BuildingResilience19: How Cleveland, Ohio is Leading the Way For Cities Planning for Climate Change
Picture provided by Sustainableclevleand.org
“We designed our way into this problem, we can design our way out.”
How will the climate crisis reshape U.S. cities? What are cities doing to improve resilience and adapt to the climate crisis? What social and infrastructural changes will be required? To explore the answers to these questions, I boarded a Megabus to Cleveland last November, to attend BuildingResilience19, a conference dedicated to preparing our cities for climate change. Cleveland’s Chief of Sustainability Matt Grey spoke in depth about the city’s Climate Change Action Plan. Grey’s presentation provided a glimpse into how a Rustbelt city is tackling environmental planning on what was the 50th anniversary of when the city’s Cuyahoga River caught on fire, an event that helped to launch the nation’s environmental movement. I got the chance to hear thirteen different speakers—including architects, physicists, designers, engineers, urban planners, doctors, and political figures—and chatted with dozens of attendees and speakers.
A promotional flyer for the BuildingResilience19 conference, provided by BuildingResilience19
The motivation for this conference lies in the fact that cities will be demanded to transform rapidly in the coming years in order to meet drastic changes in both environmental and demographic factors. According to a study by the Environmental Justice Foundation, more than 26 million people had already been displaced by extreme weather events as of 2009, and that number will continue to grow, eventually leading to a complete geographical redistribution of the Earth’s human population. Some cities will double in population size while others will disappear entirely.
A study released by Hunter College’s Center for Puerto Rican Studies showed that in 2017, Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico at 155 miles per hour, leaving nearly 3,000 people dead and most of the island’s infrastructure destroyed. In the following year, 160,000 people are estimated to have moved to the United States mainland—and that is the impact of just one extreme weather event.
Sea levels are rising, too; if water levels were to rise three more meters, it would put Fort Lauderdale and Miami underwater. Coastal residents and businesses could be forced to relocate, and they’ll be looking inland to minimize environmental risk and the potential for freshwater insecurity. The cities that act as havens from rising sea levels, tropical storms, and earthquakes—likely midwestern cities—will need to have certain infrastructure in place to accommodate larger populations, harsher storms, and extreme temperatures. At BuildingResilience19, speakers discussed how Cleveland plans on accommodating its current and future residents in the face of the climate crisis.
Safe from coastal storms, on the margin of one of the largest freshwater bodies in the world, lies Cleveland. Every other home in Cleveland is vacant—a scar left from The Great Recession in 2008 and the consequential housing market collapse. But this scar became a blessing for buyers on a budget. Houses have begun to fill with residents seeking refuge from climate crises. Cleveland’s Director of Sustainability, Matt Grey, predicted that lakeside, cities such as Cleveland, Chicago, and Buffalo will serve as environmental havens, attracting the majority of climate refugees. This impending rapid city growth is calling urban planners to rethink how they structure our cities.
During the BuildingResilience19 conference, The Resilient Design Institute (RDI) shared its plan of restructuring cities after a climate crisis that began with Hurricane Katrina in 2005. IN the days following the superstorm, temperatures in the New Orleans Superdome rose to 105° F. The Superdome was supposed to serve as a shelter, but instead presented its own set of health hazards such as fatigue and dehydration. Because of its structural composition, the Superdome became a heat trap, killing two people. The RDI realized that for a building to safely serve as a haven from the climate crisis, it must offer Passive Survivability, a term coined by RDI founder, Alex Wilson. Wilson described Passive Survivability as “ a building’s ability to maintain critical life-support conditions if services such as power, heating fuel, or water are lost”. For example, a hurricane recovery shelter with passive survivability would ideally accomplish the following :
Remain cool without power through natural ventilation, strategic choice of building material, air stratification, or light-blocking window shades.
Stay lit without power through wind turbines and/or backup battery storage.
Provide potable water reserves, processed in onsite rainwater treatment systems.
BuildingResiliance19 offered a critical opportunity for institutions like RDI to come together with professionals from all across the United States from various fields. Architects and engineers exchanged knowledge with politicians and social workers. Just about every person who attended the conference brought to it a unique expertise.
A list of Sustainable Cleveland’s targeted topics, image provided by Sustainableclevland.org
Today, Cleveland is rethinking its structures—both social and physical—for the second time in 10 years. The first occasion, in 2009, led to the introduction of the Cleveland Climate Action Plan: the overarching goal to reduce Cleveland’s carbon footprint by 80% by the year 2050 (Cleveland Climate Action Plan). According to Cleveland's mayor, Frank Jackson, the plan has funded 50 community-led projects, paved 70 miles of bike paths, and has successfully reduced carbon emissions while growing the economy. Back in 2009, Cleveland’s population was declining. Jobs were disappearing left and right, and then Lebron left the Browns, shattering Cleveland’s collective identity. Today, Cleveland is in a very different situation: its population is increasing, and the current climate refugee crisis is bound to catalyze further growth.
BuildingResiliance19 gave me hope in our country’s ability to adapt to the climate crisis. Cities are preparing for major structural changes, and they aren’t doing it alone— they are drawing on expertise from a variety of fields in order to design safer, greener infrastructure that will truly act as a safe-haven for future generations. By including experts from different sectors, like economists and sociologist, in the conversation, cities can make these drastic changes without stunting GDP growth. Thanks to conferences like this, professionals can introduce each other to new strategies, such as Passive Survivability, and new criteria that will be helpful for the collaborative effort they are embarking upon.