tongatapu island ‘Eua
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coral reef
net-fishing grounds
shelf boundary
N
0
2.5
Tongatapu
Fig 36. Net-fishing Grounds Around Tongatapu15
5km
coral reef
spear-fishing grounds
shelf boundary
N
0
2.5
Tongatapu
Fig 37. Spear-fishing Grounds Around Tongatapu16
5km
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subsistence vegetables. In addition, the raising of pigs, poultry and cattle is on the increase in recent years. Rich forests were common on the islands in the past, however, due to deforestation only about twelve percent remain today.13 Water is scarce in Tonga since there are no large surface water supplies; the only river of any size is located on the island of ‘Eua. Nearly all of the freshwater on the island is from rainwater collection and extraction from the islands’ freshwater lenses. Resources from the ocean are mainly an abundance of fish. Throughout history, hand-line, net, and spear fishing have taken place in the shallow waters surrounding the Tongan Islands. In recent years, Tonga has become the home of an international fishing fleet, with tuna being the main catch for export. Ecology
Due to its distance from continental land masses and the distance between islands, biodiversity in Tonga is limited. There are 581 documented plant types, 45 bird species, 23 mammal species, 16 reptile species and 457 invertebrate species. The nation considers 80% of all plant species, 65% of all reptile species and 5% of bird species to be endangered.17 The vast majority of remaining forests and wildlife are located on the western line of volcanic islands since most of the eastern line of lowland islands are inhabited by humans and have been cleared for agricultural and other human purposes. From 2006 to 2009, forest cover dropped from twelve percent to nine percent due to uncontrolled cutting for timber, firewood, medicines and agriculture.18 In the marine environment, there are 1139 fish species and only three freshwater fish species. While there is a documented increase in the endemic fish populations, the overall fish stocks are estimated to have been reduced by twenty to forty percent. The size of fish has also dropped and live coral reefs have been estimated to have been reduced by twenty to thirty percent as well.19 Threats to the ecology of Tonga include habitat loss and degradation, over-exploitation of resources, destructive fishing techniques, pollution, urbanization, and extreme weather. Generally, lack of awareness in the general population and the lack of regulation and enforcement by the government are responsible for the ecological degradation.20
88
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Tongatapu (ha)
‘Eua (ha)
Niuas (ha)
Vava’u (ha)
Ha’apai (ha)
884 145
-
-
Rock Terrace
-
-
316 42
1,581
Sand Beach
55
14
-
12
185
Saline Wetland
124
-
-
-
-
Estuary/Mudflat
17
-
-
2
-
12,840
511
-
9,952
4,719
Crop Plantation
8,507
6,522
3,923
10,078
8,198
Grassland
1,480
-
-
-
-
Coconut
8,695
-
-
-
-
Scrub
3,676
-
-
-
-
618
1,454
801
1,133
2,450
Ecosystem Mangrove
Reef Flat
Rainforest Reserve Land
44
-
-
-
-
1,318
-
-
372
-
Mudflats
-
-
75
-
-
Fresh water body
-
-
-
-
-
38,403
8,501
4,799
21,907
17,133
Freshwater swamp
Total
Located just inside the southern portion of the tropical belt and in the northern portion of cyclonic low-pressure disturbances, Tonga’s climate is sub-tropical. Trade winds blow from the east year round at a consistent twenty-four to thirty-three kilometres per hour. The island remains quite humid all year round with a mean humidity of approximately seventy percent.22 In the summer months, October to April, the easterly trade winds bring tropical rainfall, and the temperature ranges between twenty-four and thirty-two degrees Celsius. In the winter months, May to September, the cyclonic low-pressure brings rain systems, and the temperature ranges between eighteen and twenty-five degrees Celsius. The average annual rainfall in Tonga is around eighteen hundred millimetres.23 Tonga has historically been exposed to many different types of extreme weather as well as volcanic eruptions. It is not uncommon for there to be storm surges, tsunamis, hurricanes, cyclones and flooding from torrential rainfall. Both the frequency and intensity of these events has been increasing. In 2009, a tsunami wave that hit Niuatoputapu was estimated to
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Table 5. Tonga’’s Ecosystem Diversity21
Climate
(next page) Fig 38. Satellite View of Tongatapu.
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be between four and seven metres high, while Hurricane Isaac in 1982 had a storm surge approximately three metres high. Earthquakes and volcanic eruptions are also common from time to time due to Tonga’s location on the Pacific Ring of Fire. Constructed Environment Hard Infrastructure
Fig 39. Kingdom of Tonga Transportation Map.
Physical or hard infrastructure in Tonga can be categorized into transportation, water, waste and recycling, information, and energy systems. There are approximately six hundred and eighty kilometres of roads in Tonga with a quarter of them being paved, including nearly all roads between population centres. Tonga has the highest rate of automobile ownership in the Pacific islands, with approximately one hundred and seventy-four automobiles per thousand people, ranking fifty-ninth in the world. Congestion is beginning to be an issue, especially in Nuku’alofa, where traffic jams are becoming typical.25 Three international airlines currently provide regularly scheduled direct service to Tonga’s two paved-runway international airports, one on Tongatapu and the other on Vava’u. Cathay Pacific and Tongan-owned Tonga Air provide daily domestic flights between the two international and four domestic airports. There are three ports, located in Nuku’alofa, Neiafu and Pangai, with the former two offering regular international shipping. The port in Nuku’alofa is also used by cruise ships. Regular ferry services run from the capital to the other island groups. Tonga is also home to an international fishing fleet whose main catch is tuna. According to statistics, ninety-nine percent of Tongans have access to improved drinking water and ninety-one percent to improved sanitation.26 All water used in Tonga, whether for domestic, agricultural or industrial purposes, is either from roof catchment or ground extraction. For this reason, the irrigation capacity for food production is very low and nearly all agricultural production relies on rain. Water in Nuku’alofa is provided by the Tonga Water Board and is supplied by thirty-six bore wells. Water is pumped from the wells by thirty-three diesel and three electrical pumps. It is stored in tanks, chlorinated manually, and fed by gravity to the town. Water in rural areas is 92
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Mataaho (domestic airport) Niuatoputapu (domestic airport)
Domestic Ferry Routes
Neiafu (international port and airport)
Pangai (international port and domestic airport)
shelf boundary
Tongatapu (international port and airport)
‘Eua (domestic airport)
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domestic ferr route
secondary road
international airport
Fig 40. Island of Tongatapu
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ry
international port
main road
path
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usually provided by the Ministry of Health from either rainwater catchment or dug wells and is pumped into raised cisterns to be distributed using gravity. Groundwater in Tonga is hard water and often has bad tastes from contamination due to sea water inundation. As a result, people prefer to use rainwater for drinking and cooking. In Nuku’alofa, many people augment their domestic water use with rainwater.27 A waste pickup service is provided by the government at a cost of five pa’anga per month. The waste on Tongatapu is taken to the island dump.28 Tonga has partnered with AusAID to upgrade the waste management system through better management and through diversion to recycling and composting systems. Information transmission in Tonga takes the form of two free television services, two weekly newspapers, five radio stations (one with national coverage) and landline, radiotelephone and satellite telephone services. In addition, over fifty percent of the population have a cell phone subscription and approximately thirty-five percent have access to the internet.29 Other than gas cylinder service for cooking and for service on remote islands, nearly all energy in Tonga is generated from imported diesel. Consumption of energy is approximately three hundred and sixty kilowatt hours per person per year.30 Recent implementation of rural solar power generation on houses is creating mini-power generation plants around the country and is part of Tonga’s energy roadmap for the future. Soft Infrastructure
Many of the soft infrastructures which provide services to Tongans are housed in public architecture. These services include, but are not limited to, the education system, ambulance, fire and police services, the health system, the legal system, as well as the governance system. Other soft infrastructures that in and of themselves do not have a physical form, shape the cultural, social, economic and physical environment of the country, for example, land use and ownership laws, standardized imported construction materials and building codes. Land use, ownership and leasing have throughout history been dominant in defining the organization of Tonga, and have assisted greatly in the country maintaining its independence. The historical layout of a Tongan island at the time of first European contact had three distinct areas. The Hahake was the 96
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northern or eastern end of an island, the Hihifo was the opposite end, while the middle of the island was the Mu’a. The Mu’a was where the most important chiefs would live. Each chief and noble had a fenced-in area with housing for themselves and their workers. Between the fenced-in areas were wide public pathways and large open grassy areas called Mala’e. Early land was spread out as each chief and noble had his large plot of land with public paths weaving through it. Early observations and documentation of Tongatapu speak about the spread out nature, public paths and the wider main thoroughfare from the east tip of the island to the west. During the civil war however, the need for protection led to more compact settlement patterns. With the constitution in 1875, land ownership became split between the government, which owned urban areas and the coast, and the nobles, who owned everything else and could rent it at government-prescribed rates to the commoners. Following the constitution, seven years later, a new land law was enacted which guaranteed each male receive a lease for eight and a quarter hectares of land under a perpetual lease on their sixteenth
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Fig 41. Historic Map of Tonga Created by James Wilson in the nineteenth century.
Fig 42. Traditional Yam Storage Building.
birthday. The lease was inheritable by the eldest son in perpetuity as long as taxes and rent were paid. In 1926 another land act was created which increased land plots to the size of twelve and three-eighths acres, provided small plots of land in urban centres, and allowed commoners to lease additional land from nobles. In 1962 the size of town allotments was reduced. The land act was again amended in 1976 to allow landholders to lease their land, opening up the possibility of grouping land for commercial farming. Rural land could be leased for up to ten years, while urban leases could be up to ninety-nine years. A person could lease a maximum of five plots, and property was opened up to be mortgaged. These numbers were increased to twenty years and a maximum of ten plots for rural land in 1976. Land ownership, leasing and use remains loosely-based on the system of chiefdoms. Currently, forested areas cover just over twelve percent of the country, meadows and pasture six percent, permanent crops almost fifteen percent and cultivated crops over twenty-one percent.31
Traditional Architecture
Traditional Tongan architecture took the form of three types of buildings: housing, utility, and public assembly, and their construction utilized local, sustainable and readily-available island resources. There was a large range in the scale of houses with the lower classes occupying huts that were “scarcely large enough to protect the occupants�. The next size of house was approximately 3m x 4.8m x 1.8m high, medium sized housing was 6m x 9m x 3.6m high, while the largest houses for chiefs and nobles were of similar height and width but could be up to eighteen metres in length.32 The two ends of each house were rounded while the longer sides were either parallel or bowed out slightly. The roof was supported by at least four upright posts set into the building creating a small eave. Beams across the middle of the plan supported king posts which in turn supported a ridge beam. Purlins spanned from the ridge beam to a perimeter beam. Horizontal elements were fastened to the purlins and thatch to the horizontal elements. All the connections were fastened together with cords made from the fibres in coconut husks and were dyed black, red and
Fig 43. Ha’amonga.
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Fig 44. Traditional Fale.
Fig 45. Fale With Wood Siding.
Contemporary Architecture
yellow for decoration. The roof thatch was typically banana leaves, rushes, grass or palm leaves woven into a mat, and would last two to three years before needing replacement. The better houses used sugarcane leaves which had a life-span closer to eight years. Walls were made with palm leaf mats, or if there were no walls the roof would come to about a metre of the ground. Some houses were partially walled, usually on the windy east side, while the west wall would be closed in only in bad weather. In the early nineteenth century Venetian-type blinds became common. When needed, temporary room divisions would be made by placing mats of about a metre in width on their edge to surround a space. These were often used to surround the sleeping space of the head of the household. Floors were made of a raised tamped soil base about a third of a metre off the ground, to protect the interior space from water runoff, and were covered with mats. Small patches of grass would be maintained outside the entrance to the houses. Additional buildings would be constructed for the purpose of cooking, which was typically done either outside or in a separate building. Buildings were also constructed for the long-term storage of food supplies. Storage buildings for yams had raised floors, only one door, large overhangs, and walls that tilted out to keep water out. Other food such as unripened bananas, plantains and breadfruit were stored in closed pits to ferment. In the middle of the Mala’es, larger public buildings were constructed for use during public gatherings, rituals and festivities. Their construction was similar to that of the housing but on a larger scale. Large earthwork projects were also undertaken to construct round mounds with flattened tops. They were used by the chiefs, for religious reasons, for entertaining guests and for governmental meetings. The mounds often had ramps to the top and large decorated buildings built on them. Limestone slabs were used to create religious monuments as well.33 With the influx of new technologies and Western construction materials, the traditional houses began to evolve. The shape remained the same, however the materials changed over time so that the walls were made out of wood and the roof out of corrugated iron. European style houses with rectangular plans were 100
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Fig 46. Fale With Wood Siding and Flattened Kerosene Tins for Shingles.
also constructed and eventually took over as the main building type. Until World War II, construction was still mostly of wood, but concrete construction subsequently became more popular. Following Hurricane Isaac, which destroyed eighty percent of the buildings on Tongatapu, construction shifted mainly to concrete masonry and cast-in-place concrete.34 Current Issues
Social & Cultural
Fig 47. Fale with Wood Siding and Corrugated Iron Roofing.
Infrastructural
Beginning in the nineteen twenties with the influx of Western novelties such as movie theatres, phones and access to imports, the economic divide between rural and urban dwellers and between those living on Tongatapu and those on the other islands has been increasing. More recently, access to the internet has further widened this division. Over the same period of time, the population of Tonga increased drastically due to the early twentieth-century improvement in sanitation and health. Tongans have a long history of spending money to buy short-term consumer goods rather than saving or investing it in infrastructure, business or agriculture. In addition, money is often moved around to support the large extended family networks when others are in need. These family networks can make it hard to save, but can also allow money to be pooled when needed to support reconstruction, agricultural investments and other needs. Lack of investment in the land could be caused by the current and historical land tenure system. Tensions over land availability and ownership, growing population pressures, an increasing rural/urban divide and deterioration of public infrastructure has caused the population of Tonga to push for both political and land tenure reform. Protests related to democratic reform have resulted in violence on several occasions and, in 2006, damage to the business district of Nuku’alofa. A large portion of the infrastructure in Tonga has been constructed in partnership with and financed by foreign aid or grants. As a result, the economy, industries, trade and agriculture have not developed in a predictable and coherent fashion. This has made it difficult to support and maintain these systems over time.35 Reliance on foreign imports not only takes the form of 102
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Fig 48. Royal Palace Constructed During Baker’s Premiership.
