Louisiana State University

Coastal Sustainability Studio

Draft 2/23/11

The LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio

In Coastal Louisiana and the Gulf South, nothing is more pressing than the challenge of sustaining the ecological, settlement, and economic frame-work of the coastal region. The mission of Louisi-ana State University’s Coastal Sustainability Stu-dio, initiated in 2009, is to address this challenge. The Studio is a place where scientists, engineers, and designers come together to intensively study and respond to issues at the intersection of settle-ment, coastal restoration, flood protection, and the economy. Often pitted against one another, these themes are in fact bound together through their primary relationship to the Mississippi River. The river is the shared backbone to our economy, en-vironment, and way of life. The goal of the CSS is to envision and design sustainable systems that reduce vulnerability associated with increased storm strength, land subidence, habitat degradation, and global envi-ronmental change. The environmental and soci-etal issues in coastal Louisiana mirror similar con-cerns in major river delta regions worldwide. At the

CSS Executive Director: Robert TwilleyLSU CSS Director: Jeff CarneyCSS Associate Director: Lynne CarterAdvisory Committee: Jori Erdman, Elizabeth Mossop, Clint Willson

same time the specific problems facing the delta are unique. To address these challenges the CSS was concieved as a laboratory to develop new strategies that reduce risk to social, economic, and natural resources. The results of this design experimentation provide a sound basis for major policy decisions that focus on adaptation through more sustainable regional land-use planning, pro-tection, and education.

Over the course of our first year we have suc-ceeded in engaging with communities, developed strong connections across the different disciplines, become a space for exchange on the LSU cam-pus, and begun to affect the discourse about the coast in the media, political, and academic realms on the local, state, federal, and even global levels.

This booklet is a snapshot of our first 18 months of operation. Please contact us for more information about current and future projects, or ways that you can become involved in the studio.

How the Studio Works

The purpose of LSU’s Coastal Sustainability Stu-dio is to develop innovative and sustainable solu-tions to critical problems associated with coastal protection and restoration in Louisiana through the collaboration of local and out-of-state multidis-ciplinary experts.

The studio is trans-disciplinary. All of our projects engage at least three disciplines primarily drawn from the School of the Coast and the Environ-ment, The College of Engineering, and The Col-lege of Design but also joined by students and faculty of law, history, geography, and philosophy and religious studies.

The studio is community based. CSS products are developed through collaboration with our local partners. Our work is subject to input and review by community members and other outside experts, and the project teams take all of those inputs and develop remarkable new ways to accomplish the multi-purpose goals of various projects.

The Studio is a physical space. Located in a large open space in the Design Building we in-corporate training, learning, and demonstration to help educate and train students, staff, and faculty on the principles and practice of coastal sustain-ability and systems thinking.

CSS participants work to design integrated proj-ects that fit the goals of the State of Louisiana Master Plan. Designs should aim to reduce eco-nomic losses and protect assets, promote a sus-tainable coastal ecosystem through utilizing natu-ral processes, provide suitable habitats to support an array of commercial and recreational activities, and sustain the unique heritage of coastal Loui-siana.

Using the Power of the River

The principle that guides the studio starts from the re-engagement with the powerful Mississippi River in order to nourish, replenish, and adapt the delta to a changing environment. “Reconnecting” the river represents a major paradigm shift. It is a dramatic move away from the relentless and short sighted control of nature to an approach based on building capacity for ecological resilience. Em-ploying a mix of hard and soft infrastructure the CSS strategy is framed by a delta-wide system of controlled “pulses” of sediment rich waters deliv-ered through large-scale river diversions. “Giving the river room” at the regional scale pres-ents huge challenges and opportunities at the local scale. It is not enough to propose to allow the river to rebuild subsiding land; our communi-ties must develop the tools to grow in harmony with changing conditions. The CSS approach to the city, town and neighborhood is predicated on nurturing settlement patterns that work with wet-land and river processes and that are resilient to their sudden fluctuations. The neighborhood as

we know it will have to evolve — to become bet-ter integrated with natural systems and flexible to changing water levels. Its buildings will have to el-evate, and increased open space will be needed to absorb seasonal floodwaters to name a few of the adaptations necessary.

