Retreat to advance : landscape as coastal infrastructure in a changing climate, the case of Damour, Lebanon

Abstract

Climate change and its impacts are currently threatening cities and landscapes all around the world; however, recent events and decades of observation show that the climate is already changing in the Mediterranean, terming the region a “hotspot” (Garcia et al., 2011). While mitigation efforts through global agreements have sought to reduce the causes of climate change, a more localized response is required to adapt to current and projected changes that are unevenly distributed. Therefore, there is a pressing need and challenge for municipalities, communities, planners, and designers to respond to climate and climate-related impacts, and provide resilient solutions that can reduce vulnerability of people, assets, and localities. In line with this challenge, this research aims to integrate climate change and its impacts into design and planning, by taking the coastal town of Damour in Lebanon as a case study, where adaptation is seen as a necessary measure to adjust to and cope with current and future challenges. Other than direct impacts, climate change exacerbates risks and hazards Damour’s landscape is subject to, such as coastal erosion, salt-water intrusion, flooding, forest fires, and water pollution. Therefore, a resilient approach towards coastal development is proposed that works with dynamism and unpredictability as inherent qualities of coastal landscapes. Guided by a scalar and temporal approach through concepts of landscape urbanism, and situated in resilience theory, this thesis proposes design adaptation strategies throughout a timeline, where their compatibilites are studied in aims of imagining an alternative, dynamic, and resilient landscape. Here, infrastructure assumes a hybrid role capable of mediating between proposed programs and adapting to changes. Thus, risk becomes opportunity.