Fig 49. Contemporary Housing in Tonga.
infrastructural funding, but also includes oil, food and construction materials. Water, transportation and energy rely heavily on the increasingly expensive import of oil. Electricity generation is almost completely reliant on diesel generators, while lack of access, unreliability and increasing costs have become issues. Vehicular transportation of people and goods relies on gasoline and diesel. Congestion in Tongatapu and rising transportation costs cause families to choose not to send their children to school and make it difficult to access local and foreign markets for the trade and sale of goods. Bore holes and water distribution systems both typically use diesel powered pumps. Spillage of fuel around the pumps, sea water inundation, and illegal connections to distribution lines cause contamination of the water supplies. Water supplies in Nuku’alofa are chlorinated manually, however there is insufficient distance between chlorination and the first point of use for chlorination have fully cleaned the water.37 Due to reliance on the island’s freshwater lens and rainwater for all water uses, irrigation of food crops is currently not supported. This means that in extended periods of drought there can be severe reductions in agricultural production. Tonga imports large amounts of foreign food products despite having rich agricultural soils and an abundance of fish. A long history of subsistence farming combined with single-crop exporting and a local consumer culture has caused imported foods quantities to rise. Single-crop fields for exporting have also lead to the deterioration of soil quality and decreasing yields. At the same time, a lack of facilities to warehouse and refrigerate goods as well as inconsistent and expensive shipping have caused fish and agricultural exports to remain stagnant.38 Research completed by the Constitutional and Electoral Commission in Tonga suggests that land reform is a bigger issue than democratic reform.39 The plots of land that are leased to each male on their sixteenth birthday have run out. In rural areas this leads to landless people and squatting, while in urban areas such as Nuku’alofa, the government is filling in low coastal wetlands to provide land. The government also still pays rent to nobles for land used for public purposes. Many of the nearly one hundred thousand Tongans who live abroad still lease land in Tonga, and much of their land remains unused. Only twenty-six percent of land being farmed 104
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is worked by the person owning the lease. Farmers who work the remaining land generally do only subsistence farming which degrades the land, while those who work their own land improve their land.40 Health infrastructure is also inadequate throughout the islands as medical supplies and trained staff shortages are often felt in the rural areas of Tonga. When medicine is not available, the locals turn to traditional plant-based medicines. Obesity is a major issue in Tonga, which ranked fifth in the world in 2008 with nearly sixty percent of the population being obese.41 Dengue fever is also endemic in Tonga. Environmental
Exploitation of resources is a major environmental concern in Tonga. The demand for land allotments and the use of wood in construction, and for fuel, has lead to major deforestation. As a result, soil erosion from wind and water has greatly increased.42 Over-quarrying of limestone and sand has strained these resources as well and left scars on the landscape. In addition, sand mining from beaches and sandbars has caused damage to aquatic ecosystems and has reduced the coastal protection that shallow waters, coral, mangroves and sea grass provide against extreme weather events. Ongoing damage to both aquatic and land ecosystems is further reducing the protective function of the coastline. Coral reefs are being compromised by coral and shell collectors, by fishing and by starfish. Overhunting currently threatens the population of native sea turtles, which are among seventy-four threatened species of wildlife in Tonga.43 Harvesting of mangrove wood for its bark and fuel is destroying that ecosystem which protects the island from erosion and extreme weather. Garbage dumping is common even though there is a pickup service. Many families cannot afford the five pa’anga cost per month for pickup and find it easier to dump it instead.44 Dumped waste, along with spilled oil and chemicals, and the improper disposal of human waste contaminates the soil and the freshwater lens. Environmental legislation in Tonga is often ignored.
Climate Change
Tonga contributes one hundred and fifty-five thousand megatonnes of CO2 emissions to the atmosphere, or one and a half metric tonnes per person per year, and ranks 133rd in the world 106
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for emissions.45 Even though its total carbon emissions are only a drop in the bucket in terms of its contribution to the changing climate, Tonga is considered to be the second most at-risk country to natural disasters in the world.46 In addition to the general threats caused by climate change and sea level rise for small island nations that were discussed earlier, Tonga also has specific circumstances that increase the damage and exposure. Based on documented changes in the mean sea level from 1993 to 2007, the sea level around Tonga is rising at 6.4 millimetres per year, more than double the world average of three millimetres, and is expected to increase throughout the twenty-first century.47 A one-metre increase in sea level would cause approximately ten square kilometres of Tongatapu to be inundated (3.9% of the island) displacing approximately nine thousand people, almost one tenth of the population, most of whom are located in the capital of Nuku’alofa. A storm surge of 2.8 metres such as that of Hurricane Isaac in 1982 would affect approximately twenty thousand people on Tongatapu alone. If the same storm surge occurred after a one-metre rise in sea level, that number increases
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Fig 50. Housing in Swampland in Nuku’alofa
(next page) Fig 51. Inundation from 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25m of Sea Level Rise in the Kingdom of Tonga
5 metres sea level rise Niuafo’Ou, Niuatoputapu and Tafahi Islands
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to almost thirty thousand people, nearly half of the island population.48 Tonga is also expected to receive an increase in average temperature, a reduction in yearly rainfall and frequency, and an increase in intensity when it does rain. Documentation of extreme weather already shows a trend of increased frequency and intensity of tropical hurricanes and cyclones.49 An increase in sea level, intensity and frequency of extreme weather means that damage to infrastructure and architecture is likely to increase. As most construction materials are now imported, the costs to rebuild after extreme weather will likely continue to increase, stressing an economy that already imports more than it exports. In 1982, Hurricane Isaac cost approximately thirty-eight million dollars; Waka in 2002 cost over a hundred million; and Rene in 2010 is estimated to have cost almost forty million.50 These reconstruction costs have major implications for an economy with a GDP of approximately five hundred million dollars. The area of the country will also be reduced greatly from sea level rise which will have drastic effects on the country’s agricultural production, a main contributor to the GDP. Loss of land will also likely increase the already contentious issues surrounding land tenure and leasing.
Past Solutions Prior to the development of the cultural practices used today, most of which are influenced by European contact, traditional cultural practices had evolved based on the knowledge and experience of living on the islands. This knowledge provided resilience in the face of the challenges that Pacific islands face and was influenced by available resources, geography, survival needs and extreme weather experiences. The practices that increased resilience in Tonga can be divided into three categories: protection of settlements and people, food security, and co-operation.51 The location, organization and construction of Tongan villages assisted in the protection of the village infrastructure and its people. Villages were often located back from the water and on higher ground for increased protection from both the wind and waves brought by extreme weather. The organization of 110
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villages was also randomized to reduce wind damage, which can be caused by the tendency of organized streets to become wind corridors. The construction of the buildings also had several features to make them more resistant to water and wind. Steep-hipped roofs, combined with the rounded plans were less likely to be damaged by wind. Airtight construction if walls were used, or a lack of walls would reduce or eliminate high pressure buildup inside the fale which could cause structural damage. Connections and joints that were sennit-bound, as opposed to nailed, were more resistent to the forces and movements the structure would sustain in high winds. To reduce damage from water, raised tampered floors in the fale would protect the inhabitants from flooding and rainwater runoff. Food security was traditionally achieved by combining various practices, all of which were possible due to the production of surplus food. The societal hierarchy of chiefdoms meant that control of food consumption could be managed by the chief. Techniques for preserving food were also developed such as burying bananas, plantains and breadfruit in leaf-lined pits to ferment, and the construction of yam storage houses designed to keep yams for several years. Famine foods, which were only harvested in emergencies, were planted and maintained to supplement the foraging of wild plants from the rainforest. Planted famine foods often required treating or processing to make them edible. Diversity in both crops and locations of agriculture contributed to more resilient food sources. Crop damage following extreme weather events generally varied on different parts of the island, so the fragmented land divisions created by chiefdoms assisted in making sure that not all crops were destroyed. Crop diversity also allowed for a more secure food supply. Root vegetables such as yams could withstand droughts; taro could better survive floods; and fruit trees could be planted and would grow quickly following storms. Social structures and trade between regional and interisland communities provided a co-operative network which could be drawn upon in times of difficulty. Food supplies and temporary resettlement were common forms of assistance between islands.
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Conclusion Tonga is poorly prepared for the impacts both short-term extreme weather events and long-term high-risk consequences of sea level rise. As demonstrated by the financial ramifications of rebuilding following recent cyclones such as Waka, which cost upwards of one-hundred million dollars or a fifth of the country’s GDP, taking a reactionary approach to climate change in Tonga is not sustainable. Tongans are becoming more and more aware of this. The new titles of government ministers, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and the Minister of Works and Disaster Relief Activities, reflect this new awareness of the importance of preparing for the future impacts of sea level rise. Tonga is also under pressure from economic, social and land tenure issues as the population of the country and its urban areas increases. Over the past twenty years, these issues have caused Tongans to push for democratic reform within the country. All of these troublesome issues will be further exacerbated by sea level rise. The need for changes to land tenure within the country is at the forefront of the democratic movement. With adaptation to sea level rise likely requiring the education and backing of local inhabitants, linking it to land tenure solutions and democratic reform could provide a means by which adaptation to climate change could be implemented.
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Notes: 1 Lu’isa Malolo, Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management 2010-2015 (Tonga: Kingdom of Tonga, 2010). 2 All Statistics are the most recent avaliable in the cited bibliographic sources. 3 I. C. Campbell, Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient & Modern (Christchurch, N.Z: Canterbury University Press, 1992), 1-4. 4 Ibid., 33. 5 Ibid. 6 Martin Daly, Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, and Project Muse University Press Archival eBooks, Tonga: A New Bibliography (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 2009). 7 I. C. Campbell, Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient & Modern, 58. 8 Ibid., 78. 9 Ibid., 82. 10 Ibid., 134. 11 Patrick D. Nunn and University of the South Pacific. Institute of Pacific Studies, Pacific Island Landscapes: Landscapes and Geological Development of Southwest Pacific Islands, Especially Fiji, Samoa and Tonga (Suva, FJ: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1998), 213. 12 Lu’isa Malolo, Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management 2010-2015 (Tonga: Kingdom of Tonga, 2010), 13. 13 “UNdata | Country Profile | Tonga,” accessed February 8, 2015, http://data. un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crname=Tonga. 14 Sitiveni Halapua, Fishermen of Tonga: Their Means of Survival (Suva: University of the South Pacific, 1982). This graphic is based on the information in the map on page 47. 15 Ibid. This graphic is based on the information in the map on page 27. 16 Ibid. This graphic is based on the information in the map on page 8. 17 The Kingdom of Tonga, Fourth Report: Review of Tonga National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, 2010, 20. 18 Ibid., 21. 19 Ibid., 3. 20 Ibid., 23. 21 Statistics from The Kingdom of Tonga, Fourth Report: Review of Tonga National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, 2010, 22. 22 Kingdom of Tonga, National Emergency Management Plan, Government Management Plan (Tonga: Kingdom of Tonga, 2007). 23 Ibid. 24 Martin Daly, Tonga: A New Bibliography; “The World Factbook,” accessed February 8, 2015, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-worldfactbook/; Kingdom of Tonga, National Emergency Management Plan; Lu’isa Malolo, Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management. 25 “The World Factbook,” accessed February 8, 2015, https://www.cia.gov/ library/publications/the-world-factbook/; Kingdom of Tonga, National Emergency Management Plan; S. George Philander and SAGE Reference Online 2012 Encyclopedia Collection, Encyclopedia of Global Warming & Climate Change, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2012). 26 “The World Factbook,” accessed February 8, 2015, https://www.cia.gov/ library/publications/the-world-factbook/. 27 Davendra Nath, Mitesh Mudaliar, and Saimone Helu, Tonga Water Supply
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System Description: Nuku’alofa/Lomaiviti (AusAID, 2006), 6-16. 28 Fabrice G. Renaud et al., The Role of Ecosystems in Disaster Risk Reduction (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2013), 198. 29 “UNdata | Country Profile | Tonga,” accessed February 8, 2015, http://data. un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crname=Tonga. 30 Kingdom of Tonga, National Emergency Management Plan. 31 “UNdata | Country Profile | Tonga,” accessed February 8, 2015, http:// data.un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crname=Tonga; “The World Factbook,” accessed February 8, 2015, https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/ the-world-factbook/ 32 Edwin N. Ferdon, Early Tonga: As the Explorers Saw It 1616-1810 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1987), 18-24 and 212. All information in this section on Traditional Architecture is from this book which is based on the accounts of the early European explorers who visited Tonga. 33 I. C. Campbell, Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient & Modern, 12. 34 Ibid., 212. 35 Ma Luisa Zuñiga-Carmine, Priorities of the People: Hardship in Tonga (Manila, Philippines: Asian Development Bank, 2004). 36 S. George Philander and SAGE Reference Online 2012 Encyclopedia Collection, Encyclopedia of Global Warming & Climate Change, 2nd ed. (Thousand Oaks, Calif: SAGE Publications, Inc, 2012). 37 Davendra Nath, Mitesh Mudaliar, and Saimone Helu, Tonga Water Supply System Description: Nuku’alofa/Lomaiviti (AusAID, 2006), 2,10. 38 Ma Luisa Zuñiga-Carmine, Priorities of the People: Hardship in Tonga. 39 Kersti Harter Kennedy, “Why Land Tenure Reform Is the Key to Political Stability in Tonga,” Pacific Rim Law & Policy Journal 21, no. 2 (March 2012): 327. 40 Ma Luisa Zuñiga-Carmine, Priorities of the People: Hardship in Tonga (Manila, Philippines: Asian Development Bank, 2004). 41 “The World Factbook,” accessed February 8, 2015, https://www.cia.gov/ library/publications/the-world-factbook/ 42 Ibid. 43 Ibid. 44 1. Fabrice G. Renaud et al., The Role of Ecosystems in Disaster Risk Reduction (Shibuya-ku, Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2013). 45 “UNdata | Country Profile | Tonga,” accessed February 8, 2015, http://data. un.org/CountryProfile.aspx?crname=Tonga 46 Alliance Development Works, World Risk Report, 2012. 47 Lu’isa Malolo, Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management, 13; Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 2014, 1619. 48 Mimura, “Vulnerability of Island Countries in the South Pacific to Sea Level Rise and Climate Change,” Climate Research 12 (1999): 137–43, doi:10.3354/cr012137, 139. 49 Lu’isa Malolo, Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management, ii. 50 Ibid., 16. 51 John Campbell, “Islandness: Vulnerability and Resilience in Oceania,” Shima: The International Journal of Research into Island Culture 3, no. 1 (2009), 90. Most information in this section on Past Solutions is from this paper.
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Emergency & Productive Caches Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway Veta La Palma Parque Natural, Spain Arctic Food Network, Canada Oases, Sub-Saharan Africa
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Infrastructural Seeds Downsview Park, Canada Cantho Master Plan, Vietnam Regional Fields: Infrastructure Proposition IP2100
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Polyvalent & Projective Tommy Thompson Park, Canada
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Implementation Strategies Rebuild by Design, United States International Joint Commission, United States & Canada
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Cultural Sensitivity Cha’lla Town Square, Bolivia Ise Jingu Grand Shrine, Japan
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“Everything we value about cities, it could be argued, arises as something in excess of designed intentionality or engineered performance.  The question then is how to design for unpredictability and excess.�
- Stan Allen
Introduction The following precedents have been chosen to cover various designed approaches to design, cultural sensitivity and implementation of various aspects of the Polyvalent Adaption model proposed. The choice to include each of these projects is related more to the theoretical framework, approach to culture, and integration of architecture, infrastructure, and ecology than to the resulting aesthetics or form of the designs.
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Fig 53. Veta La Palma Parque Natural Estuary.