Living with sea level rise, land subsidence, and increasingly destructive storms is a terrifying prospect for the citizens of Louisiana. A sustained and resilient future for New Orleans and coastal Louisiana will depend upon the power of the Mis-sissippi River to build land and feed the wetlands that provide essential protection from storms. The Coastal Sustainability Studio seeks to bring the power of the river back to the heart of New Or-leans and challenges us to see a future based not on the river’s control but on its potential to shape a new landscape.

Studio Projects

Every year the Studio undertakes up to four new research and design projects of varying scales. Each project is run by an interdisciplinary team involving at least three faculty members from dif-ferent disciplines. In addition, the Studio is devel-oping larger scale projects that will evolve over several years depending on the research inter-ests and capacities of involved faculty, students and research fellows.

Bayou Bienvenue

During the first year of the CSS, our primary proj-ect area was the Central Wetlands Unit and the Lower 9th Ward of New Orleans. Hurricane Ka-trina’s disproportionate toll on the Lower 9th Ward was directly related to the pre-existing environ-mental degredation of the natural environment surrounding New Orleans.

The cypress forest that once protected the city from storm surges was extensive, encompass-ing 30,000 acres. Since the construction of the MRGO, the entire forest has died and turned to open water. The Lower 9th Ward suffered espe-cially extensive damage — and many deaths — from the post-Katrina flooding caused by the fail-ure of the Industrial Canal, which passes through the area. Five years later the neighborhood is still struggling to rebuild.

Our design is driven by the concept of a robust wetland zone that supports a resilient natural en-vironment alongside sustained human settlement. The northern part of the Lower 9th is transformed

Project Location:9th Ward, New Orleans

Project Team:Elizabeth Mossop, Jeffrey Carney, Jason Bordelon, Marcelle Boudreaux, Devon Boutte, Bradley Cantrell, Louise Cheetham, Tom Grubbs, Josef Hoffman, Mary Martinich, Jacques Metevier, Matt Moerschbaecher, Natalie Yates

to optimize its location on the water’s edge. Dense housing and community buildings are concentrat-ed in infrastructural corridors; schools and other institutions benefit from the wetland. Large open spaces provide opportunities for urban agriculture and stormwater retention.

The wetland is neither a void nor buffer but a rich locus for a new kind of neighborhood — one that builds on the long Louisiana tradition of living with water.

Over the course of this year a team of architecture, landscape architecture, coastal ecology, econom-ics, and engineering faculty and students have designed new strategies for this region’s future. This comprehensive view ranges from the neigh-borhood to the region and showcases the inter-relationships that extend across different scales.

Commuinity outreach is continuing on this project with our community partner Center for Sustainable Engagement and Design (CSED).

Barataria Exchange: Jean LafitteProject Team:Meredith Sattler, Aron Chang,

Learning from Lafitte takes a trans-disciplinary approach to the examination of relationships be-tween the built, natural and cultural environments of the Jean Lafitte area, 35 minutes south of New Orleans by car, in the Barataria Basin. At the core of the project’s research proposals and studios, run in conjunction with the LSU School of Archi-tecture, is the development of place-based resil-iency strategies; with emphasis on environmental systems and services, and community service and engagement. Comprised of independent scholarly research and two architectural studios: a fourth year un-dergraduate service-learning studio “Barataria Exchange” and a second year graduate level stu-dio focused on environmental systems “Learning from Lafitte”, the project leverages the expertise of Lafitte residents, academics, social activists, historical precedents/research, and students through in-depth exploration of the geography’s complex systemic coastal issues. In the Fall 2010 term, the Barataria Exchange Studio challenged students to reexamine operations of place via

unconventional oppositions of “inside vs. outside” and “natural vs. artificial” through an intense five-stage process: creating a common language, en-gagement, reflection, re-engagement and critique. Ultimately resulting in the development of propos-als and a trans-disciplinary pedagogy for design education, the project expands the application of architectural studio and disciplinary strategies as a framework for engaging multiple communities and types of knowledge through design process. Project proposals and paradigm are disseminated through academic peer-reviewed publications and lectures, and in regular meetings and presenta-tions with the Mayor, Council(wo)men and resi-dents of Lafitte. Additionally, as a mechanism to further the project’s outcomes, an experimental Zine publication, designed for distribution within the town of Jean Lafitte and targeted parties within the region’s resiliency and academic communities, catalyzes sophisticated dialogue between diverse stakeholders.

