Blurred Lines: From Fragmentation to the Common on the Urban Coastal Edges
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Title
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Blurred Lines: From Fragmentation to the Common on the Urban Coastal Edges
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Description
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Landscape architects often regard sea level rise on urban coastal edges as solely an environmental issue, relying on the design of edges and lines to fortify the coast. However, this thesis believes that climate adaptation is also
a socio-culture issue. This project starts from inside to outside, as we need a new type of city to co-exist with future conditions.
Castle Hill neighborhood on the Southern coast of the Bronx, New York City is selected as the case study site. Driven by urban developments of Manhattan, this area went through urban fragmentation and is likely to be severely impacted by the climate crisis or climate-related issues in the future due to the vulnerability of the community.
This thesis regards the preparation for climate change as an opportunity to re-frame the urban system, bringing in the hydrological, ecological, and social infrastructure, blurring the edges and boundaries, and reversing urban
fragmentation.
The ecology acts as a means to activate the blurring, mediating the edges and lines with water and land. It encapsulates the social interventions that engage with multiple social groups to generate a matrix of eco-hydro-social conditions, gradually transforming the fragmented spaces into a common landscape.
The thesis uses a website as the media to simulate an online forum. The forum connects governments, professionals, public interest organizations, and residents to plan and progressively carry out a series of transformative projects in the urban spaces within the neighborhood. The forum’s format can improve the efficiency and universality of communication, turning hierarchy into partnerships. It encourages all kinds of social groups related to Castle Hill Neighborhood to provide their opinions, forming a community with voice and power.
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Creator
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Xiao, Sufeng
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Subject
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Climate change adaptation
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Coastal resilience
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Community landscape
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Cultural specificity
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Urban infrastructure
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Landscape architecture
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Ecology
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Social research
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Contributor
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Douglas, Craig
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Date
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2021-05-21T13:53:03Z
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2021
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2021-05-20
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2021-05
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2021-05-21T13:53:03Z
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Type
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Thesis or Dissertation
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text
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Format
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application/pdf
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application/pdf
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Identifier
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Xiao, Sufeng. 2021. Blurred Lines: From Fragmentation to the Common on the Urban Coastal Edges. Master's thesis, Harvard Graduate School of Design.
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28541364
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https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37367636
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Language
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en