SVALBARD GLOBAL SEED VAULT Location: Longyearbyen, Svalbard Archipelago, Norway Designer: Peter W. Soderman, Barlindhaug Consulting Year: 2009 (constructed) Project Scale: Building Client: Government of Norway and Global Crop Diversity Trust Tags: Emergency Cache
Fig 54. Svalbard Global Seed Vault Entrance. Fig 55. Plan and Section of Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
Scattered around the world are more than 1,700 gene banks which store seeds as a precaution against loss of biodiversity.1 These gene banks, however, are vulnerable to both natural and man-made disasters, as well as mismanagement, economic shortfalls, greed, and equipment failures. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault provides a backup for these gene banks by storing duplicates in a location and environment that is conducive to long-term storage. The vault has a capacity to hold five hundred seeds each of 4.5 million varieties for a total of 2.5 billion seeds.2 The vault is located thirteen hundred kilometres from the North Pole and is carved deep into the side of the Plataberget Mountain in the Svalbard Archipelago taking advantage of its social, ecological, climatic and technological context. The location is ideal due to geological stability, low humidity levels and a permafrost which allows for cost-effective natural freezing to keep the seeds at the ideal temperature of minus 18째C. The vault is located one hundred and thirty metres above current sea levels so that in the event of the maximum possible sea level rise (seventy metres) the vault will be protected. In order to facilitate the use of the facility, Svalbard was chosen since it is the most northerly location in the world currently accessible by scheduled airline flights.3 The seed vault provides a cache in various capacities and time scales. It can restock seedbanks which have lost or damaged seeds due to regional emergencies, and can also provide global replenishment in the event of a catastrophic world event. 122
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VETA LA PalMa PARQUE NATUR AL Location: Designer: Year: Project Scale: Client: Tags:
Fig 56. Veta La Palma Parque Natural Estuary. Fig 57. Aerial View of Veta la Palma Parque Natural.
Puebla del Rio, Seville, Spain Pesquerias Isla Mayor, S.A. (PIMSA) 1990 - present (constructed) Productive Landscape of 115 km2 in the Isla Mayor area of Guadalquivir Pesquerias Isla Mayor, S.A. (PIMSA) Productive Cache & Ecological Infrastructure
Located along the Guadiamar River in the south of Spain, the area of present-day Veta La Palma Parque Natural was a natural wetland. It was drained using a series of canals during the early twentieth century to create agricultural and grazing land, but the land was never very successful economically. The draining caused huge changes to the local ecosystem, which was one of the last stops for migrating birds on the way to Africa, and caused migratory bird populations to shrink by ninety percent.4 Working with the Spanish government and Donana National Park in the 1990’s, the flow in the canals was reversed to reinstate the wetland ecology and to create an extensive fish farm. Today the success of the aquaculture is defined by the health of the ecosystem that supports it. Water enters from the river providing nutrients which help grow phytoplankton, which are eaten by shrimp, which provide food for both farmed fish and wild birds. If the birds are fat and well fed, then the system is healthy and fish that can be farmed will increase. The farm expects a loss of eggs and baby fish to the birds of approximately twenty percent.5 The farm provides high quality water back into the river, maintains a healthy ecosystem, and produces economically-viable farmed fish at a similar quality to wild fish. The farm combines research and innovation, ecological stewardship, crop rotation, and economic production into a successful system, which draws from its context and position in the world. It is a resilient system that can adapt and change as needed both naturally and through human intervention. 124
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ARCTIC FOOD NETWORK Location: Designer: Year: Project Scale: Client: Tags:
Fig 58. Arctic Ecologies. Fig 59. Proposed Arctic Food Network on Baffin Island, Nunavut.
Nunavut, Canada Mason White & Lola Sheppard, Lateral Office 2011 - 2012 (theoretical) Buildings and Network Theoretical Emergency & Productive Caches
By using research and data investigation combined with a sensitive understanding of different cultures, Lateral Office attempts to challenge our notion of architecture by pro-actively inventing or reinventing architectural projects. With an interest in current social, cultural, political, environmental and economic problems, they use design as a tool to explore, respond and ultimately confront the complexities of our contemporary world. Their architectural projects are positioned to create a sensitive balance. The scaler range of their projects leaves room for future exploration while demonstrating an understanding of the finer-grained intricacies. Their work creates a respectful yet critical conversation that moves across disciplines and cultures as well as vertically through all levels of society. The population of Inuit in Canada’s north is increasing rapidly, resulting in a young population with an average age of twenty-five.6 Over the past half-century, the Inuit have also become increasingly dependant on resources and food from the south. Together these two factors have proved devastating to the Inuit culture, health and social well-being and have also proved to be expensive and a cause for tension between the Inuit and the Canadian government. This project begins with an interest in the challenges currently faced by the Inuit of northern Canada, and in particular those in Nunavut. This interest in the north combined with a wealth of both qualitative and quantitative research is used to find a lens through which architectural projects can be 126
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conceived. For this particular project, the infrastructure and architecture of food supply and networks was chosen. Strengthening an existing network of winter snowmobile trails by constructing rest-stop cabins and a regional network of hunting cabins, arctic farms, camp hubs and food storage, the Arctic Food Network (AFN) aims to address social, economic, environmental, political and cultural issues in Nunavut. Each hub would be ideally placed along the trails to exploit local ecosystems and ecologies for the harvesting of food and at an appropriate network spacing of approximately one hundred and sixty kilometres (a day’s travel). The network would reduce the dependency of the Inuit on Canada’s south by increasing and diversifying the local food supply. The network can also be seen as providing an emergency food cache that relies on the number and distance between stores of food for its stability. If one or several of the caches were destroyed, the others can be used until the system recovers.
Fig 60. Projected Outcomes of Arctic Food Network Fig 61. Architecture of the Arctic Food Network, Nunavut.
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ARTIFICIAL OASES Location: Designer: Year: Project Scale: Client: Tags:
Fig 62. Abandoned Ksars Near Ouarzazate, Morocco.
M’hamid Elghizlane, Morocco n/a up until 16th century (historical) Series of Landscapes n/a Emergency & Productive Cache
Oases were located along the trans-Saharan caravan trade route between sub-Saharan Africa and the Mediterranean shore and were a vital infrastructure in the functioning of the route. Located adjacent to rammed-earth settlements called ksars, the pairing provided necessary pit stops for replenishment. Acting as “socio-ecological landscapes”,7 oases were a combination of hard and soft infrastructures that, along with human input, united to provide food, water, micro-climates, cultural space, cultural habits and local economies. Oases maximized the efficiency of the few resources available in the desert through their internal relationships and form. A large canopy was created of palm trees to protect an understory of fruit trees and a ground cover of wheat from the beating sun. This landscape was irrigated by a system of underground conduits (foggaras) and underground canals (segias) which reduced water evaporation.8 In addition to the food production benefits of the oases, they created micro-climates for the adjacent ksars by reducing the temperatures, providing shade, and increasing humidity levels. Closure of the trade route, due to the division of the area and creation of borders, caused the oases to lose their importance. With a reduction in and/or halt of the agricultural production stewarded by humans, which protects the land, these ksars and constructed ecosystems are now vulnerable to advancing dunes.9
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DOWNSVIEW PARK Location: Designer: Year: Project Scale: Client: Tags:
Fig 63. Site Plans and Emergence Through Adaptive Management, Stan Allen and James Corner.
Toronto, Ontario, Canada Stan Allen, James Corner & Nina-Marie Lister 2000 Landscape of 1.29 km2 Government of Canada Infrastructural Seed, Scaffolding, Projective Design, Polyvalence, Structured Ecologies
The brief for the design of Downsview Park asked for a park which would be completed in five years, but that would have the ability to accommodate changing scenarios over time. As a response, Stan Allen and James Corner designed what Chris Reed has described as “structured ecologies”.10 The design consists of two complementary organisational matrices. The first is the “circuits”, or lines, which accommodate the majority of the human activities, circulation and event spaces. “Circuits” are intended to link areas of the site and context together, concentrate active human programs, and frame large open spaces for landscapes.11 The second matrix is the “through-flows”, or fields, which accommodate the hydrological and ecological aspects of the site. “Through-flows” are intended to connect the site to its larger hydrological and ecological context, manage storm water and allow for the movement of biomass, energy and services to meet changing needs of the site.12 The intent of the design is not to predict or determine what the final outcome will be, but rather to create a scaffold that allows for new forms and combinations of life to emerge in the future.13 It attempts to provide polyvalent space and infrastructures that are flexible in the different ways that they can be appropriated and interpreted as needed in the future. The proposal is intended to appear as a finished design after five years, but also to have the ability to evolve over time while maintaining the relevance of its original design. 132
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CANTHO MASTER PLAN Location: Cantho, Vietnam (Mekong Delta) Designer: OSA, WIT & Latitude Year: 2010 (proposed) Project Scale: Master Plan Client: Southern Institute of Urban Planning & Cantho Department of Construction Tags: Infrastructural Seed, Scaffolding, Projective Design
Fig 64. Proposed Sections through Cantho Civic Spine. Fig 65. Existing (left) and Proposed (right) Urbanization.
Responding to development pressures and the rising sea level in the Mekong Delta (assuming a maximum of 2.7m of sea level rise), Cantho Master Plan 2030 proposes the construction of a “civic spine” as a “grand boulevard” to provide infrastructure for future speculative development, an increase and improvement of the public realm and to facilitate productive landscapes.14 The civic spine is meant to be a protagonist with agency which, in an opportunistic manner, fuses together infrastructure and the urban realm to create a continuity of access, but allows for diversity and flexibility of urbanization. The raised spine creates new topography through the Mekong Delta that merges transportation, flood engineering, recreation, various scales of public programs, and scenic landscapes, while influencing a new and healthier lifestyle. The spine connects a gradient of spaces from public to private which each cross perpendicular to the spine. To facilitate evacuation in the case of natural disasters, the raised spine is connected to higher and safer ground to the north. The plan also acts as a “spatial structuring element” to consolidate urbanization into districts. The districts and the spine provide services for undefined future uses while also establishing networks for mobility within and between urbanized areas.15
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Regional Fields: Infrastructure Proposition IP2100 Location: Designer: Year: Project Scale: Client: Tags:
Fig 66. Infrstructural Diagram of IP2100. Fig 67. Rendering of IP2100.
Melbourne, Tasmania, Australia Katrina Stoll, Scott Lloyd & Aaron Roberts 2010 (theoretical) Multiregional Infrastructure n/a Infrastructural Seed, Projective Design
Combining systems of mobility, IP2100 aims to reduce the resources required to build modern systems. Creating a corridor (lines) from Melbourne to Hobart, IP2100 is an adaptable infrastructure that plugs into adjacent productive landscapes (fields) along its route through nodes. It provides these landscapes with and receives from them valuable resource flows enabling their reactivation. The corridor draws energy from optimized wind, hydrological, tidal and solar sources, while redistributing the energy, along with human waste sludge, to the fields along its route. Fields are also utilized to provide surface area for systems required in the functioning of the corridor, such as stabilization ponds. As a modular system that can be scaled to cross regions it can be expanded as needed. The system looks to manage resources at regional and international scales such as watershed areas, rather than through localized extraction based on political boundaries. The project questions the rural/urban divide and at the same time the natural/human systems divide and aims to project new urban forms and ways of life. The infrastructure is used as a foundation to guide growth. Nodes are used to transfer flows from fields to lines, and vice versa, and become concentrations for urban development. Although it is perceived as a static object, it is meant to be adaptive to changing flows of material, energy and people while jumping scales from the local scale to international scale.16 136
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Fig 68. Renering of IP2100.
Fig 69. Aerial Visualization of IP2100.
Fig 70. Plan of Extent of IP2100.
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Tommy Thompson Park Location: Designer: Year: Project Scale: Client: Tags:
Fig 71. Wilderness in Tommy Thompson Park. Fig 72. Aerial View of Tommy Thompson Park.
Leslie Street Spit, Toronto, Canada Toronto Port Authority 1950 - Present (under construction) Landscape of 5km in length City of Toronto Ecological Infrastructure, Infrastructural Seed, Polyvalence, Constructed Ecology
Located to the southeast of downtown Toronto, Tommy Thompson Park was constructed as the Leslie Street Spit to provide protection for the Toronto harbour and islands. While Toronto’s downtown underwent major development, environmentally friendly construction debris, excavated soil, and dredged sand were dumped in the form of a spit extending out from Leslie Street into Lake Ontario. Constructed originally as a linear headland, during the 1980’s and 1990’s, vegetal matter began to take hold on the spit and plants and trees began to grow. With the loss and contamination of much of their habitat around Lake Ontario, the spit became an important location for local bird populations. As a constructed ecology17 the park is still used for the dumping of eco-friendly construction waste during weekdays, while doubling as a recreational park for residents of Toronto in the evenings and on weekends. It also provides an important natural environment on Lake Ontario. Accidental in its making, the Leslie Street Spit is now considered one of the most important man-made ecological areas in North America. It demonstrates the unintentional and inevitable relationships that occur between human infrastructural systems and their adjacent natural ecosystems. It shows the potential to find synergies between human and natural landscapes, and infrastructure and ecology that can provide mutual benefit to humans and the environment.
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REBUILD BY DESIGN Location: New York & New Jersey, United States Designer: US Department of Housing (HUD) Year: 2012 (designed) Project Scale: Various Urban & Regional Scales Client: US Department of Housing (HUD) Tags: Ecological Urbanism, Ecological Infrastructure, Infrastructure Implementation
Fig 73. Public Consultation Through Rebuild by Design Fig 74. New Meadowlands Proposal by MIT CAU + ZUS + URBANISTEN.
Rebuild by design was created by the United States Department of Housing (HUD) as a response to damage caused to the northeast coast of the United States by Hurricane Sandy. The organization connects designers with locals in the areas affected in order to come up with projects and approaches that address local needs while also improving the ability of the region to be prepared for and to adapt to worsening extreme weather. In its first iteration, a year-long competition was created to allow designers and communities to develop and design their own proposals, leading to a wide variety of projects and sites. The projects often linked social, infrastructure, ecology and culture together. Following the competition, $930 million was shared between several winning designs for implementation. According to the design documents, “Rebuild by Design occupies a space on the edge of government, philanthropy, academia, design, and community.�18 The Rebuild by Design model is currently being proposed in other areas of the United States. In democratic societies, the Rebuild by Design model has the potential to allow for large regional-scale projects that are needed to combat climate change to move forward. This is due to the fact that they are rooted in the needs and wants of all levels of society and as such can move forward more smoothly.
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INTERNATIONAL JOINT COMMISSION Location: Designer: Year: Project Scale: Client: Tags:
Fig 75. Lake Ontario and Downtown Toronto from Toronto Harbour. Fig 76. Watershed Areas of the Great Lakes.
Great Lakes, United States & Canada n/a 1912 - present Trans-National Planning Government of Canada & United States Infrastructural Implementation
Once considered to be issues related to individual cities, we have recently been able to better monitor the regional effects of pollution and water use. In the case of the Great Lakes, we now know that the water is being used at a rate six to nine times faster than it is naturally being replenished. These realizations have lead to trans-boundary management agreements such as the International Joint Commission (IJC), which is a cross-border agreement between the Canadian and American governments to protect, among other things, the Great Lakes. To do this, the Commission acts to monitor water levels and chemistry, to revitalize damaged and contaminated ecologies, to reduce pollution and to reduce water use to ensure the replenishment and quality of Great Lakes water.19 The results from the IJC are far-reaching and have influenced laws at the municipal level such as green building standards and landscape requirements. With the current influence that humans have on the ecologies and natural systems that support us, the IJC demonstrates both the need and the potential for looking at both ecological and man-made systems at their own scales rather than related to jurisdictional borders.