Measured Change: Transformation in the Louisiana Long LotLafourche Parish

Project Team:Kristi Dykema, Jeff Carney, Michael Pasquier,

Ben Wellington, Kirk Oldenburg, Danae Faulk

The French introduced a unit of land division, known as the arpent or long lot system, to Loui-siana during the 18th century. Since then, resi-dents along the waterways of coastal Louisiana have adapted this original mode of settlement to suit the changing environmental and social land-scape of the region. Measured Change: Track-ing Transformations on Bayou Lafourche brings together a multidisciplinary team of scholars who are committed to understanding how such a resil-ient system of land management can help current inhabitants face future challenges to coastal liv-ing. Bayou Lafourche, the project’s primary site of investigation, is one among several waterways in the Mississippi Delta with a deep dependence on the long lot system, as well as a history of con-structing canals and levees that have dramatically affected the economic potential and cultural fabric of Louisiana. By understanding the intricacies of life along Bayou Lafourche, we add to our knowl-edge of how people dwell on land and with water in sustainable ways.

image: 1, 2, or 3

Bayou Lafourche and the arpent system, while unique to Louisiana in many important ways, are also representative of the adaptability of coastal communities to momentous environmental and social changes that span centuries and cross con-tinents. The prototypical quality of Bayou Lafour-che is reinforced by the region’s proven capacity for flexibility and rigidity at key moments of trans-formation, such as hurricanes, floods, technologi-cal innovations, industrial developments, coastal erosion, and economic cycles of boom and bust. Moreover, the potential application of this proj-ect to other places suggests ways to collaborate across academic disciplines and geographic areas of investigation that hinge on the crucial relation-ship between people, land, and water. Reference to recent literature and practice, as well as how this can be used in designing places and teaching about place.

�ll for home foundation

borrow for drainage

�ll for roadlow �at pasture land

vertical land manipulation for control

�oodable yard space

Terrebonne Parish: Envisioning Change

Project Team:Clint Willson, Jeff Carney, Victor Rivera-Monroy

Chris Peoples, Jennifer Bonnet, Alexandra Giancarlo, Matt Seibert

The Terrebonne West Project focuses on the natu-ral- and anthropogenic-induced influences on the changing landscape and how the complexities of this issue can be conveyed to the public. Our re-search is broadly focussing on issues including relative sea level rise, wetland composition and structure, navigation and flood control structures, industrial and economic patterns, and settlement development and change. This information will be used to provide solid engineering, science-based design, and descriptions of the causes for the landscape change and to better inform the public and state/federal agencies and decision-makers on the potential impacts of the proposed restora-tion and protection alternatives. The project team has made multiple visits to the region to better understand the system(s) and to meet with local individuals and public officials.

The culmination of much of the early research is a distilation of the problems that people of Lower Terrebonne face into a short illustrated guide. The document explains in clear text and images the

causes of the changing environment, regional scale solutions and alternatives, project proposals to combat coastal change, specific ways that indi-viduals can adapt, and legal guidance for federal and state regulations and protections.

An additional project that we have just begun is a study of storm evacuation that will be used to help state and federal agencies develop more culturally relavent plans for evacuation in the future.

Outreach

One of the missions of the Coastal Sustainability Studio is to share project results with the larger public and our respective academic and profes-sional constituencies. To that end, our faculty and student researchers and designers have partici-pated in many academic and public lectures, pub-lications and exhibits. In addition, the Studio acts as a repository and disseminator of knowledge by hosting an in-house lecture series with speakers on topics related to coastal sustainability.

