Login
Registered users
We are presenting some intriguing ideas from The Plan Journal’s themed issue “Resilient Edges.” In the first article “MaterialNature: An Opportunistic Paradigm of Architecture and Landscape Ecology,” the author Marcus Farr explains that “MaterialNature is a series of architectural entities that become landscapes over time, made from a mixture of residual materials designed specifically to be weatherized.” In the second article “Salinas: Interstices of the Urban, Cultural and Political Processes in Mediterranean Ecologies,” the author Ana Morcillo Pallares explains that “salinas, or Mediterranean coastal salt marshes, are priceless ecological wetlands, resilient spaces along the coast that have survived over time and hold incalculable cultural, historical, and ethnographic values associated with them. Today, artisanal sea salt production is no longer a profitable business, and in many cases, these spaces become a no-man’s-land in-between nature and city, falling victims to pressures of changing land uses and the unsustainable urban growth of the Mediterranean coastal tourism.” In the third contribution “Interrupted Atolls: Riskscapes and Edge Imaginaries in Tuvalu,” the authors Elizabeth Yarina and Shoko Takemoto explain that “atolls formed by coral reefs are mobile, living geographies, which resist attempts to harden their perimeter through structures such as seawalls.”
Finally, we share some thoughts about Resilient Communities Across Geographies.
>> We encourage you to browse The Plan Journal and investigate for yourself.
In the article “MaterialNature: An Opportunistic Paradigm of Architecture and Landscape Ecology,” the author Marcus Farr explains: “the goal of the material palette is to demonstrate performative criteria needed for a healthy beach, and to subsequently generate experiences that explore local landscape phenomena such as flower gardens, corals, sand dunes and succulent groves.”
Marcus Farr, Moeraki boulders. Courtesy of © the Author.
Farr continues to explain:
Because it is important for the project to contribute as little as possible to the landfill and to the man-made footprint of each individual area, the material from the 3D-printers is the only purely non-native material involved.
>> The article is available in THE PLAN Journal vol. 2/2017, no. 2 (in English)
In the article “Salinas: Interstices of the Urban, Cultural and Political Processes in Mediterranean Ecologies,” the author Ana Morcillo Pallares explains that the project pictured below:
had the ambitious objective of becoming an international reference of health tourism that provided a plan for touristic regeneration within the natural salt lagoon through the construction of three helical pavilions and thirty-five ft. [10,6 m] tall man-made dunes.
Ana Morcillo Pallares, unfinished Toyo Ito’s pavilion at the natural park of the Salinas de la Mata, Torrevieja, Alicante, Spain (2014). Photo by Alberto Di Lolli. Courtesy of © the Author.
Pallares continues to explain that:
“the nefarious decision of the local administration to build a spa within a space of great ecological value of the natural park of the Salinas de la Mata was doomed to fail. Without a previous environmental impact study and the required permission by the national governmental entity for the protection of coastal areas, the project was stopped in 2006 and, until today, the first unfinished pavilion remains in a state of abandonment.”
>> The article is available in THE PLAN Journal vol. 2/2017, no. 2 (in English)
In the essay “Interrupted Atolls: Riskscapes and Edge Imaginaries in Tuvalu,” the authors Elizabeth Yarina and Shoko Takemoto explore the:
interplay between politics, aid, technocratic solutions, media representations, global aspirations, local ambitions, and climate risk in Tuvalu through an examination of past/future seawalls and other proposals (realized and unrealized) for controlling atoll edges.
Elizabeth Yarina and Shoko Takemoto, seawall construction on Nukufetau atoll. Courtesy of © the Authors. Public domain, Hall Pacific.
Yarina and Takemoto consider cases in order to:
re-politicize the edge, unpacking the difficulties surrounding adaptation issues in small-island states, and explore alternative models of “resilient edges” for atoll-dwellers living with climate changes.
>> The essay is available in THE PLAN Journal vol. 2/2017, no. 2 (in English)
The 2021 text Resilient Communities Across Geographies, investigates the contexts of climate adaptation across a wide variety of built environments. Chapters two and four specifically explore resilient edges.
In chapter two “Resilience in coastal regions: The case of Georgia, USA,” the authors Rosanna G. Rivero, Alison L. Smith and Mariana B. Alfonso Fragomeni consider the use of a multidisciplinary approach and geodesign framework to achieve coastal resilience in Georgia.
In chapter four “The mouth of the Columbia River: USACE, GIS and resilience in a dynamic coastal system,” the authors Paul Cedfeldt, Jacob Watts, Hans Moritz and Heidi Moritz focus on safety and access to the Columbia River and explain how the United States Corps of Engineers have been instrumental in helping build resilience in the area.
To learn more, check out: Resilient Communities Across Geographies
Why support + read TPJ?
The Plan Journal is intended to disseminate and promote innovative, thought-provoking, and relevant research, studies, and criticism related to architecture and urbanism. The journal grew out of an awareness that academia is all too often engaged in research that’s disconnected from the real-world challenges that face different professions, and that research is only possible for a small number of professional organizations, and, even then, with limited platforms for its dissemination. The overarching aim of TPJ is therefore to enrich the dialogue between researchers and professionals so as to foster both pertinent new knowledge and intellectually driven modes of practice.
How does it work + why does it matter?
Prospective contributors are encouraged to submit proposals or complete manuscripts to the Editor-in-Chief. Subject to positive feedback, proposals can then be developed into complete manuscripts and submitted for review, using the dedicated portal on the TPJ website.
After preliminary approval, manuscripts will be forwarded to suitably qualified people for commenting. TPJ is committed to following a rigorous double-blind peer review process using at least two reviewers. The Editor-in-Chief may also occasionally invite recognized academics, critics, or professionals (including members of the editorial board) to contribute to the journal without going through the peer review process, if warranted by the author’s reputation.