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Cha’lla VILLAGE SQUARE Location: Cha’lla, Isla del Sol, Lake Titicaca, Bolivia Designer: Villagers Year: 2011 (constructed) Project Scale: Village Square Client: n/a Tags: Cultural Infrastructure, Infrastructural Implementation
Fig 77. Construction of Town Square Structures and Paving, 2011. Fig 78. View of Town Square from Southwest Hill, 2011.
Located on the car-free Isla del Sol in the middle of Lake Titicaca, the small village of Cha’lla is perched in the saddle of two hills with the lake on either side. More or less disconnected from the rest of the world save for imported supplies and the odd tourist who walks through, the village seems focused on everyday life and sustenance. On the crest of the saddle is an area designated by the town as a public square. A walk through the village on a day when the village population comes together to build and renovate the square is reminiscent of a ghost town, fields are empty of workers, walkways are devoid of children playing, and work animals are shut in their pens creating the only noise. Upon arriving in the square, one observes a flurry of activity, serious conversations, laughter, food, drink, and construction. Everyone is helping and chipping in, in their own way, to build both the soft and hard infrastructure of their village. The coming together of a community to build its own public realm in Cha’lla is an example of the potential for a community to work to achieve an infrastructure which meets its needs. It demonstrates that projects from the ground up based on needs and wants can be successful.
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ISE Jingu GRAND SHRINE Location: Designer: Year: Project Scale: Client: Tags:
Fig 79. Ise Grand Shrine Construction Almost Completed. Fig 80. Aerial Image of Ise Grand Shrine With Reconstruction of the Right Shrine Almost Complete.
Ise, Japan 0-700 C.E. (reconstructed every 20 years) Building Cultural Infrastructure, Cultural Continuity
Since its initial design and construction over thirteen hundred years ago, the Ise Jingu Grand Shrine has maintained a continuity in Japanese culture, spirituality and construction techniques. This has been achieved through the reconstruction of the shrine every twenty years. The location of the shrine shifts back and forth between two adjacent and identical sites, and preparation and reconstruction take almost eight years to complete. In the interim period, the unbuilt site houses a small doghouse-sized building marking the future location of the shrine. The idea of the shrine is larger than the physical built object and acts to retain and transfer knowledge, traditional construction techniques and culture each time it is rebuilt. This preserves not only the original idea, but also the culture and construction techniques.20 Austin Brown aptly describes the continued longevity and success of the shrine as a result of the fact that “its secret isn’t heroic engineering or structural overkill, but rather cultural continuity.”21 The shrine shows the potential to engage with natural processes of decay, destruction and change in a meaningful way to retain and renew both culture and knowledge.
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Notes: 1 “Svalbard Global Seed Vault,” ArchiTravel, accessed March 12, 2015, http:// www.architravel.com/architravel/building/svalbard-global-seed-vault/. 2 Ibid. 3 Ibid. 4 “Veta La Palma - Parque Natural,” accessed March 12, 2015, http://www. vetalapalma.es/#. 5 Dan Barber, The Third Plate: Field Notes on the Future of Food (New York: The Penguin Press, 2014), 245. 6 “Lateral Office,” accessed March 15, 2015, http://lateraloffice.com/. 7 As defined by ethnobiologist Vincent Battesti in Vincent Battesti, Jardins Au Desert, Evolutions Des Pratiques et Savoirs Oasiens, Jerid Tunisien (Paris: editions IRD, 2005). 8 Bureau E.A.S.T., Takako Tajima & Aziza Chaouni, “Cultured Landscapes”, in Infrastructure as Architecture: Designing Composite Networks, edited by Katrina Stoll and Scott Lloyd, (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 89. 9 Ibid. 10 Chris Reed, “The Agency of Ecology,” in Ecological Urbanism (Baden, Switzerland: Lars Muller Publishers, 2010), 326. 11 Julia Czerniak and Harvard University. Graduate School of Design, Case: Downsview Park Toronto, CASE Series (Munich: Prestel, 2001), 58. 12 Ibid. 13 Ibid. 14 Kelly Shannon, “Structuring Emerging Urbanism”, in Infrastructure as Architecture: Designing Composite Networks, edited by Katrina Stoll and Scott Lloyd, (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 146 -149. 15 Ibid. 16 All information on IP2100 is from Katrina Stoll & Scott Lloyd, “Regional Fields: Infrastructure Proposition IP2100”, in Infrastructure as Architecture: Designing Composite Networks, edited by Katrina Stoll and Scott Lloyd, (Berlin: Jovis, 2010), 46 -55. 17 Pierre Belanger, “Landscape As Infrastructure,” Landscape Journal 28, no. 1 (January 2009): 79–95, doi:10.3368/lj.28.1.79, 82. 18 “Rebuild by Design,” accessed March 15, 2015, http://www.rebuildbydesign. org/. 19 “International Joint Commission,” accessed March 15, 2015, http://www.ijc. org/en_/. 20 “This Japanese Shrine Has Been Torn Down And Rebuilt Every 20 Years for the Past Millennium | Smart News | Smithsonian,” accessed April 14, 2015, http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/this-japanese-shrine-has-beentorn-down-and-rebuilt-every-20-years-for-the-past-millennium-575558/?noist. 21 “Alexander Rose Visits Ise Shrine Reconstruction Ceremony — Blog of the Long Now,” accessed April 14, 2015, http://blog.longnow.org/02013/10/03/ alexander-rose-visits-ise-shrine-reconstruction-ceremony/.
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Year 2020 - 0.5m of Sea Level Rise Existing House
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Vaota Line
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Planting the Vaota
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Fo’ou Mu’a Market
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Existing Quarry
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Year 2045 - 2.7m of Sea Level Rise A Coming Hurricane
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Harvesting Famine Foods
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Aftermath of a Flood
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Year 2050 - 3.0m of Sea Level Rise Fo’ou Mu’a Residence
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Vaota Networks
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Ha’amonga ‘a Maui
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Royal Palace
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Heilala Celebrations
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Year 2080 - 8.0m of Sea Level Rise Readying for a Storm
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Retreating with Cattle
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Temporary Holding
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An Extra Room
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A Reflection
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“When it comes to adaptation it is important to understand that climate change is a process. We are therefore not talking about adapting to a new, known baseline, but to a constantly shifting set of conditions.” - Tim Flannery
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Fig 81. A Storm is Coming
shallow waters
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Fig 82. Narrative Locations on Island of Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga.
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Fig 83. Existing House on the Outskirts of Nuku’alofa.
Fig 84. Existing House Location Plan.
Fokai had just turned seventeen. As was typical of a Saturday morning, he had been out fishing. He lived with his parents and sister in a house on the outskirts of the capital city Nuku’alofa, which had a population of about thirty-thousand people. It was located on the north shore of the largest of over two-hundred islands in Tonga. He had lived in the same house as long as he could remember and had grown fond of the neighbourhood and its proximity to the sea. The house used to be a lot smaller, but they had built additions over the years. This was home. His mother called to him. She needed him to buy some vegetables and cooking fuel. They had a small market down the street, but next to the large market up in Fo’ou Mu’a there was a biogas-digester plant. You could refill your tank for a fraction of the cost of buying imported gas. Fo’ou Mu’a was becoming a popular location in the centre of the island, it was easy to get to, and he enjoyed the trip.
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Vaota Line
Fig 85. Planting of the North Edge of the Vaota Along the 20 metre Line.
Fig 86. Vaota Edge Location Plan
As the bus headed off through the fields Fokai could see the Vaota. The government called it natural infrastructure, but it was basically a new forest growing across the island. There wasn’t anything about the physical trees themselves that he was growing fond of, but it was what they signified. The planting of the first line of trees had taken place following the Tongan democratic reform of 2010. The reform had been a result of riots in the 1990’s and 2000’s and increasing tensions over local land tenure. There was no more land left to fulfil the right of each male to receive land on their 16th birthday. A few months after the democratic reform, the increased impacts of climate change, in particular worsening intensity and frequency of extreme weather events and rising sea levels, had led to Tonga becoming the first Pacific country to create a comprehensive disaster risk management plan. Folded into the plan was the beginning framework for rethinking how the diminishing land area in Tonga could be used and divided to support an increasing population. The Vaota in the distance was the beginning of this plan. He had been told the edge he could see followed a line twenty metres above the current sea level, and that it was indicative of land that could be inundated with sea water in the future. This seemed unimaginable to Fokai. He had never seen more than a two metre storm surge and sea levels had barely raised in his lifetime. It was a scary thought; most of Tonga’s one-hundredthousand people lived below twenty metres, his own family lived only three-and-a-half metres above sea level. Right now the line signified to Fokai a process of land tenure reform. It gave him hope that even though he hadn’t received land on his 16th birthday, that at some point in the near future he would. Fokai understood it would be a long process, land tenure had barely changed since its inception in 1882.
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Planting the Vaota
Fig 87. Planting of the Second Phase of the Vaota from a Main Extraction Road
Fig 88. Planting the Vaota Location Plan
With the disaster risk management plan, the government’s intention was to plan for the worst case scenarios of five to ten metres of sea level rise and possible storm surges of more than ten metres. This meant that all new infrastructure projects were being constructed in or above the Vaota. In fact, there were now regulations as to what could be constructed and farmed above and below the Vaota. When Fokai first heard about the Vaota he was about ten, and it was just a few small saplings planted in a line, barely visible if one were not looking for it. Over time the gaps filled in, the trees grew, and the depth of the forest increased. As it became more visible, so too did the pressures of climate change and land tenure to which it was responding. Although the Vaota was considered federal infrastructure and its planting was supported by a series of nurseries, the forest itself was being planted by the farmers who leased the land along it. By 2015, all farms through which the twenty-metre line passed had planted trees based on a series of rules that were laid out. The trees were planted two deep and would either cut the property in half, or would follow the property line. For now the government was compensating these families for any loss of revenue, but once land tenure changed, everyone would get smaller plots of land, including Fokai, and compensation would stop. As the bus passed through the edge of the Vaota, Fokai could see the next phase of the planting under way. In its finished form, the Vaota would typically range from one and a half to three farms wide, with a series of voids defined by current farms. To the left he could see small clusters of trees and shrubs being planted to seed the forest’s growth. To the right a family was planting trees around their farm to create one of the voids.
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Fo’ou Mu’a Market
Fig 89. Arriving at the Fo’ou Mu’a Market
Fig 90. Market Location Plan
Eventually there would be a series of markets and other infrastructure projects built in the voids protected by the Vaota, but the Fo’ou Mu’a Market was the first completed. The market was intended to seed a new city centre for when the capital became uninhabitable due to sea level rise. The location for the Fo’ou Mu’a Market was carefully chosen to reference the historic location of the Mu’a, the likely future location for the port, its adjacency to one of the main limestone mines and its closeness to the town of Pelehake. Already several hundred families had moved to the area from other islands and from uninhabitable areas of the capital. The market was alive and bustling when Fokai got off the bus. Whether it was the proximity to the majority of the upper farming areas, the public transit, or its novelty, it seemed to be taking off. He wove his way though the open market purchasing vegetables until he entered the concrete portion at the back that housed the kitchen and food stalls. He ordered some freshly cooked food before returning to the square in front of the market to eat.
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Existing Quarry
Fig 91. View of Existing Quarry from the Market
Fig 92. Quarry & Market Location Plan
From the table Fokai looked out over the limestone quarry and the water treatment landscape that was being constructed in front of him. Limestone quarries had been problematic in the past and were a main contributor to the contamination of the freshwater lens below the island, which, other than rain, was their sole source of fresh water. The limestone foundation of the island was porous, allowing freshwater in the lens to flow freely. Generally, the four metres of fertile soils would filter any contaminants before they reached the lens, but the quarries had created direct access. In many cases abandoned quarries were being used illegally as garbage dumps. The quarry in front of him was to be protected by the filtering edge created by the Vaota. As the sea level rose, so too would the freshwater lens, filling the quarry with water and creating a natural cistern for the island, increasing the capacity of the lens in the process. In the long term, grey water and rainwater would be collected, cleaned in the water treatment landscape and added to the cistern.
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Year 2045 - 2.7m of Sea Level Rise A Coming Hurricane
Fig 93. Approaching the Vaota in the Start of a Storm
Fig 94. Vaota Edge Location Plan
It was early afternoon as Fokai drove through the front edge of the storm. He had received the alert only a few hours ago on his phone. “Hurricane, possibility of 10m storm surge, prepare your property and evacuate to the Vaota.” He closed up the house and packed up as much as he could load into the car, but was not too concerned about the storm. Over the past eighteen years he had been in range of a storm surge only twice, but it had never reached his property. In the warning message, his family had been assigned a room in Fo’ou Mu’a. The warning communications and the room assigning were both a result of the comprehensive disaster risk management plan from 2010. The building code had been divided into three parts, above, in and below the Vaota, and all the new urban houses above the Vaota had one room that could become a separate shelter unit for use by a family during an extreme weather event. The intent was that those fleeing the area below the Vaota could be absorbed into the housing above the Vaota, whether it was just for the storm, or for a few weeks while they rebuilt their own house. As the wind picked up he could see the wall of the Vaota looming in front of him, and even though it looked dark and daunting, he welcomed its presence. The Vaota meant shelter, safety and supplies.
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Harvesting Famine Foods
Fig 95. Famine Foods Harvesting
Fig 96. Famine Foods Location Plan
The sun was shining through the window when Fokai awoke. There wasn’t much to do in their one room shelter, so they all showered and left. Following storms, the sheltered portion of the markets by the kitchens would prepare food. It always looked a bit chaotic, but each kitchen had a small staff in emergencies, and everyone else chipped in to help them. There was always some food in the market root cellars and people would bring what they had to cover the rest. If the storm was bad and days or weeks worth of food was required, there was usually enough that could be harvested from above the Vaota to replenish the stores. When Fokai arrived with his family they were tasked with collecting some extra coconuts, tree bark and digging up some of the root vegetables that were considered famine foods. Planted throughout the Vaota, each market had a map of the local area showing roughly where different famine foods were growing. Collecting, preparing and eating the famine foods was more of a formality and ritual than a need following most storms, but it was like a fire drill, ensuring that the knowledge of how to prepare the foods was maintained. They were not the most pleasant foods to eat, but they had the potential to be lifesaving. With a full stomach, Fokai’s family left for their farm to assess the damage.
