Project by Eric lin, Xire Sangpei, Inhoo Seo, Megan Chen
By 2050, a naturally forming coastal inlet begins to reshape the shoreline. Instead of resisting this shift, our proposal embraces it, leveraging the inlet to improve tidal flushing, restore water quality, and establish a new ecological exchange corridor between the bay and the forested interior. As rising sea levels will push tidal marshes and freshwater wetlands inland, we proactively designate room for this migration, reopen historical streams, and deploy oyster reef breakwaters that both protect the new inlet and regenerate long-dormant shellfish habitats.
The future of the Pine Barrens will be determined by its ability to adapt to accelerating environmental pressures—sea-level rise, fire risk, habitat fragmentation, and growing warehouse development along the highway corridor. This project demonstrates that resilience emerges not from resisting change, but from orchestrating it: allowing land to move, water to circulate, and people to inhabit differently. Through reconnected ecologies, productive infrastructures, and adaptive settlement patterns, the Pine Barrens evolves into a landscape that regenerates itself while sustaining the communities that depend on it. The proposal ultimately reframes the territory as a model for how coastal forests, working lands, and logistics regions can transition toward a climate-adaptive future without losing their cultural identity or ecological depth.
