Credit: Resilient By Design

Sea Level Rise / Waterfront - Bay Area Resilient by Design

Project Status: Completed

The Bay Area Resilient by Design joins government, community leaders and stakeholders from around the region to address challenges affecting the resiliency of our neighborhoods, environment, and infrastructure in this era of climate and seismic uncertainty.

The San Francisco Bay Area is Changing

The Bay Area Resilient by Design (RBD) presents an exceptional opportunity to develop a unified vision for a more sustainable and resilient future. Climate change and earthquake vulnerability means that businesses, homes, and public infrastructure are at significant risk. Our decades-old systems were not built to withstand the effects of sea level rise, extreme storms, urban flooding, and seismic events; leaving us vulnerable to catastrophic physical and economic damage across the region.

We need a comprehensive and innovative strategy that meets our needs today and creates tangible solutions for tomorrow.

Key Objectives of the Challenge

  • Create innovative and implementable design solutions that will provide resilience through the end of the century and capture the imagination and support of the public;
  • Maintain and expand the ecological and economic vitality of the Bay and the region;
  • Respond to place-based social inequities within the region; and
  • Improve access to the Bay for everyone.

Inspired by Rebuild by Design

Named "One of the 10 Best Ideas of 2013" by CNN, New York's Rebuild by Design was a multi-stage planning and design competition launched by President Obama's Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force in response to the physical and structural damage after the storm.

Rebuild by Design aimed to develop comprehensive, regional, replicable, and implementable solutions to increase resilience to future climate emergencies in the New York-New Jersey-Connecticut region while strengthening communities today.

Of 148 international applicants, ten teams were selected based on a varied set of skills and methodologies. Of the ten final design proposals, seven are undergoing implementation throughout the region – see the final San Francisco Concept here: https://www.resilientbayarea.org/islais-hyper-creek

Inspired by this innovative approach, the Bay Area Resilient by Design presents an opportunity to elevate the public dialogue surrounding our rapidly changing and threatened environment and develop a unified vision for moving the region toward a more sustainable and resilient future.

Resilient by Design asked local residents, community leaders and organizations to submit site ideas that would shape a collaborative research process where design experts would work with community experts to identify areas to create new, creative and implementable design solutions that would protect the Bay Area's most vulnerable shoreline communities from increasingly severe storms and flooding — while also addressing critical issues such as disparities in housing, income and access to open space.

To learn more visit the Resilient by Design website.