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Aftermath of a Flood
Fig 97. Aftermath of the Storm at Fokai’s Farm
Fig 98. Location Plan of Fokai’s Farm
It was much worse than he had ever thought possible. It looked like a wall of water three metres high had come through his property, which likely was what had happened. The wood and thatch of the house was crumpled into piles and the concrete portion was tilted about fifteen degrees. The solar panels were shattered and the water tank had fallen over. He had repaired his house many times before due to wind damage, usually the thatched roof, but never was the damage this bad. He had always complained about the large concrete portion he had been forced to build by code, but he appreciated it now. He could re-level it and fill in the walls within a couple of weeks and make it habitable again. What worried Fokai more was the state of his farm. When he first received the land he hadn’t bothered to fully follow the zoning which required resilient forms of farming. Now the vegetable fields and orchard were in ruins and what remained would likely die from the salt water. He had also started a small fish farm. The fish farmed on the island were euryhaline, which meant they could live in fresh or salt water, and therefore were ideal for areas that flooded. However, the floods had overflowed his tanks and most of the fish were dead on the ground. He would need to stabilize the farm to minimize the economic impact another storm like this would have on his family. Following the zoning regulations would be his first step.
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Year 2050 - 3.0m of Sea Level Rise Fo’ou Mu’a Residence
Fig 99. Fokai’s New Residence in Fo’ou Mu’a
Fig 100. New Residence Location Plan
It took Fokai a couple of years to get back on his feet following the 2045 storm. Over the last two years he had finally been able to save some money to construct a house on his new lot in Fo’ou Mu’a. The new urban lot size was less than a quarter of the one he had grown up on, but Tongatapu had already lost a large portion of its land to the rising sea, so it made sense to him. The thing he was most happy about was the stability and permanence of his new home. After experiencing the slow destruction of his family home in Nuku’alofa throughout his twenties, and the destruction only five years ago of the house he had built on his farm, he was excited by the prospect of being able to invest in a home for the long term. It would be a house he could once again grow and build memories in; somewhere his children could hopefully call home for a long time. The smaller plot of land forced him to better organize the use of his land, and it also meant a closer-knit neighbourhood with shorter distances to most daily destinations. Biking and walking had already taken over any short errands his family had.
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Vaota Networks Fig 101. Pedestrian and Bike Path in the Vaota
Fig 102. Location Plan of Path
It was a Sunday morning in June and the week long Heilala festival was coming to a close. Fokai had planned to spend the day out with his family exploring some of the island’s history before heading to the Fo’ou Mu’a Market for the Heilala celebrations. After breakfast they hopped on their bikes and started off along the bike paths through the Vaota. It was a pleasant ride through the cool shade of the forest, emerging occasionally to cross a road or a clearing. They passed markets, schools, community centres, sports fields and historic monuments as they proceeded east towards the Ha’amonga ‘a Maui historic site.
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Fig 103. Ha’ amonga ‘a Maui Historic Site Relocated into a Container
Fig 104. Ha’ amonga ‘a Maui Location Plan
Ha’amonga ‘a Maui Ha’amonga ‘a Maui was the most important historic site in Tonga; it was constructed at the east end of the island by one of the early Kings. Although it was at an elevation of about 18 metres, the Vaota had been adjusted to surround the Ha’amonga to protect it from the initial brute force of storms. Its location on the island was important to its history, and it had been agreed that it was more important to leave it where it was. Other historic sites, however, had been forced to be relocated. The Royal Tombs in Mu’a had been damaged frequently by storms and were in the process of being relocated into the Vaota.
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Royal Palace
Fig 105. Royal Palace Relocated into the Vaota
Fig 106. Royal Palace Location Plan
With most of Nuku’Alofa underwater, other key civic and cultural places had also been relocated. On their way back towards Fo’ou Mu’a, Fokai and his family stopped for a quick rest at the national rugby stadium. He already had many fond memories of games in the new stadium, but he also longed for the one he had seen so many games in as a young boy. The Royal Palace had been one of the first things to be moved up to the Vaota as it had been constructed originally right on the coast in Nuku’alofa only four metres above sea level. Made out of mostly wood framing, the building had been dismantled and reconstructed on its new site in the Vaota in Fo’ou Mua. At the time it signalled the acceptance of a gradual retreat from Nuku’alofa, and was meant to help fortify the Fo’ou Mua as the new capital.
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Heilala Celebrations
Fig 107. View of the Cistern and Quarry from the Heilala Celebrations at the Market
Fig 108. Cistern and Quarry Location Plan
Fokai sat at a table as the afternoon festivities went on in front of him. Every inch of the area seemed to be utilized, from the market building to the square in front of it, and even out into the lower field by the road. Fokai split the afternoon between watching the festivities and looking out over the water below. The water in the quarry had risen almost four metres since it was first turned into a working cistern. Water supplies had become incredibly important over the past few years due to a combination of the overall volume of the freshwater lens decreasing and as rain became unpredictable. The cistern provided a more reliable source of water by increasing the capacity of the freshwater lens in this particular location. The slopes down into the cistern had been made more gradual and were now completely established with the Vaota shrubs and trees. The only exposed limestone was on the west and south ends of the cistern where the quarry was expanding its size while supplying building materials for nearby construction.
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Year 2080 - 8.0m of Sea Level Rise Readying for a Storm Fig 109. Readying for the Coming Storm at Fokai’s Farm
Fig 110. Location Plan of Fokai’s Farm
Storm monitoring and prediction had improved greatly in Fokai’s lifetime. He received today’s warning a full thirty-six hours before it was supposed to hit the island. Located close to the coast now, his farm was only about five metres above the current sea level, he had switched over primarily to fish farming and raising cattle on salt tolerant grasses. He still had some fruit trees from his old orchard that were scattered over the property, but many of them had been ripped out of the ground or had died over the years. With help from his son, Fokai boarded up his house and covered the fish tanks with grates to keep the fish in. All that remained now was to deal with the cattle, collect any valuables and retreat to the Vaota. As his son left to herd the cattle up to the safety of the Vaota, Fokai attached the portable photo voltaic trailer to the hitch and drove off.
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Fig 111. Retreating with Cattle Along the Egress Routes to the Vaota
Fig 112. Egress Route Location Plan
Retreating with Cattle All the fields below the Vaota were required to have an egress route across their property for all livestock from the lowest farms to get up to the Vaota. This was the route that his son would be taking now with the herd of cattle, leading them up to the protected fields in the Vaota.
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Temporary Holding
Fig 113. Temporary Cattle Holding Container in the Vaota
Fig 114. Cattle Holding Container Location Plan
At one point the clearing was a working farm growing vegetables. Every couple of years its crops would be destroyed as the fields were used to store cattle during a storm, but this was only a minor interruption as they could be replanted; crops grew all year round in Tonga and the farmer was compensated for any loss. Gradually, however, the storms became more and more frequent, until about ten years ago, when there wasn’t enough time between storms to grow anything. At that point the farmer switched to maintaining small grass paddocks to separate the cattle from different farms, and focused on collecting water to provide for the cattle during storms. This same transition had happened for most of the farms in the Vaota, and they were now considered a public service funded by the government. Fokai was chatting with the owner of the farm when his son came into view herding the cattle. The two men got them into their paddock and then they both left for Fo’ou Mu’a to wait out the storm.
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An Extra Room
Fig 115. Front of Fokai’s Residence in Fo’ou Mu’a
Fig 116. Urban Residence Location Plan
Over the years Fokai’s children’s room had been needed by another family escaping the lower areas of the island. Waiting out the storms had become so much more pleasant in his own house in the city. His children had typically slept on the couches in the living room for a short period of time during storms, but now they had all moved out and their room was vacant. He had registered this room as being empty, and the government usually tried to use empty rooms first before assigning ones that were in use. A family had stayed overnight with them this time, and as Fokai left in the morning for the market, he bumped into one of the kids in front of the house. In the past he would have offered the family a meal, but recently he had been helping to teach the younger children how to prepare the famine foods at the market. He did however make sure that the family staying with him had everything they needed before taking off for the market.
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A Reflection
Fig 117. Market Being used as an Emergency Food Hub
Fig 118. Market Location Plan
Having finished preparing the famine foods with the younger kids, Fokai retreated to a small hill beside the market square to eat some food of his own. As he looked out over the sea of people in front of him his mind began to wander. With the storm past, the mass of people who had retreated from the areas below the Vaota would soon be trickling back down to resume their daily lives. There had been some drastic changes in his lifetime. The ocean level had risen by over 8 metres, shrinking the island and its water supply, the population had doubled and had almost completely shifted where it was located, and the weather had become incredibly unpredictable. There was no quick fix for adapting to any of these changes, it had been a long process. Luckily, Tonga had started to plan for it early on. Sometimes Fokai would try to imagine what it would have been like if as a nation they had not planned ahead. Then he would be reminded that this was exactly what had happened to some of the other small island nations. While Tonga had more or less successfully adapted, some were still struggling, while others had waited so long to respond to the challenges that they could afford nothing but to abandon their islands and countries. This thought brought him back to the scene in front of him. On the surface Tonga had changed greatly, but at the same time the Tongan culture and traditions seemed to be rooted in everything. The country was much more stable and resilient than it had been in a long time.
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Introduction
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Design Proposal 1. Independence Resource 2. Emergency Response Cache 3. Spine for New Settlement
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Polyvalent Urban Densities
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“The long range outlook, then, is that the irresistible momentum of sea level rise will increasingly conflict with human development patterns and plans for the future.”
- Hunt Janin & Scott Mandia
Introduction Sea level has the potential to rise somewhere between one and a half and several metres by the end of the century. Coinciding with this, a two to eleven percent increase in magnitude could lead to storm surges of nearly fifteen metres in height. It is not unreasonable then to assume that in a worst case scenario for Tonga, anyone living or dependant on resources that are located less than twenty metres above current sea levels is at risk. In contrast to the much smaller volcanic islands, which contain relatively intact natural ecosystems, higher terrain and small populations, the island of Tongatapu is a low lying island that has seen almost everything about it manipulated by humans. The island of Tongatapu is already home to around seventy percent of Tonga’s one hundred thousand inhabitants and has a density of 1,275 people per square kilometre. The vast majority of this population lives at an elevation within twenty metres of current sea level. With a reduction in land area that could cut Tongatapu’s area nearly in half, and an increasing population from foreign and internal sources, the population density could more than double this century. In order to create a sensitive, yet successful, adaptation strategy, it is important to draw on knowledge of sociological, economic, cultural and environmental histories and systems.
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
197
Fig 119. Island of Eua, Part of the Kingdom of Tonga.
Design Proposal “Polyvalent Adaptations” proposes a network of soft and hard infrastructure on the island of Tongatapu, that will support and guide the inevitable process of migration which will be required due to sea level rise. In order to do so, the infrastructure must be designed so that it can be interpreted differently for each of the three main phases in the process, while maintaining the ability to adapt to future uncertainties. 1. Independence Resource
In its first interpretation, the infrastructure becomes a source for the resources required to meet the current needs of the coastal settlements and increases the island’s resource independence. This phase begins to deal with the current issues that Tonga is addressing such as water quality, water shortages, land tenure, health, agricultural diversification and energy costs. As an investment to meet the present-day needs of Tongans, this phase helps to justify the investment in the construction of the long-term infrastructure.
2. Emergency Response Cache
Following a devastating extreme weather event, the infrastructure can be interpreted as an emergency shelter and supply cache. With the increasing intensity and frequency of extreme weather events this interpretation draws on Tonga’s long history of dealing with extreme weather. As a continuation of Tonga’s historic preparedness and understanding of the inevitability of extreme weather events, this interpretation also plays a role in justifying the investment into this infrastructure.
3. Spine for New Settlement
The final interpretation of the infrastructure is as a spine and magnet to allow for new settlement patterns. When individuals, families and communities decide on their own to migrate, the infrastructure provides a draw which helps to guide new settlement patterns around it. In a manner similar to the way previous settlements were drawn to their locations by natural infrastructures, resources and ecologies, new settlements can be drawn to a location by constructed ones. This phase is openended in that its intent is to provide resources and polyvalent public infrastructure which can be inhabited and adapted as needed.
198
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
New Infrastructure
Existing Sea Level Fig 120. Infrastructure as an Independence Resource.
1. Independance Resource
New Infrastructure
Storm Surge Existing Sea Level Fig 121. Infrastructure as an Emergency Response Cache.
2. Emergency Response Cache
New Infrastructure
Future Sea Level Existing Sea Level Fig 122. Infrastructure as a Spine for New Settlements.
3. Spine for New Settlement
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
199
Existing Shoreline
Fig 123. Existing Plan of the Island of Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga
200
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
Nuku’alofa
N Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
201
0km
1
2
shallow waters
inundated with 10 metres of sea level rise
1
Royal Palace
National Stadium below
Plant Nursery 2
8
3
14
Extraction Road
6
15 16
20 metre Contour Main Spine Road
Fig 124. Proposed Plan of the Island of Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga with Narrative Locations.
202
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
Polyvalent Planning
Ha’Amonga a Maui Limestone Quarry
Import + Export Storage
11
below
Royal Tombs
Plant Nursery
12
Plant Nursery
10
Limestone Quarry
4
7
Outline of Vaota vaota
5 13 18
9
17
Historic Mu’a above Airport
Highpoint of Island
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
N 203
0km
1
2
=
=
=
Fig 125. Vaota Planting Rules Along the 20 Metre Line.
204
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
=
=
=
N Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
205
0m
50
100
mi n 1.5 imum pro w per idth ties
ma xim 3 p um w rop i er ti dth es
Newly Planted Trees
Main Spine Road
Existing Trees
above
Fig 126. Example Plan of the Vaota.
206
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
below
Extraction Road
Property Line 10 metre Contour
vaota
Container or Node
N Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
207
0m
50
100
public NODES
markets
minor roads
hospitals
LINES
cattle routes
government
communication extraction roads
storm monitoring cultural
communication towers
paths energy distribution
parks
spine roads
energy generation import + export hubs famine foods plant nurseries
food + resource caches
farms
paddocks
historic Fig 127. Examples of Nodes, Lines and Containers that make up the Vaota.
energy storage
cultural
CONTAINERS
Vaota expanded below to enclose cultural historic site
Ha’ Amonga a Maui
below
vaota
Fig 128. Example of Expansion of the Vaota Below 20 metres.
N 208
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
0m
100 200
below Extraction Road
20 metre Contour
vaota
Main Spine Road
Hill of Pleistocene Limestone
above
Vaota expanded above to enclose natural limestone resource
N
0m
Existing Limestone Quarry
Fig 129. Example Expansion of the Vaota Above 20 metres.
100 200
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
209
Polyvalent Zoning
4 to 9 km 10% Mutable
88% Stable
2% Cliff
5% Lost
20
existing sea level (0m)
exi vaota stable uses
natural buffers
GENERAL
natural buffer
mutable uses urban
runoff corridors
cleansing
port fresh rivers
WATER
WATER
building rainwater collection + storage peak diversion storage emergency wells
wells
FOOD
sensitive farming
euryhaline fish farming port fishing
urban farming
deep sea fishing
famine food crops
deep sea fishing
FOOD
GENERAL
20m
dee temp. solar
wind
wind anaerobic digester - biogas
ENERGY
tidal
small scale biogas permanent storage
temp. storage natural buffers
PROTECTION
natural buffer staggered structures
sea grass
runoff and wind break corridors
mangrove resource cache + refuge
salt tolerant vegetation
coral reef
PROTECTION
ENERGY
permanent solar
recycling pit latrines
human waste collection
pit latrines
Fig 130. Sectional Zoning at Location One. N.T.S.
