Building social equity: Using a spatial synatax tool to inform urban design interventions. Rachel Scudder
With the implications of climate change, sea-level rise, and the increased frequency of natural disasters, historically poor coastal communities are at higher risk than ever for not only the physical risk of living in a vulnerable area, but an impounded effects of public health threats, poverty, and failing infrastructure. This essay will use the case study of Martin Pena, Puerto Rico as a prime example of grassroots mobilization to improve health in a community, and secure a high level of social equity. Because of this mobilization and community action, Martin Pena is in a unique situation
Literature Review
where they can start to use design and planning to redefine their sense of place. Using depthmapX (Turner, 2012) to evaluate road connectivity, specifically at non-places (Friedmann 2010) created as a result of road disconnection in the neighborhood that have resulted in large amounts of dumping to happen along the channel. depthmapx looks at reconnecting people to the Martin Pena Channel and targeting specific nodes for redesign can make placemaking opportunities as well as improve the overall health and welfare of the community.
“Vulnerability is a pre-event, inherent characteristics or qualities of a social systems that create the potential for harm” (Cutter, 158) vulnerability is not so simple as it being defined by a social system, I would also say that vulnerability has to do with location.
Climate Variability & Change Exposure Biophysical Environment
Natural sensitivity; dynamic resilience
Vulnerability
Abstract
Human Environment
socioeconomic & cultural susceptibility; resilience
Adaptive Capacity response & adjustment ; coping strategy
Individual
age; gender; access to resources & wealth, education; risk perception; risk- spreading options
Community Planning
Community
availible technology; resource, welath & information distribution; social capital & cohesion; critical frameworks & decision-making; risk perception; property rights; risk-spreading options
Design
Region - Nation - Globe
resources, welath, information & technology; critical institutions; frameworks & decision-making
Source: Dolan, A H and I J Walker (2004), “Understanding vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change-related risks” , Journal of Coastal Research Vol 39, pages 1317-1324.
Learning
Actions
Preparedness Civil Response Protection Recovery Mitigation Social Protection Vulnerability reduction Social safety nets
Research Questions
Under what circumstances do vulnerable communities come together to combat climate change?
Risk / Loss Perception Problematizing risk/ loss Critical reflection Experimentation & Innovation Dissemination Monitoring & Review
Community Resilience Resources and Capacitites Natural / Place-based Socio-political Financial Physical Human
“Resilience is the ability of a social system to respond and recover from disasters and … allow the system to absorb impacts and cope with an event, as well as post-event” (Cutter, 600). At the same time that planner must be reactivating the community, they must also be taking serious steps, “To respond to climate change, such as the hazard mitigation plan, the comprehensive plan, the emergency management plan, etc. should include local plans” (Kashem, 314).
Depthmap Research Along with social interventions, designers can look at a place like Martin Pena, which was informally settled and see how informality has created barriers for their communities. Depthmap is a software program developed with the relationship between research and design in mind. “Depthmap embodies a theory of the city, as well as being a method for analyzing the city.” (Turner, 155). As an example used in the Martin Pena, we analyze road lines as indicators for disconnections in the city and spaces where placemaking design and planning need
Spatial Analysis High Connection --------------------------Low Connection
Source: Dolan, A H and I J Walker (2004), “Understanding vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change-related risks” , Journal of Coastal Research Vol 39, pages 1317-1324.
Case Study
After establishing social capital, how can designers use place-making strategies to connect in vulnerable communities?
Martin Pena, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
coastal communities, climate change, community action, resilience, planning and design, place-making, space syntax
San Juan
Martin Pena
Non-Places: Dumping Sites Along the Martin Pena Channel
History
Goal Development
Analysis and Design
Economic Support
Planning
Flood-able Pedestrian Recreation Sspots
Martin Pena in the 1920s
The Martin Pena community was established along the Martin Pena Channel in the 1920s. At this time, farmers moved into the city to be closer to industrial job opportunities. As people settled here, the population grew and expanded into the floodplains.
Design Spatial Analysis
The Martin Pena community has around 26,000 people who live within the eight barrios and is one of the poorest communities in Puerto Rico. Flooding
Implementation Site Design
design + physical change
Martin Pena Original Housing
Flood Levels Map - Rainfall and Road Flooding
This condition exposes inhabitants to a greater risk of developing asthma, gastrointestinal diseases, and mosquitoborne illnesses. When Hurricane Maria struck in 2017 causing mass infrastructure devastation, the Martin Pena community, that was already struggling, was extremely affected.
r
Flood-able Pedestrian Recreation Sspots
Different Levels of Flooding
Building a Relationship between homes and the Martin Pena Channel
x xx Reconnecting and Orienting Houses towards the Channel
Developed by the ENLACE organization, this map highlights areas in Martin Pena that experience high levels of flooding, road flooding, and areas of extreme flooding according to the amount of rainfall. This map is used in accordance with the development of a masterplan and major intervation sites.
This social vulnerability map highlights where poverty, disease, and unemployment is in the Martin Pena Community as of 2019.
al
Vegetation to act as Filtration
impacts this area frequently, exposing the community to major health and infrastructure risks.
capital moment for change
Elevated North -South Pedestrian Connection
“Mud Slums”
Map Analysis
social
tu a n
3. Grow
Puerto Rico is an island territory of the United States in the Caribbean Sea about 1000 miles southeast of Miami, Florida. San Juan is the capital of Puerto Rico and also holds the largest population in the state.