In The Mississippi Delta: Constructing with Water2010 Venice Biennale. Venice, Italy

CSS Project Team:Elizabeth Mossop, Jeffrey Carney, Jori Erdman, Clint Wilson, Robert Twilley, Lynne Carter, Jason Bordelon, Marcelle Boudreaux, Devon Boutte, Bradley Cantrell, Louise Cheetham, Andrea Galinski, Tom Grubbs, Josef Hoffman, Brandon Maggiore, Mary Martinich, Ursula Emery McClure, Michael McClure, Jacques Metevier, Matt Moerschbaecher, Natalie Yates

Princeton Team: Guy Nordenson, Katherine Sevet, Anthony Fontenot

This exhibition was a collaborative project be-tween the LSU Coastal Sustainability Studio and a multi-disciplinary team from Princeton University. The study proposes a series of five large-scale sediment diversions along the lower Mississippi river to rebuild subsiding land in the delta.

The natural resources provided by the Mississippi Delta have been hugely important to the indus-trial development of Louisiana and the coutry as a whole. Tidal wetlands support the shrimp and oyster industries, while the main river supports the largest bulk cargo port in the world and the largest container port in the US. The wetlands and deeper waters of the gulf of Mexico hold as much as 1/3 of the oil and natural gas used in the United States. However, the cutting of canals to support these industries has allowed saltwater to intrude far into fresh water marshes, effectively killing them. The clearing of wetlands for grazing and housing causes wetlands to dry out and subside. Conse-quently, this fragile environment is disappearing at an alarming rate. Made worse by sea-level rise and increased storm intensity, the situation is on

a trajectory to degrade further unless new strate-gies for restoration, protection, and adaptation are employed.

This project proposes regional-scale interven-tions into the man-made and natural processes that currently shape the constructed landscape. The project studies the outcomes of creating ro-bust sediment diversions from the river along with various “soft infrastructure” interventions including man-made barrier islands, oyster reefs, and wave and wind turbines. By activating new land forma-tions and reviving existing biologically diverse habitats, the proposal challenges the hard infra-structure ideology of the 20th century with a soft infrastructural strategy of the 21st century.

As evidenced by the devastating effects of recent hurricanes and the deepwater Horizon oil spill, the abuse sufferend by the Gulf Coast has severely weakened its ability to sustain itself. The future of settlement, our national economy, and defense may rest on a bold solution to these problems.

Lecture series

September 10 Richard Condrey

The Mississippi’s last natural delta, 1519-1807: Rediscovery and implicationsAssociateProfessorDepartmentofOceanographyandCoastalSciencesLouisianaStateUniversity

September 24 Ehab Meselhe

Myrtle Grove Delta Building Diversion Modeling EffortDirector,CenterforLouisianaWaterStudiesInstituteofCoastalEcologyandEngineeringProfessor,DepartmentofCivilEngineeringTheUniversityofLouisianaatLafayette

October 8Helen Regis People as Infrastructure: Fostering Collaboratives in New OrleansGraduateStudiesDirectorDepartmentofGeography&AnthropologyAssociateProfessor,Geography&Anthropology,Women’sandGenderStudiesLouisianaStateUniversity

October 15Sarah Mack Carbon and Louisiana WetlandsPresidentTierraResourcesLLCWaterResourceManagementSpecialistNewOrleans,Louisiana

November 5 Craig Colten

Forgetting the Unforgettable: Social Memory and Resilience in New Orleans CarlO.SauerProfessorDepartmentofGeographyandAnthropologyLouisianaStateUniversity

November 19 Andy Nyman

What were they thinking? Consequences of levees, the Old River Control Structure, and living on wetland soils

AssociateProfessorSchoolofRenewableNaturalResourcesLouisianaStateUniversityandLouisianaStateUniversityAgriculturalCenter

December 3 Dan Etheridge

Sustaining United Houma Nation Coastal CommunitiesAssistantProfessorSchoolofArchitectureAssistantDirector,TulaneCityCenterTulaneUniversity

CoastalSustainabilityStudioBrownbagLectureSeries

11:30-12:30Room212

DesignBuilding

LouisianaStateUniversity

January 21

Barry Keim Louisiana Chief ClimatologistDepartment of Geography and AnthropologyLouisiana State University