210
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
WASTE
WASTE
organic waste composting
50-80% Mutable
10-20% Lost
20m
GENERAL
existing sea level (0m) vaota
natural buffer
natural buffer
stable uses
mutable uses
urban
ocean access
runoff corridors
fresh rivers / runoff corridors
WATER
building rainwater collection + storage peak diversion storage emergency wells
FOOD
urban farming
euryhaline fish farming port fishing
salt tolerant farming salt tolerant grazing famine food crops
permanent solar ENERGY
wells
sensitive farming
deep sea fishing
PROTECTION
reef
10-30% Stable
wind
deep sea fishing
temporary solar wind
small scale biogas permanent storage natural buffer
tidal temporary storage
natural buffer
natural buffer
staggered structures
sea grass runoff and wind break corridors
resource cache + refuge
coral reef
mangrove
salt tolerant vegetation
organic waste composting WASTE
hing
4 to 10 km 2% Cliff
recycling pit latrines
pit latrines
human waste collection
Fig 131. Sectional Zoning at Location Two. N.T.S. Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
211
3 to 4 km 2% Cliff 35-50% Stable
30-50% Mutable
15-20% Lost
20m
GENERAL
existing sea level (0m) natural buffer
vaota
natural buffer
stable uses
mutable uses urban
ocean access
runoff corridors
fresh rivers / runoff corridors
WATER
building rainwater collection + storage peak diversion storage emergency wells
wells
FOOD
sensitive farming
euryhaline fish farming
urban farming
salt tolerant grazing
deep sea fishing
famine food crops
ENERGY
permanent solar
PROTECTION
port fishing
salt tolerant farming
deep sea fishing temporary solar
wind
wind small scale biogas
tidal
permanent storage natural buffer
temporary storage natural buffer
natural buffer
staggered structures
sea grass
runoff and wind break corridors resource cache + refuge
mangrove salt tolerant vegetation
WASTE
organic waste composting recycling pit latrines
pit latrines
human waste collection
Fig 132. Sectional Zoning at Location Three. N.T.S.
212
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
coral reef
2
3 1 2
Natural Buffer
3
Stable Uses Mutable Uses Ocean Access Urban Uses Vaota
1
Fig 133. General Zoning Plan
2
3 1 Sensitive Farming Salt Tolerant Farming
2 3
Salt Tolerant Grazing Urban Farming Famine Food Crops Euryhaline Fish Farming Vaota
1
N
0km
2
4
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
Fig 134. Food Zoning Plan
213
2
3 1 2 3
Emergency Wells Regular Use Wells Peak Diversion + Storage + Runoff Corridors Building scale collection, storage, cleansing Vaota
1
Fig 135. Water Zoning Plan.
2
3 1 Permanent Solar + Storage
2 3
Temporary Solar + Storage Tidal Power Generation Wind Large Scale Anaerobic Biogas Production Vaota
1
Fig 136. Energy Zoning Plan.
214
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
2
3 1 2
Resource Cache + Refuge
3
Sea Grass + Mangrove Salt Tolerant Vegetation Runoff, Diversion and Emergency Storage Natural Buffer + Wind Break Corridors Vaota
1
Fig 137. Protection Zoning Plan.
2
3 1 2 3 Recycling and Human Waste Collection Pit Latrines Organic Waste Composting Vaota
1
N
0km
2
4
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
Fig 138. Waste Zoning Plan.
215
Polyvalent Urban Densities
Fig 139. Existing Urban Density in 2015 (50,000 people)
N
Nodes
Linear
Fig 140. Possible Future Urban Configurations
Concentrated
0km
216
5
10
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
0km
2
4
74 sqkm 37 sqkm
2100 (Population 100,000) 2015 (Population 50,000) Existing Maximum Urban Density of 1,618 sqm per lot
34 sqkm 17 sqkm
2015 2100 Existing Minimum Urban Density of 752 sqm per lot
5 sqkm 0km
1
2
2015
10 sqkm Fig 141. Existing, Minimum Existing and Proposed Urban Densities
2100
Proposed Urban Density of 225 sqm per lot
1,618 sqm maximum
752 sqm minimum 225 sqm
Existing Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
Fig 142. Existing and Proposed Urban Lots
Proposed
217
Fig 143. Existing Urban Density in 2015 Relocated (50,000 people)
Fig 144. Existing Urban Density in 2100 Relocated (100,000 people)
218
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
Fig 145. Proposed Urban Density in 2015 Relocated (50,000 people)
N
0km
2
Fig 146. Proposed Urban Density in 2100 Relocated (100,000 people)
4
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
219
Polyvalent Code Zones
0km
N
2
4
below
vaota above Fig 147. Building Code Zones
Polyvalent Codes Below
roof sloped to shed water
in-fill constructed using locally grown renewable construction materials
raft slab
concrete structural unit that can be re-levelled following extreme damage Fig 148. Perspective of Residence Below
extensions constructed using locally grown renewable construction materials
raised mound referencing traditional construction
220
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
2 : 3 ratio referencing traditional construction
7.5m
5m
2015 - newly constructed
all plumbing in in-fill walls
2050 - re-levelled following extreme weather
0m
2100 - re-constructed following re-levelling
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
1.5
3
Fig 149. Plans of Residence Below
221
Polyvalent Codes Above maximum 225 sqm urban lot minimum 72 sqm urban garden on ground or on a roof
rainwater collection and storage
80 sqm residence
extra room with access to the washroom and a separate entrance for use by others in an extreme weather event
single parking spot
Fig 150. Minimum Requirements for Residence Above
0m
222
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
1.5
3
0m
increased farm area
Minimum Requirements Urban Lot Size (Unit) = 216 sqm Residential Units = 16 Individual Garden Area = 72 sqm per lot Block Area (with roads) = 5,106 sqm Urban Lot Area (with roads) - 319 sqm Increased Farm Area = 0 sqm per lot
1.5
3
Communal Gardens Urban Lot Size (Unit) = 144 sqm Residential Units = 16 Communal Garden Area = 72 sqm per lot Block Area (with roads) = 5,046 sqm Urban Lot Area (with roads) - 315 sqm Increased Farm Area = 4 sqm per lot
increased farm area
increased farm area
No Gardens
Apartments (4 Storeys)
Urban Lot Size (Unit) = 144 sqm Residential Units = 16 Communal Urban Garden Area = 0 sqm Block Area (with roads) = 3,654 sqm Urban Lot Area (with roads) - 228 sqm Increased Farm Area = 91 sqm
Urban Lot Size = 1272 sqm Residential Units = 16 (4 storeys) Communal Urban Garden Area = 0 sqm Block Area (with roads) = 2,117 sqm Urban Lot Area (with roads) - 132 sqm Fig 151. Possible Increased Farm Area = 187 sqm Future Block Configurations
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
223
Containers
Farm
Historic and Cultural Sites
Famine Food Cache
Paddock
Electricity Generation and Storage Fig 152. Possible Container Uses
N 224
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
0m
25
50
existing quarry expanding over time to increase size of cistern
existing quarry
line of freshwater lens
30m 0m Section in 2020 quarry expansion
30m
freshwater lens rises as sea level rises
0m Section in 2050 freshwater lens level increases capacity of cistern 30m
Vaota forest acts to filter water before it enters the cistern and freshwater lens
0m Section in 2080
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
Fig 153. Proposed Cistern and Quarry Container/Node
225
Nodes
Regular Market
Emergency Food
Special Event
Fig 154. Concentric Space Use in Nodes
open space in front of market for expansion out in the case of a large event
Fig 155. Node Site Plan
N 226
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
0m
10
20
durable steel structure with roof constructed using local renewable materials
washroom facilities adjacent to water
trees planted to protect a square from sun and wind
pump and filter room for cleaning of collected rainwater
SE and NW ends are durable concrete construction and protected by forest to minimize potential for damage from SE trade winds and hurricanes
storage tank for rainwater catchment system concrete ends can be sealed off in bad weather all plumbing, kitchens and food preparation are located in the durable concrete end
N
0m
5
Fig 156. Market / Event Space / Emergency Food Centre Requirements
10
series of nodes and containers joined together adjacent to urban areas
forest separating nodes and containers adjacent to rural areas
N
0m
50
Fig 157. Potential Relationships Between Nodes
100
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
227
Vaota Edge
Lines
1
1 2
Vaota
2
Pedestrian Paths
5m
Farms
3 3
4
Vaota
4
5m
Vaota
Cattle Paths
5 5
7.5m Minor Roads
Fig 158. Different Types of Lines
228
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
Farms
6 6
10m
Vaota
7 7
10m
Farms
Extraction Roads
15m
8
9 9
Vaota Edge
8
15m
10
Vaota
10
15m
Spine Roads
0m 3.75 7.5
Polyvalent Adaptations: A Framework
229
230
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ILLUSTR ATION CREDITS Listed here is a the credits for all illustrations used in this document.
Tables: Table 1. Historic and Projected Carbon Emissions Based on Most Likely Scenarios. (Author generated graph based on infromation from Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 94.) Table 2. Historic and Projected Sea Level Rise Based on Most Likely Scenarios. (Author generated graph based on infromation from Christopher B Field et al., Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, 94.) Table 3. Population Growth in Tonga. (Author) Table 4. Number of Cyclones in Tonga per Decade. (Author generated with data from Lu’isa Malolo, Joint National Action Plan on Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management 2010-2015 (Tonga: Kingdom of Tonga, 2010).) Table 5. Tonga’s Ecosystem Diversity. (Author generated based on data from The Kingdom of Tonga, Fourth Report: Review of Tonga National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, 2010, 22-23.)
Figures: Figure 1. Franz Joseph Glacier, New Zealand. (Photograph by Author) Figure 2. Extent of New Land Created in Wellington, New Zealand by the Wairapa Earthquake in 1855. (Figure generated by author using google earth imagery and information from Homer, Lloyd, photograph, http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/photograph/4383/wellington-harbour-before-the-haowhenua-earthquake (accessed February 18, 2015)) Figure 3. New Volcanic Island Formed in 2015 Near Tonga. ((“Pg-28-VolcanoGetty.jpg (JPEG Image, 2048 × 1536 Pixels) - Scaled (28%),” accessed April 20, 2015, http://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/ article9993610.ece/binary/original/pg-28-volcano-getty.jpg.) Figure 4. Impacts of Coastal Erosion in Eita, Kiribati. (“File:Impacts of Coastal Erosion and Drought on Coconut Palms in Eita, Tarawa, Kiribati.JPG - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia,” accessed April 20, 2015, http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Impacts_of_coastal_erosion_and_drought_ on_coconut_palms_in_Eita,_Tarawa,_Kiribati.JPG.) Figure 5. Deforestation in Indonesia to Grow Red Palm Trees. (“Burger King Deal With Tim Hortons May Be Disastrous For Rainforests,” accessed April 20, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/08/28/burgerking-palm-oil_n_5729630.html.) Figure 6. Illegal Sand Mining in India. (“Loading_illegally_dredged_sand.JPG
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(JPEG Image, 5184 × 3456 Pixels) - Scaled (12%),” accessed April 20, 2015, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Loading_illegally_dredged_sand.JPG.) Figure 7. Aerial View of Malé City in the Maldives. (“Male-Total.jpg (JPEG Image, 3072 × 2048 Pixels) - Scaled (21%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Male-total. jpg.) Figure 8. Estimated Land Inundation with Six Metres of Sea Level Rise. (Author generated based off of Pierre Belanger, “Infrastructural Ecologies: Fluid, Biotic, Contingent,” in Landscape Infrastructure: Case Studies by SWA (Basel, Switzerland: Birkhauser, 2013), 23.) Figure 9. Representation of Amount of Population Affected by One, Two and Ten Metres of Sea Level Rise. (Author generated with information from Robert McLeman, Climate and Human Migration: Past Experiences, Future Challenges, 185; Hunt Janin, Scott A. Mandia, and Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection, Rising Sea Levels: An Introduction to Cause and Impact, 32.) Figure 10. Reduction in Shoreline Protection. (Author) Figure 11. Physical Damage from Sea Level Rise and Extreme Weather. (Author) Figure 12. New Jersey Shore Before Hurricane Sandy. (“NJ_Loc5_SeasideHeights_Overwash-Lg.jpg (JPEG Image, 1500 × 2462 Pixels) - Scaled (17%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/ sandy/photo-comparisons/images/NJ_Loc5_SeasideHeights_Overwash-lg.jpg.) Figure 13. New Jersey Shore After Hurricane Sandy. (“NJ_Loc5_SeasideHeights_ Overwash-Lg.jpg (JPEG Image, 1500 × 2462 Pixels) - Scaled (17%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricanes/sandy/ photo-comparisons/images/NJ_Loc5_SeasideHeights_Overwash-lg. jpg.) Figure 14. Erosion Damage in the Solomon Islands. (“Floods_Apr14.jpg (JPEG Image, 1280 × 960 Pixels) - Scaled (45%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://www.unocha.org/sites/default/files/OCHA_Category/Top_Stories/Floods_Apr14.jpg.) Figure 15. Causes and Implications of and Exposure and Barriers to Sea Level Rise and Climate Change for Coastal Settlements. (Author) Figure 16. Qian’an Sanlihe Greenway, Hebei Province, China. (“413.jpg (JPEG Image, 900 × 645 Pixels) - Scaled (67%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://eightsix.co/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/413.jpg.) Figure 17. Impacts of Coastal Erosion on Coconut Palms in Kiribati. (“File:Impacts of Coastal Erosion and Drought on Coconut Palms in Eita, Tarawa, Kiribati.JPG - Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia,” accessed April 20, 2015, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Impacts_ of_coastal_erosion_and_drought_on_coconut_palms_in_Eita,_ Tarawa,_Kiribati.JPG.) Figure 18. Non-Continental Island Formation. (Author) Figure 19. Topography of Volcanic Island of Saint Lucia with Zero, Ten and Twenty Metres of Sea Level Rise. (Author generated with data from
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“Reverb | ECHO,” accessed February 8, 2015, http://reverb.echo.nasa. gov/reverb/#utf8=%E2%9C%93&spatial_map=satellite&spatial_ type=rectangle.) Figure 20. Populated Valley in Saint Lucia with Rich Agricultural Land. (1. “MarigoldBay.jpg (JPEG Image, 1024 × 683 Pixels) - Scaled (63%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/ commons/7/7d/MarigoldBay.jpg.) Figure 21. Diagram of an Island Freshwater Lens. (Author) Figure 22. Topography of Typical Maldives Atoll with Zero, Ten and Twenty Metres of Sea Level Rise. (Author generated with data from “Reverb | ECHO,” accessed February 8, 2015, http://reverb.echo.nasa. gov/reverb/#utf8=%E2%9C%93&spatial_map=satellite&spatial_ type=rectangle.) Figure 23. One of Over a Thousand Atoll Islands in the Maldives. (“8724660453_29113aacdb_b.jpg (JPEG Image, 1024 × 768 Pixels) Scaled (56%),” accessed April 21, 2015, https://c2.staticflickr.com/8/7 418/8724660453_29113aacdb_b.jpg.) Figure 24. Topography of the Raised Limestone Island of Tongatapu, Tonga, with Sero, Ten and Twenty Metres of Sea Level Rise. (Author generated with data from “Reverb | ECHO,” accessed February 8, 2015, http://reverb.echo.nasa.gov/reverb/#utf8=%E2%9C%93&spatial_ map=satellite&spatial_type=rectangle.) Figure 25. View of the Capital of Tonga, Nuku’alofa. (“1013148.jpg (JPEG Image, 1024 × 704 Pixels) - Scaled (61%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/1013148.jpg.) Figure 26. Map Showing the Locations of Small Island Nations. (Author) Figure 27. Mangrove Planting to Increase Island Protection from Extreme Weather Events in Tuvalu. (“DSC03224-1024x681.jpg (JPEG Image, 1024 × 681 Pixels) - Scaled (63%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http:// klima-tuvalu.no/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/DSC03224-1024x681. jpg.) Figure 28. Tonganese National Rugby Team Performing their Ritual Dance. (“Ficheiro:Tonga v Scotland 2013 RLWC (sipi Tau).jpg – Wikipédia, a Enciclopédia Livre,” accessed April 21, 2015, http://pt.wikipedia. org/wiki/Ficheiro:Tonga_v_Scotland_2013_RLWC_(sipi_tau).jpg.) Figure 29. Tonga Flag. (“Grunge_Flag_of_Tonga_by_pnkrckr.png (PNG Image, 800 × 400 Pixels),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://fc03.deviantart. net/fs46/f/2009/203/c/a/Grunge_Flag_of_Tonga_by_pnkrckr.png.) Figure 30. Location of Tonga. (Author) Figure 31. Jurisdictional Map of Tonga. (Author) Figure 32. Geological Ridges of the Tongan Islands. (Author generated based on information from Patrick D. Nunn and University of the South Pacific. Institute of Pacific Studies, Pacific Island Landscapes: Landscapes and Geological Development of Southwest Pacific Islands, Especially Fiji, Samoa and Tonga (Suva, FJ: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1998), 196.)
