Safe Place: Flood Resilient Housing Adaptation

The Earth’s climate is warming, and with a changing climate comes rapid changes to the parameters of many of the natural and human systems we exist within. The climate change effects of more frequent and intense extreme weather events and rising sea levels increase coastal risks. An increase in risk presents a complicated issue for those who live in, or own, coastal property and governing authorities responsible for the maintenance of vital infrastructure. This thesis addresses the ‘wicked problem’ of what to do about coastal homes in the face of an increase in climate change-induced coastal flooding events. Research suggests that what was considered a ‘1 in 100’ year coastal flooding event in 2020 will be considered a ‘1 in 20’ year event by 2050. Insurance companies begin to retreat when these events become a ‘1 in 50’ year event, putting estimates of this occurring between 2030 to 2045 in Wellington. With no insurance and coastal risks increasing indefinitely, there are three primary responses to this issue of: protect, accommodate and retreat (PAR model). Though protect and accommodate are still valid options for some locations, a managed retreat will likely be mandated in the future due to the nature of sustained increase. The risk to life and cost to maintain infrastructure will likely become too great for local and central government to allow people to remain living in current coastal locations. However, many legal, financial and cultural barriers exist when implementing managed retreat. Due to the psychological phenomenon of place attachment there are tensions between the safety of managed retreat from physical risk factors and the negative psychological impacts of managed retreat. This thesis acknowledges these tensions and the inevitability of managed retreat and asks the question: “How can existing New Zealand coastal homes be adapted to mitigate the effects of climate-change-induced flooding, and how can these strategies be effectively communicated?” This research was design-led, meaning there was an inquiry into the research question through explorative design processes with findings synthesised from existing strategies for protection of coastal homes and through critical reflection. The final design strategies were incorporated into a guidebook of strategies for coastal homeowners. To test the effectiveness of the proposed strategies the strategies were applied to three design projects. Further the guidebook was provided to interested homeowners of a coastal community to gather their feedback. This community engagement process was undertaken through an anonymous survey—this process allowed coastal homeowners to reflect upon the guidebook’s content and effectiveness of communication. The survey had sixteen responses in total which were predominantly positive about the communication of the guidebook, with particular comments on the simplicity of the language and usefulness of the diagrams and illustrations. Comments on the guidebook’s content including it was educational, pulled together lots of information and critiqued the significance of the role design may play in this issue, the timeline of event occurrences, and the feasibility of some of the strategies. The application of three strategies and subsequent critical reflection delved into the granularity of applying these approaches to an existing property. This design process resulted in finding a potential technique for designing amphibious properties located in exposed coastal areas at risk of large waves and storm surges. The potential positive effects of a mobile design were also reflected upon through the ‘tracks’ strategy. “Go with the flow” seems like a cliché to use in a thesis about mitigating the effects of climate-change-induced flooding. However, it successfully summarises this thesis’s central ‘meta’ finding. If the key issue is an increase in the occurrence and severity of coastal flooding events, then the central issue by definition is in flux. The current response model of PAR (protect, accommodate, retreat) and even the central government’s use of DAPP (dynamic adaptive pathways planning) are static. Architecture is traditionally built in a static fashion, even when using accommodation strategies for flooding. Static, meaning they consider resilience measures operating along a direct temporal line. This thesis has found that there may be the possibility of blurring the boundaries between accommodation and retreat strategies through adaptive, in flux architectural design, possibly as an interim solution until managed retreat becomes necessary. This lessens the tension between the physical safety of retreat and the potential psychological harm. This technique would involve design that can allow for houses to be moved out harm’s way when climate change-induced flooding events are anticipated and moved back to their original places when it is safe to do so. Though this seems like an ambitious and idealised approach, case studies such as Climate-Safe House and Hut on Sleds both offer this approach, with Hut on Sleds more explicitly designed for back and forth movement. The addition of the strategy of moving homes on tracks also exemplified this thinking. Though it may be difficult in some locations due to typography challenges, such as Wellington’s south coast, it may be applicable for other locations and buildings. Though these approaches pose significant financial and legal challenges, this thesis poses that this change in thinking may help us achieve more equitable adaptation for climate change. Changing our thinking towards climate change adaptation approaches is crucial. We can no longer build or design the way we always have. Because climate change will mean an increase in extremes, we must design for greater adaptivity or potential for adaption. This lets us be in flux with our shifting environment rather than fighting against it with outdated techniques and responses.