Research Framework Community Engagement
San Juan
Low Vulnerability ------------------ High Vulnerability
Channel Access
North - South Connection
Conclusion Research
Goal Development Community Engagement
Economic Support
Planning
Design
Planning + Design
Spatial Analysis
Implementation Site Design
poverty
Localization of Power (to the people!)
failing infrastructure
Social Vulnerability
Advocation for Place-Making and Place-Keeping
Meaningful Planning Process
Floodplain 1% Annual Chance Flood Hazard 0.2% Annual Chance Flood Hazard Regulatory Floodway Special Floodway Area with Reduced Risk Due to Levee
Roads
Residen�al Primary
historically poor coastal communties
Conscientious Deliberate Action
Floodplain
Future Conditions 1% Annual Chance Flood Hazard
1% Annual Chance Flood Hazard
Secondary Ter�ary
0.2% Annual Chance Flood Hazard Regulatory Floodway Special Floodway
0
0.125
0.25
0.5
0.75
1 Miles
Conditions 1% Annual Chance Flood Hazard Percentage of People Living with aFuture Disability Area with Reduced Risk Due to Levee
Roads
Grassroots
Residen�al Primary
Floodmap, Road Delineation, & Topography
Secondary Ter�ary
There is no immediate relationship with the houses along the channel to the channel’s edge. There are signs posted everywhere claiming, “por favor no basura” or “please don’t dump your trash.” The intention of this design is to accomplish two main objectives. Objective one is to have the houses ‘turn’ and face the channel, creating a sense of ownership for those who are adjacent to the Martin Pena Channel.
Pedestrian Connection
How Planning Shapes Place
public health crisis
On the ground, places in need of intervention are obvious. The spaces along the Martin Pena Channel, that are fenced and inaccessible to the public have become the community dumping grounds (Figure 2). These spaces are the same areas we see on the Depthmap analysis being heavily disconnected from the the rest of the neighborhood. We can qualify these disconnections as non-places, areas in need of intervention. By using Depthmap in the Martin Pena neighborhood, I could not only target specific areas in need 1.Restore of intervention, but evaluate overall issues of connection throughout the entire site. This information lays the 2. Reconnect foundation for designers to develop a masterplan as well as know how to reconnect.
Site Context
Keywords
to intervene. Specifically, Depthmap can look at analysis called “choice”. “Choice measures the quantity of movement that passes through each spatial element on shortest or simplest trips between all pairs of spatial elements in a system (again up to a certain radius and given a definition of distance (Turner 156)” meaning that the lines that have the most amount of, “simple trips” are the best and most connected features in the neighborhood. Connection and choice is a way to measure the efficiency of the urban pattern.
References
Urban design comes in when all other things have already been done. Planning and design, when done concurrently can create and mend neighborhoods. What is vital and important to remember in this process is how planning and design shapes a sense of place. There must first be a localization of power to the people, advocacy for place-making and place-keeping, contentious and deliberate action, and a meaningful planning process. Without any of these elements, the entire process is doomed for failure.
1. Adelekan, Ibidun O. “Vulnerability of Poor Urban Coastal Communitites to Flooding in Lagos, Nigeria.” Environment and Urbanization 22, 2 (2010): 433-50. https://doi.org/10.1177/0956247810380141. 2. Cannon, Terry. “Reducing People’s Vulnerability to Natural Hazards Communitites and Resilience.” WIDER (2008): 1-17. 3. Susan Cutter, Lindsey Barnes, Melissa Berry, Christopher Burton, Elijah Evans, Eric Tate, Jennifer Webb. “A Place-Based Model for Understanding Community Resilience to Natural Disasters.” 4. Friedmann, John. “Place and Place-Making in Cities: A Global Perspective.” Planning Theory & Practice 11, 2 (2010): 149-65. 5. Bill Hillier, Tao Yang, Alasdair Turner. “Normalising Least Angle Choice in Depthmap and How It Opens up New Perspectives on the Global and Local Analysis of City Space.” The Journal of Space syntax 3, no. 2 (2012): 155-93. 6. Shakil Bin Kashem, Bev Wilson, Shannon Van Zandt. “Planning for Climate Adaption: Evaluating the Changing Patterns of Social Vulnerability and Adaption Challenges in Three Coastal Communitites.” SAGE 36, 3 (2016): 304-18. https:// doi.org/10.1177/0739456X16645167. 7. Kuei-Hsien Liao, Tuan Anh Le, Kien Van Nguyen. “Urban Design Priciples for Flood Resilience: Learning from the Ecological Wisdom of Living with Floods in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta.” Landscape and Urban Planning (2016): 69-78. 8. Thomas, Tanner. “Livelihood Resilience in the Face of Climate Change.” Nature Climate Change 1, January 2015 (January 2014 2014): 23-26. 9. B. L. Turner, Roger Kasperson, Pamela Matson, James McCarthy, Robert Corell, Lindsey Christensen, Noelle Eckley, Jeanne Kasperson, Amy Luers, Marybeth Martello, Colin Polsky, Alexander Pulsipher, Andrew Schiller. “A Framework for Vulnerability Analysis in Sustainability Science.” PNAS 100, 14 (July 8, 2003 2003): 8074-79.