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Figure 33. Geological Make-up of Tongatapu. (Author generated based on information from Patrick D. Nunn and University of the South Pacific. Institute of Pacific Studies, Pacific Island Landscapes: Landscapes and Geological Development of Southwest Pacific Islands, Especially Fiji, Samoa and Tonga (Suva, FJ: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1998), 212.) Figure 34. South Coast of the Island of Tongatapu. (Patrick D. Nunn and University of the South Pacific. Institute of Pacific Studies, Pacific Island Landscapes: Landscapes and Geological Development of Southwest Pacific Islands, Especially Fiji, Samoa and Tonga (Suva, FJ: Institute of Pacific Studies, University of the South Pacific, 1998), 211.) Figure 35. Handline-fishing Grounds Near Tongatapu. (Author generated based on data from Sitiveni Halapua, Fishermen of Tonga: Their Means of Survival (Suva: University of the South Pacific, 1982), 8.) Figure 36. Net-fishing Grounds Around Tongatapu. (Author generated based on data from Sitiveni Halapua, Fishermen of Tonga: Their Means of Survival (Suva: University of the South Pacific, 1982), 26.) Figure 37. Spear-fishing Grounds Around Tongatapu. (Author generated based on data from Sitiveni Halapua, Fishermen of Tonga: Their Means of Survival (Suva: University of the South Pacific, 1982), 47.) Figure 38. Satellite View of Tongatapu. (Google Earth Imagery) Figure 39. Kingdom of Tonga Transportation Map. (Author) Figure 40. Island of Tongatapu Transportation Map. (Author) Figure 41. Historic Map of Tonga Created by James Wilson in the Nineteenth Century. (Edwin N. Ferdon, Early Tonga: As the Explorers Saw It 1616-1810 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1987), 15.) Figure 42. Traditional Yam Storage Building. (Edwin N. Ferdon, Early Tonga: As the Explorers Saw It 1616-1810 (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1987), 212.) Figure 43. Ha’Amonga. (Keith St. Cartmail, The Art of Tonga: Ko E Ngaahi’aati’o Tonga (Honolulu: University of Hawaiʻi Press, 1997), 34.) Figure 44. Traditional Fale. (Penisimani Tupouniua, A Polynesian Village: The Process of Change in the Village of Hoi, Tonga, South Pacific Series (Suva: South Pacific Social Sciences Association, 1977), 19.) Figure 45. Fale With Wood Siding. (I. C. Campbell, Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient & Modern (Christchurch, N.Z: Canterbury University Press, 1992),150.) Figure 46. Fale With Wood Siding and Flattened Kerosene Tins for Shingles. (I. C. Campbell, Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient & Modern (Christchurch, N.Z: Canterbury University Press, 1992), 151.) Figure 47. Fale With Wood Siding and Corrugated Iron Roofing. (I. C. Campbell, Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient & Modern (Christchurch, N.Z: Canterbury University Press, 1992), 151.) Figure 48. Royal Palace Constructed During Baker’s Premiership. (I. C. Campbell, Island Kingdom: Tonga Ancient & Modern (Christchurch, N.Z:
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Canterbury University Press, 1992), 90.) Figure 49. Contemporary Housing in Tonga. (Helen Morton Lee, Becoming Tongan: An Ethnography of Childhood (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996), 116.) Figure 50. Housing in Swampland in Nuku’alofa. (Helen Morton Lee, Becoming Tongan: An Ethnography of Childhood (Honolulu: University of Hawai’i Press, 1996), 118.) Figure 51. Inundation from 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 Metres of Sea Level Rise in the Kingdom of Tonga. (Author) Figure 52. Inundation from 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 Metres of Sea Level Rise on the Island of Tongatapu. (Author) Figure 53. Veta La Palma Parque Natural Estuary. (“perspective_medialdea_figure3.jpg (JPEG Image, 1772 × 1181 Pixels) - Scaled (36%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/sites/default/ files/perspective_medialdea_figure3.jpg.) Figure 54. Svalbard Global Seed Vault Entrance. (“Svalbard Global Seed Vault - Crop Trust,” accessed April 21, 2015, https://www.croptrust.org/ what-we-do/svalbard-global-seed-vault/.) Figure 55. Plan and Section of Svalbard Global Seed Vault. (“Doomsday Seed Vault | The Survival Encyclopedia,” accessed April 21, 2015, http:// survinat.com/2012/10/doomsday-seed-vault-3/.) Figure 56. Veta La Palma Parque Natural Estuary. (“perspective_medialdea_figure3.jpg (JPEG Image, 1772 × 1181 Pixels) - Scaled (36%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://www.thesolutionsjournal.com/sites/default/ files/perspective_medialdea_figure3.jpg.) Figure 57. Aerial View of Veta La Palma Parque Natural. (“Liquid Natures: Veta La Palma, Seville, Spain,” accessed April 21, 2015, http://liquidnatures.blogspot.ca/2012/03/veta-la-palma-seville-spain.html.) Figure 58. Arctic Ecologies. (“LATERAL OFFICE,” accessed April 21, 2015, http://lateraloffice.com/.) Figure 59. Proposed Arctic Food Network on Baffin Island, Nunavut. (“LATERAL OFFICE,” accessed April 21, 2015, http://lateraloffice.com/.) Figure 60. Projected Outcomes of Arctic Food Network. (Author) Figure 61. Architecture of the Arctic Food Network. (“LATERAL OFFICE,” accessed April 21, 2015, http://lateraloffice.com/.) Figure 62. Abandoned Ksars Near Ouarzazate, Morocco. (“2012-0524-OasisVillage-01e.jpg (JPEG Image, 3504 × 2336 Pixels) - Scaled (18%),” accessed April 21, 2015, https://dhogle.files.wordpress. com/2012/05/2012-0524-oasis-village-01e.jpg.) Figure 63. Site Plans and Emergence Through Adaptive Management, Stan Allen and James Corner. (By Stan Allen and James Corner in Julia Czerniak and Harvard University. Graduate School of Design, Case: Downsview Park Toronto, CASE Series (Munich: Prestel, 2001). Figure 64. Proposed Sections Through Cantho Civic Spine. (By Kelly Shannon in http://www.nrg4sd.org/sites/default/files/default/files/content/
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public/news/EGM/kelly_shannon.pdf ) Figure 65. Existing and Proposed Urbanization. (By Kelly Shannon in http:// www.nrg4sd.org/sites/default/files/default/files/content/public/news/ EGM/kelly_shannon.pdf ) Figure 66. Infrastructural Diagram of IP2100. (“Island Proposition - IP2100 Room 11,” accessed March 15, 2015, http://room11.com.au/projects/ island-proposition-2100-ip2100/.) Figure 67. Rendering of IP2100. (“Island Proposition - IP2100 - Room 11,” accessed March 15, 2015, http://room11.com.au/projects/ island-proposition-2100-ip2100/.) Figure 68. Rendering of IP2100. (“Island Proposition - IP2100 - Room 11,” accessed March 15, 2015, http://room11.com.au/projects/ island-proposition-2100-ip2100/.) Figure 69. Aerial Visualization of IP2100. (“Island Proposition - IP2100 - Room 11,” accessed March 15, 2015, http://room11.com.au/projects/ island-proposition-2100-ip2100/.) Figure 70. Plan of Extent of IP2100. (“Island Proposition - IP2100 - Room 11,” accessed March 15, 2015, http://room11.com.au/projects/ island-proposition-2100-ip2100/.) Figure 71. Wilderness in Tommy Thompson Park. (“DSC01060.JPG (JPEG Image, 2284 × 1455 Pixels) - Scaled (29%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://www.friendsofthespit.ca/photogallery/photo00015724/ DSC01060.JPG.) Figure 72. Aerial View of Tommy Thompson Park. (“DSC01061.JPG (JPEG Image, 2284 × 1455 Pixels) - Scaled (29%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://www.friendsofthespit.ca/photogallery/photo00015724/ DSC01061.JPG.) Figure 73. Public Consultation Through Rebuild by Design. (“RBD-ImageBank-7.jpg (JPEG Image, 1000 × 417 Pixels) - Scaled (97%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/wordpress/ wp-content/uploads/2013/09/RBD-Image-Bank-7.jpg.) Figure 74. New Meadowlands Proposal. (“NEWMEADOWLANDS-1-MITCAU-ZUS-URBANISTEN2.jpg (JPEG Image, 900 × 506 Pixels) - Scaled (85%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://www.rebuildbydesign.org/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/NEWMEADOWLANDS-1-MITCAU-ZUS-URBANISTEN2.jpg.) Figure 75. Lake Ontario and Downtown Toronto from the Toronto Harbour. (“Skyline_of_Toronto_viewed_from_Harbour.jpg (JPEG Image, 1800 × 1200 Pixels) - Scaled (36%),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/26/Skyline_of_ Toronto_viewed_from_Harbour.jpg.) Figure 76. Watershed Areas of the Great Lakes. (Pierre Belanger, “Landscape As Infrastructure,” Landscape Journal 28, no. 1 (January 2009): 79–95, doi:10.3368/lj.28.1.79.) Figure 77. Construction of Town Square Structures and Paving, 2011. (Photograph by Author)
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Figure 78. View of Town Square from Southwest Hill, 2011. (Photograph by Author) Figure 79. Ise Grand Shrine Construction Almost Completed. (“Images For > Ise Shrine Rebuilding,” accessed April 21, 2015, http://imgkid.com/ ise-shrine-rebuilding.shtml.) Figure 80. Aerial Image of Ise Grand Shrine With Reconstruction of Right Shrine Almost Complete. (Google Earth Image) Figure 81. A Storm is Coming (2015, Author) Figure 82. Narrative Locations on Island of Tongatapu, Tonga (2015, Author) Figure 83. Existing House on the Outskirts of Nuku’alofa (2015, Author) Figure 84. Existing House Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 85. Planting of the North Edge of the Vaota (2015, Author) Figure 86. Vaota Edge Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 87. Planting of the Second Phase of the Vaota (2015, Author) Figure 88. Planting the Vaota Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 89. Arriving at the Fo’ou Mu’a Market (2015, Author) Figure 90. Market Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 91. View of Existing Quarry from the Market (2015, Author) Figure 92. Quarry & Market Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 93. Approaching the Vaota in the Start of a Storm (2015, Author) Figure 94. Vaota Edge Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 95. Famine Foods Harvesting (2015, Author) Figure 96. Famine Foods Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 97. Aftermath of the Storm at Fokai’s Farm (2015, Author) Figure 98. Location Plan of Fokai’s Farms (2015, Author) Figure 99. Fokai’s New Residence in Fo’ou Mu’a (2015, Author) Figure 100. New Residence Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 101. Pedestrian and Bike Path in the Vaota (2015, Author) Figure 102. Location Plan of Path. (2015, Author) Figure 103. Ha’amonga ‘a Maui Historic Site Relocated into a Container in the Vaota (2015, Author) Figure 104. Ha’amonga ‘a Maui Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 105. Royal Palace Relocated into the Vaota (2015, Author) Figure 106. Royal Palace Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 107. View of the Cistern and Quarry from the Heilala Celebrations at the Market (2015, Author) Figure 108. Cistern & Quarry Location Plan (2015, Author)
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Figure 109. Readying for the Coming Storm at Fokai’s Farm (2015, Author) Figure 110. Location Plan of Fokai’s Farm (2015, Author) Figure 111. Retreating with the Cattle Along the Egress Routes (2015, Author) Figure 112. Egress Route Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 113. Temporary Cattle Holding Container in the Vaota (2015, Author) Figure 114. Cattle Holding Container Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 115. Front of Fokai’s Residence in Fo’ou Mu’a (2015, Author) Figure 116. Urban Residence Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 117. Market Being Used as an Emergency Food Hub (2015, Author) Figure 118. Market Location Plan (2015, Author) Figure 119. Island of Eua, Part of the Kingdom of Tonga. (“Eua_National_Park. jpg (JPEG Image, 3456 × 2304 Pixels),” accessed April 21, 2015, http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/07/Eua_ National_Park.jpg.) Figure 120. Infrastructure as an Independence Resource (2015, Author) Figure 121. Infrastructure as an Emergency Response Cache (2015, Author) Figure 122. Infrastructure as a Spine for New Settlement (2015, Author) Figure 123. Existing Plan of the Island of Tongatapu (2015, Author) Figure 124. Proposed Plan of the Island of Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga, with Narrative Locations (2015, Author) Figure 125. Vaota Planting Rules Along the 20 Metre Line (2015, Aut hor)Figure 126. Example Plan of the Vaota (2015, Author) Figure 127. Examples of Nodes, Lines and Containers that Make up the Vaota (2015, Author) Figure 128. Example of Expansion of the Vaota Below 20 Metres (2015, Author) Figure 129. Example of Expansion of the Vaota Above 20 Metres (2015, Author) Figure 130. Sectional Zoning at Location One (2015, Author) Figure 131. Sectional Zoning at Location Two (2015, Author) Figure 132. Sectional Zoning at Location Three (2015, Author) Figure 133. General Zoning Plan (2015, Author) Figure 134. Food Zoning Plan (2015, Author) Figure 135. Water Zoning Plan (2015, Author) Figure 136. Energy Zoning Plan (2015, Author) Figure 137. Protection Zoning Plan (2015, Author) Figure 138. Waste Zoning Plan (2015, Author) Figure 139. Existing Urban Density in 2015 (50,000 people) (2015, Author)
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Figure 140. Possible Future Urban Configurations (2015, Author) Figure 141. Existing, Minimum Existing & Proposed Urban Densities (2015, Author) Figure 142. Existing & Proposed Urban Lots (2015, Author) Figure 143. Existing Urban Density in 2015 Relocated (50,000 people) (2015, Author) Figure 144. Existing Urban Density in 2100 Relocated (100,000 people) (2015, Author) Figure 145. Proposed Urban Density in 2015 Relocated (50,000 people) (2015, Author) Figure 146. Proposed Urban Density in 2100 Relocated (100,000 people) (2015, Author) Figure 147. Building Code Zones (2015, Author) Figure 148. Perspective of Residence Below (2015, Author) Figure 149. Plans of Residence Below (2015, Author) Figure 150. Minimum Requirements for Residence Above (2015, Author) Figure 151. Possible Future Block Configurations (2015, Author) Figure 152. Possible Container Uses (2015, Author) Figure 153. Proposed Cistern & Quarry Container/Node (2015, Author) Figure 154. Concentric Space Use in Nodes (2015, Author) Figure 155. Node Site Plan (2015, Author) Figure 156. Market / Event Space / Emergency Food Centre Requirements (2015, Author) Figure 157. Potential Relationships Between Nodes (2015, Author) Figure 158. Different Types of Lines (2015, Author)
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APPENDICES
Appendix A: Chronology of Major Tongan Events
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Appendix B: List of Additional Precedents
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Appendix C: Thesis Defence Presentation Panels
Appendices
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Appendix A: Chronology of Major Tongan Events c. 1200 BCE Lapita people (based on pottery) first settled on Tonga and other Pacific Islands during their west to east migration c. 500 BCE
Gradual decline in pottery led to a die out of pottery making and an increase in woodworking
0 CE
Start of the Common Era
c. 950
First Tu’i Tonga chief Aho’eitu
Pre-European Contact
c. 1100-1200 Construction of the oldest known monument associated to a person, Ha’amonga-a-Maui arch at Heketa on Tongatapu 1616
Dutch explorers Willem Schouten and Jacob Le Maire are first Europeans to contact Tonga
1643
Dutch explorer Abel Tasman stays in Tonga for an extended period of ten days, and is thought to have introduced the citrus tree
18th Century & First European Contact
1773 - 1793 Series of explorers visit Tonga 1777 - 1820 Tongan civil war 1790’s
