November 4, 2020
Jason King, Pamela Stacy, and Rob Piatkowski of Dover, Kohl & Partners host a discussion on planning for in-migration in a welcoming way under unique and ever changing circumstances.
Jason King (Dover, Kohl & Partners): Planning for In-Migration Due to Climate Change in Hammond, Louisiana, ten years later.
After Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, the town of Hammond, Louisiana saw a population spike as people fled north. Flood victims had been driven from their homes with only the clothes on their backs, unsure if they would ever be able to return, forced to build a new life in a new place. As the number of storms increased and the seas rose, the urban planners at the non-profit Center for Planning Excellence (CPEX) could see that plans would need to be made for a retreat from the city and other low-lying coastal areas. Our firm was hired in 2009 to lead a community involvement process in Hammond working with CPEX, draft a Comprehensive Plan and a new Future Land Use Map for the town, and help draft a Form-Based Code to facilitate urban infill.
Ten years later Hammond providing a new home for climate refugees and the design for the city is one that meets Charter Principles. The town is growing to more compact and more complete. The town is growing more diverse. It’s been nearly ten years since the Hammond Comprehensive Plan was adopted and it is still the City’s official plan. The Form-Based Code which followed the plan codified plan principles. Hammond provides a model for planning for in-migration in a welcoming way.
Pamela Stacy (Dover, Kohl & Partners): Planning for Exodus from the Shore with Walkable Urbanism
Pineland Prairie in Stuart, Florida could become a model for new settlements in Florida’s interior, away from the vulnerable shore. New towns like Pineland Prairie present an opportunity to shift development that would have occurred on barrier islands and coastal communities away from the beach and reduce Florida’s economic reliance on the beach. As the seas rise, beach tourism could transition to a more sustainable kind of ecotourism.
The biggest issue when it comes to the relocation of vulnerable populations in Florida (and everywhere else) is that people love their homes and don’t want to leave. It takes catastrophe or multiple washouts with high replacement costs before people decide to change their lives. We need to design places with a high quality of life and recreational and scenic amenities that are not the beach, on higher ground, to give all Floridians a choiceworthy place to retreat to. Let’s discuss a new Florida with complete, compact, walkable, mixed-use communities amidst the inland pinelands and vast sawgrass prairies, atop upland ridges, and far from the shore. Let’s picture continuity (of-a-kind) in Florida, and new places that combine high quality natural environments with high quality man-made environments, beauty and grace, by design.
Rob Piatkowski (Dover, Kohl & Partners): Planning a city’s transit system to encourage retreat from vulnerable areas and reinforcement in others.
This webinar is available for 1 CNU-A continuing education credit if viewed live or recorded.