Designing resilient coastal neighbourhoods

Abstract

The Philippines is a country where most of the human settlements are on the coast. Rapid urbanisation caused by economic development and annual population increment affects the housing situation in the country. In addition, climate change has increased the prevalence of natural disasters, such as floods, typhoons, rising sea levels, tidal movement, and heavy rainfall. In the city of Hagonoy, citizens struggle with the effects of natural disasters, particularly in housing conditions. Typically, locals employ ad-hoc solutions suchlike raising the dwelling one floor higher every few years, which is a costly and inefficient solution in the long term.
The Filipino society is a close-knit ecosystem formed by different stakeholders with contrasting interests and needs. When combining the stakeholders with the increasing environmental pressures, it becomes an even more complex problem. This thesis presents an exploration in implementing long-lasting solutions in coastal rural areas to form resilient communities in the light of the arising problems.
A holistic approach is necessary to generate a neighbourhood that corresponds to the living conditions and resists natural hazards. Firstly, literature and historical research were done to study the events that generated the current society. Secondly, participatory design sessions involved the end-user in the designing process and explored their daily needs. Then these insights were brought together in a system map of people, elements and spaces, and a city map, visualising locals' desires for the future community and analysing the solution space. Finally, the co-design of a floating neighbourhood was conceptualised based on an existing pilot floating home and the required living conditions.
The generated hybrid neighbourhood shows potential to create a resilient neighbourhood where the citizens' desires are placed in the middle of the community planning. Accessibility, sociability and incrementality attributes were perceived as vital to ensuring social acceptance.
The neighbourhood extension illustrates the community's possibility to grow and increment in a non-invasive manner while respecting the dynamics of the existing city. On this basis, the concept of co-creating a hybrid neighbourhood should be considered when designing resilient communities in coastal rural areas in the Philippines and countries under similar circumstances