Design for Storm Surge Flooding Adaptation: Facilitating Emergency Evacuation with Adaptive Landscape Form-Based...

Area of Science:

• Environmental Science
• Urban Planning
• Disaster Management

Background:

• Lack of consensus and funding hinders cross-jurisdictional adaptation planning for storm surge flooding.
• Existing strategies often prioritize building retrofits over comprehensive adaptation pathways.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate the feasibility of using design games for developing consensus-based, performance-driven, form-based codes.
• To facilitate emergency evacuation planning and execution during storm surge events.
• To establish an adaptive landscape framework for enhancing community resilience.

Main Methods:

• Utilized design games, a participatory community visioning and design process.
• Applied an adaptive landscape framework to a case study in Seabrook, TX.
• Developed multi-scalar engineered structural and nature-based solutions within a complex adaptive system.

Main Results:

• Successfully demonstrated the feasibility of using design games to develop consensus-based codes.
• The adaptive landscape framework enhanced the size, coverage, quantity, and connectivity of solutions.
• The developed framework aims to increase evacuation time and decrease the flood-prone population.

Conclusions:

• Design games are effective tools for achieving consensus in adaptation planning.
• An adaptive landscape framework can improve storm surge evacuation by integrating structural and nature-based solutions.
• This approach offers a viable pathway for enhancing community resilience to flooding.