First commercial ships stop in Tonga to buy water and food mid-journey, are thought to have brought the first foreign diseases
1797
First missionaries from London (ten tradesmen), to teach , learn language, gain trust, raise local standards of living and to speak about religion
1799
Three of the missionaries were murdered
1820’s
First firearm is believed to have been introduced to one of the chiefs by a passing ship, each chief still ruling his own district
1827
First chief defies gods to convert to Christianity
1832
Approximately forty-five percent of population have become members of the Christian church
1839
Chief Taufa’ahau creates the Vava’u Code which
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European Influence
treats foreigners and Tongans equally 1844
Chief Taufa’ahau asks Queen Victoria for protection against French harassment
1845
“The Friendly Islands” are united into the Polynesian Kingdom with chief Taufa’ahau becoming King George Tupou I
1850
A second code of laws is created by the King
1855
Treaty of friendship is signed with France
1862
King Tupou creates the “Emancipation Edict” which abolishes chiefs’ rights to the property of their people, provides chiefs with property to allocate to people according to needs, restricts chiefs from kicking people off their land as long as they pay taxes and rent, sets up for the King to govern through the chiefs and redirects tax money to the government
1864
Peace and stability in Tonga leads to more foreigners and an increase in commercial opportunities for both Tongans and foreigners
1866
Tupou College is founded to create educated English speaking Tongans to work for the church and government
1870’s
King Tupou sees foreigners in Fiji and Samoa taking over through creation of their own governments and creating partnerships with chiefs, to avoid the same in Tonga, government reform is undertaken to bring in executive councils, cabinet ministers, parliamentarians and administration by government departments
1875
Tonga becomes a Constitutional Monarchy grafting aspects of European institutions which complemented the religious and economic structures adopted during the nineteenth century onto the traditional chiefly government, draft was written by the King’s close European confidant Shirley Baker, document was beyond the needs or
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understanding of the Tongans at the time 1876
Treaty signed with Germany
1879
Treaty signed with Britain
1880
Shirley Baker appointed Prime Minister who would introduce regulations prescribing planting of coffee and cotton by every adult, maintenance of fences, preservation of peace and good order in towns, hygienic practices and regulation of the treatment of animals
1882
Nationalization of education
New land law providing each male Tongan eight and a quarter acres of land, on his sixteenth birthday, under a perpetual lease, inheritable by his eldest son as long as taxes and rent were paid
1885
Free Church of Tonga is established
1890
Shirley Baker leaves Tonga after years of attempting to stabilize and reform the Kingdom
1893
Death of King George Tupou I at approximately ninety-five years of age, after approximately seventy years of dominating politics
1900
Treaty of Protection and Friendship is signed with Britain
c. 1908
Public works projects begin constructing roads, wharves, hospitals and concrete water cisterns
1912 - 1916 Copra prices raise dramatically due to the war, but a series of cyclones levels out the effects 1918
Death of King George Tupou II and accession of Queen Salote Tupou III at the age of eighteen
1919
Earthquake near Tonga reported to have caused a two-and-a-half-metre tsunami wave
1920
Government dentist is appointed to make yearly tours of the islands
1926
Guidelines for public health are created and
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Nationalization & Globalization
Tonga begins funding and sending young men to the Central Medical School in Fiji 1927
New Education Act to reform schools and colleges to create more vernacular primary education, add middle schools to help transition to english high schools, and to create scholarships for Tongans studying abroad
New Land Act to allow for leasing of twelve and three-eighths acres and for commoners to lease more land to increase their land
1935 + 1937 Hurricane damage leads to an attempt to diversify exports beyond copra 1942
Nine thousand United States forces arrive to defend Tonga from Japan, causing an economic boom, increase in built infrastructure, improvement of health and hygiene, however also issues of confrontation and sex
1946
Almost all of the United States forces have left, most of the economic boom funds have been spent on commercial items with little having gone into investments
Niuafo’ou is damaged by Volcanic Eruption
1946
First air service from Tonga to Samoa and Fiji
1950 - 1970 Many different issues with agricultural pests, rats, rhinoceros beetles, banana scab and bunchy toe 1951
First electricity plant constructed in Nuku’alofa
Women get the right to vote
1955
First Tongan doctor and nurse
1956
Council of Agriculture is created
1957
UNICEF provides first toilets to several villages
1961
First Radio Broadcast
1963
The Tongan Chronicle is started
1965
Death of Queen Salote Tupou III and accession
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of King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV
First running water supply to Nuku’alofa
1965
Founding member of Pacific Islands Producers Association with Fiji and Samoa in hopes to increase banana exports to Australia and New Zealand
First of many five-year development plans as a response to rapid population growth, ambitious goals regarding trade, industrialization and a new port
1967
Creates its own currency, the Pa’anga
1970
Full independence gained by withdrawing protectorate from Britain and joining the Commonwealth of Nations
Teachers create the first Union
Negotiations with New Zealand to allow for Tongans to temporarily work there
New bus station and market in Nuku’alofa to better connect rural and urban and to provide access to markets to buy and sell goods
1974
Bank of Tonga Established
1975
First University
Tonga Council of Churches holds a seminar on land reform as general population opinion shifts
1977
Earthquake of just over seven on the Richter scale causing damage to buildings, hospitals, electricity, water supply and the wharf
1982
Hurricane Isaac with a spring tide and storm surge height of three metres above sea level flooding thirty percent of Tongatapu and causing an estimated eighteen-and-a-half million dollars in damage with eighty percent of buildings destroyed
Rebuilding following cyclone Isaac caused the Appendix A: Chronology of Major Tongan Events
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creation of many private construction companies and a switch to concrete construction
Democracy & Climate Change
1989
First shipment of squash to Japan
1992
Pro-democracy movement is founded
1994
People’s Party becomes Tonga’s first political party
1998
Cyclone Cora causes damage
1999
Tonga becomes a member of the United Nations
2001
Fraudulent investments that lose the government twenty-six million dollars causes two ministers to resign
2002
Cyclone Waka causes over one hundred million dollars in damage
2003
Government attempts to ban radical and critical publications through a constitutional amendment increasing powers of the King
2004
Amendment to the constitution is revoked
2005
First election for members of parliament with most pro-democracy candidates successful
Six week general civil strike and mass demonstrations demanding salary increases, which are given
National Committee for Political Reform created
Joins the World Trade Organization (WTO)
Demonstrations in Nuku’alofa demanding democratic reform
2006
Death of King Taufa’ahau IV and accession of King George Tupou V
First commoner is elected as Prime Minister
Riots for immediate political reform destroy most of the business district in Nuku’alofa and a state of emergency is called as eight people are killed
Earthquake of almost eight on the Richter scale damages the outer islands
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2007
Legislative Assembly approves changes to political structure
2007
Large loan from China to reconstruct Nuku’alofa
2008
Pro-democracy candidates win all nine of available seats, nobles given twenty-four other seats
King Tupou V relinquishes much of his power
2009
Tsunami kills nine and causes over eighteen million dollars in damage, and much of shoreline on Niuatoputapu is stripped of soil cover
2010
Democratic reform amends constitution to allow commoners to vote in the majority of parliamentarians and to require the assembly to recommend a Prime Minister from their ranks
Tonga is the first Pacific country to create a comprehensive disaster risk management plan
Cyclone Rene causes an estimated thirty-eight million dollars in damage
2012
Death of King Tupou V and accession of his younger brother King George Tupou VI
2014
Hurricane Ian with three hundred kilometre per hour winds hits Ha’apai islands
2015
Hundreds of people still living in tents following hurricane Ian due to issues of land tenure
New volcanic island is created
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Appendix B: List of Additional Precedents Cache:
Highway Reversal Infrastructure - allows in an emergency for all lanes of traffic to flow out of the area.
US Aircraft Carriers
Canary Project, Peru - using lakes to store water during wet season to be used indoors (see pg 456 in Ecological Urbanism)
Ecological:
IN-SITU - Palm Tree Branches - Holcim Award
Maldives Electical Cones to Nurse Coral Reefs back to Life
Cultural:
Resource Park Svartsengi, southwestern Iceland - geothermal power station and public baths (in SWA case study book)
Polyvalence:
Cathedral in Cusco - that has been rebuild over time and changed, but accepted for its use
Temples in Bali - holy place only during celebration, then it is space for everyone, kids play there, as opposed to our churches that have one use (Hertzberger 86 in time-based Architecture)
Mt. Tabor Resevoirs - Organization of project inputs, constructions, and feedback mechanisms allows for flexibility and adaptation over the long term (see graphic on page 326 of Ecological Urbanism)
Infrastructural:
Soak - Mumbai Project
Water Ecologies/Economies: Farming a Terminal Lake - Lateral Office
Gwanggyo Pier - Stan Allen - focusing of development into strip, and use of wild and “constructed ecologies” together. Appendix B: List of Additional Precedents
257
(Architecture as Inf pg 41)
Taichung Gateway Park - Stan Allen- creating a scaffolding for city to grow, accepts the fact that city will grow and be built by others in ways we can only loosely predict and control
Emerald Necklace (1878-96) - Frederick Law Olmstead - various uses and scales - tidal mitigation system, automobile parkway, real estate development project, public park and urban garden - all related to a larger system of parks and city
Ship Deconstruction, Bangladesh - only few places where tide changes enough to take apart ships, with no iron ore, Bangladesh is a net exporter of oil. (see Belanger youtube talk)
Qian’an Sanlihe Greenway, Hebei Province reworking of river in city to become leisure, infrastructure, multiple uses
Land Claims:
Finnish Houses, Warsaw (Architectural Review - Feb 2015 pg 25) - Started emergency response, then Enclave of Intelligentsia, now symbol of embattled public space
Report ‘Regional Factors in National Planning’ - 1935 - looks at overlapping of boundaries in infrastructure related to jurisdiction, geography, topography, geology, settlement patterns, watersheds, and so on. (see Architecture as Infrastructure 102)
Relocation:
Three Gorges Dam, China
Smaller Islands in Chesapeake Bay, US - islands abandoned before uninhabitable, but reached threshold where they emptied
“Ecumenopolis’ - Doxiadis - city of the scale of the world that looks at the potential to rethink how we inhabit our world, framed by
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reminded infrastructures (in Architecture as Infrastructure (103) Implementation: TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority) and WPA (Works Progress Administration) both formed after 1930’s recession to build infrastructures and manage resources (Lateral Office - Infrastructure as Architecture - pg 56) TVA - managed the nation’s fifth largest river system to reduce flood damage, produce power, maintain navigation, provide recreational opportunities, and protect water quality in 41,000-square-mile watershed (Pierre Belanger 340 in Ecological Urbanism)
Appendix B: List of Additional Precedents
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Appendix C: Thesis Defence Presentation Panels
Appendix C: Thesis Defence Final Presentation Panels
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Appendix C: Thesis Defence Final Presentation Panels
Appendix C: Thesis Defence Final Presentation Panels
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ABSTRACT Around the world human settlements are facing increasing pressures from anthropogenic climate change. For those who are most affected, mitigation alone is not an option. Pressures such as prolonged droughts, rising sea levels and increases in extreme weather threaten their way of life. Even if we were to stabilize the concentrations of greenhouse gases in the earth’s atmosphere today, sea levels will continue to rise for centuries as they catch up with current greenhouse gas concentrations. The changes are likely to affect hundreds of millions of people globally. Projections by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) forecast between 1.2 and 1.5 metres of sea level rise by the end of the century. However, these projections are considered low by many scientists and are based on unknowns about the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, which can contribute up to seventy metres to sea level rise. As lowland populations become exposed to sea level rise, high levels of embodied value in some urban locations may justify the mass engineering projects and budgets required to protect them. However, for large portions of the population there will be little choice but to migrate to higher elevations. Small island nations have little to no higher ground to which to migrate to within their countries, and are left with two choices, to migrate to a new country or to adapt their way of life to a drastically different and smaller environment. “Polyvalent Adaptations� proposes the use of infrastructure as a framework to guide the process of regional migration. The infrastructure design is intended to be re-interpreted through time, firstly as a resource and service system to support current needs, secondly as an emergency cache to provide support in the aftermath of extreme weather events, and thirdly as a future spine and magnet for new settlement patterns. Because of their varying interpretations these infrastructures can assist in all stages of migration without forcing the process. This allows for the individual or family to move when they are ready, whether they decide to be pro-active, or whether they are waiting to react to sea level rise or extreme weather destruction. It is in this vein then that the infrastructures of polyvalent adaptation can act to guide, support and adapt to the processes of human migration. Sea Level Rise
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