Coastal habitable water infrastructures

Overview

Urban foreshores are increasingly emerging as the first line of adaptation and defence against extreme weather events, including sea-level rise, flooding, and storm surges, while simultaneously becoming sites of urban intensification to accommodate growing populations.  Under these pressures, foreshore water infrastructures can no longer afford to segregate habitation from infrastructure. This research reconceptualises foreshores as territories where water infrastructures and human and non-human habitation are intricately entangled in future urban conditions. It explores a new concept of habitable foreshore water infrastructure at the building, infrastructure, and landscape scales, focusing on its strategies, techniques, materiality, and prototyping within specific contexts.

Research activities

Literature review, precedent projects analysis, diagramming, digital modelling and prototyping.

Outcomes

The aim of this research is to reconceptualise foreshore infrastructures as habitat-forming systems capable of supporting marine, intertidal, and terrestrial species, human activities and occupation.

Skills and experience

The ideal candidate would be from a design discipline: architecture, landscape architecture, or urban design.

Keywords

• Coastal infrastructures
• Water infrastructures
• Human habitation

Contact

Dan Nyandega, daniel.nyandega@qut.edu.au