Tidal Communities

Tidal Communities: The Experience of Underserved and Indigenous Rural Communities Along Changing Coastlines

A two-part panel discussion among Aunnauruq Twyla Thurmond, Maurice Bailey, Whitney Barr, Robin Bronen, Dean Hardy, Radley Horton, Malgosia Madajewicz, Dorothy Peteet,Shavonne Smith, Annauk Denise Olin, Jazz Watts and Kate Orff, Professor and Director of GSAPP’s Urban Design Program.

Listening: Shoreline Stories
Challenges and Opportunities of Coastal Communities & Landscapes
Representatives from Sapelo Island (Sapelo Island Culture and Revitalization Society), Shinnecock (Shinnecock Shellfish Hatchery and Environmental Center), and Shishmaref (Alaska Institute for Justice) discussed coastline changes and their impacts on lives and livelihoods in these communities.

Pathways to Change and Justice
Defining a Research and Action Agenda
Participants discussed policies, activities, or actions working on the ground and discussed the role of local institutions and focus the research agenda, moderated by Andrew Revkin.

Black, Indigenous, and people of color are on the front lines of climate change. Sea level rise, accelerating erosion, saline intrusion, the loss of fisheries and coastal livelihoods, and repeat flooding present not only economic impacts but existential threats to continued existence of the communities and their cultures as many are faced with the unthinkable – What is the role of design to reduce harm and help build pathways toward economic and ecological resilience? This web-based panel will explore perspectives from three groups - the Shinnecock of Long Island, the Gullah/Geechee of coastal Georgia, and residents of the Alaskan Native Village of Shishmaref - in terms of the hazard exposure, ecological changes, and cultural and institutional responses.

Organized by the Architecture and Urban Design Program with the Climate Adaptation Initiative of Columbia University’s Earth Institute.