The coastal resiliency design program trains undergraduate and graduate students from Virginian institutions to become leaders in innovative, pre-disaster resiliency design or coastal flooding adaptation strategies. The following is an incomplete list of projects funded by Virginia Sea Grant:
In a project funded by Virginia Sea Grant and coordinated by Wetlands Watch, Hampton University architecture students designed ways to protect houses in a historic, waterfront neighborhood in Norfolk, from sea level rise. Architecture Graduate Williams Parks discusses the teams proposed methods of flood control in this video.
https://youtu.be/GGJ8mYgU-sgEngineering students from Old Dominion University (ODU) and architecture students from Hampton University (HU) spent the last year working with professionals to adapt a historic community for flooding as part of a Virginia Sea Grant-funded project.
How do you proactively plan to adapt an existing neighborhood and it’s infrastructure for sea level rise? There is nothing ‘off the shelf’ that works. With funds from Virginia Sea Grant (VASG), the non-profit Wetlands Watch created a team of of students and professionals to develop a plan for adapting Chesterfield Heights in Norfolk. The project team wanted to go beyond addressing flooding alone, intending to create a “community of practice”—a group of regional engineers, architects, academics, and nonprofits that could work collaboratively to create adaptive sea level rise design solutions.
Wetlands Watch assembled consultants from the Hampton Roads Green Building Council, and about 35 environmental engineers and architects. The project has also benefited from involvement by (among others) the City of Norfolk, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Center for Coastal Resource Management, Virginia Coastal Policy Center at William & Mary, and the American Association of Architects.
“Water is a part of the fabric that makes up Virginia Beach, so let’s take advantage of it.”
Green infrastructure is a water management approach that focuses on harnessing the natural water cycle by restoring wetlands, installing rainwater collection systems, and incorporating other elements of the natural environment.
Representatives from Norfolk, Old Dominion University (ODU), and the Green Infrastructure Center connect at the Hampton Roads Adaptation Forum, a series of workshops developed by VASG, ODU, and Hampton Roads Planning District Commission to facilitate collaboration and communication about sea level rise issues between localities. Since its formation in October 2013, there have been ten Hampton Roads Adaptation Forum events, with more on the way.
