Building a Resilient Park System in Port St. Joe
Port St. Joe, locates on Panhandle Florida, is a relaxing vacation destination. In October 2018, the city was hit by Hurricane Michael, one of the four Category 5 U.S. storms on the record (Walmsley, 2019). Beyond tremendous hurricane impacts such as loss of housing and damage to utility infrastructure, the city has also been experiencing economic decline and insufficient social bonds. This project aims to take the opportunities city parks provide to retain stormwater, minimize the risk of inundation surge, promote outdoor activities and a healthy lifestyle, and establish neighborhood connections. We hope this project will contribute to a resilient and holistic neighborhood in Port St. Joe.
This is a government-collaborated project that includes community engagement. The project is composed of field research, analysis, and design. The research focuses on investigating the key factors that contribute to social resilience through a literature review and a survey of local people. These results were then presented to the LAA3350C Landscape Architecture Site Planning and Design studio to assist students in redesigning the selected parks. We anticipate these design proposals help create an attractive park system that serves inclusive and vibrant spaces for people to live, work, and play and captures and treats stormwater runoff. The reports are shared with the city government.
My role: graduate assistant.
I led a student team in the Florida Resilient Cities Field course and initiated the survey. The results were presented to the local government and residents.