January 28

Wes Michaels Assistant ProfessorDirector, Urban Landscape LabRobert Reich School of Landscape ArchitectureLouisiana State UniversityPrincipal, Spackman, Mossop + Michaels Landscape Architects

February 11

Angela Desoto Duncan Chief, Technical Support BranchHurricane Protection Of ceNew Orleans DistrictUS Army Corps of Engineers

February 25

Ursula Emery McClure Emogene Pliner Associate ProfessorSchool of ArchitectureLouisiana State UniversityPartner, emerymcclure architecture, llc

March 11

Jerome Zeringue Deputy Executive DirectorState Of ce of Coastal Protection and RestorationBoard Member, Louisiana Oyster Task Force

March 25

Roy Dokka Fruehan Endowed ProfessorDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringExecutive Director, Center for GeoInformaticsDirector, Louisiana Spatial Reference CenterLouisiana State University

April 8

Jay EdwardsProfessor Department of Geography and AnthropologyDirector, Fred B. Kniffen Cultural Resources LabLouisiana State University

May 6

Jim ChenAssociate ProfessorDepartment of Civil and Environmental EngineeringLouisiana State University

11:30 - 12:30Room 212 Design Building

Louisiana State University Coastal Sustainability Studio Spring 2011 Brownbag Lecture Series

Photo Credit: Kristi Dykema Cheramie

The studio is in its second semester of hosting a lunch time lecture series. We bring speakers from around the University and the Region to give talks about coastal issues to a multi-disciplinary audience.

Courses

Faculty who work in the CSS have been extending the reach of the organization through teaching. The response from students and colleagues has been overwhelmingly positive. The ideas that have been developed in courses are feeding back into the CSS projects and vice-versa.

Civil Engineering 4260“Hydrologic Design: Rebuilding the 9th Ward”Clint Willson

Landscape Architecture and Architecture 7004“City Retracted: A Long View for Coastal Louisi-ana”Jori Erdman and Jeff Carney

Architecture 4001“Barataria Exchange”Aron Chang

Architecture 5002“Rural Transformation: The Long Lot and the Future Fabric of Dwelling on Louisiana’s Coast“Jeff Carney

Religion 2000“Introduction to the Study of Religion: The Social Fabric of Coastal Louisiana”Michael Pasquier

Publications

Papers:

Carney, J“Constructing a Resilient Louisiana Coast: Re-turning the Mississippi River to its Delta” . Justice Spatiale/Spatial Justice . (Forthcoming) April 2011

Mossop, E and Carney, J“In the Mississippi Delta: Building with Water” . Places Magazine . September 2010

Conferences:

Wade, D“Legal Framework for Restoration in The Missis-sippi Delta Coastal Zone” . 2011, Chicago, IL . July 2011

Carney, J. Dykema-Cheramie, K. Pasquier, M.“Envisioning a Resilient Delta: A History and Speculation on the Louisiana Long Lot” . Coastal Zone 2011, Chicago, IL . July 2011

Mack, S and Carney, J, “Integrated Water Resource Management for Increased Resilience: Linking the Urban Envi-ronment to the Natural Ecosystem” . Resilience 2011. Second International Science and Policy Conference, Tempe, Arizona, USA . April 2011

Sattler, M“Learning from Lafitte: An Interdisciplinary Place-based Approach to Architectural Research and Education” . ARCC 2011 . Detroit, MI

Pasquier, M“A Plantation and a Church on a Bayou: Past, Present, Future, Roundtable on The Future of Southern Religious History” . American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, Atlanta, GA . November 2010.

Wade, D“Legal Framework for Restoration in The Missis-sippi Delta . Student Wetland Society at LSU” . Annual Conference . November 13, 2010

Faculty, research staff, and graduate students affiliated with the CSS have been engaged locally, nationally, and internationally this past year in publications, conferences, and lectures. Engagement in the academic world is an essential aspect of the work and an important way that our work is disseminated.

Willson, C.S.2010, Panel Member, “Managing Water in its Hydrologic Context: Platitude or Essential Premise” . 2010 American Water Resources Association An-nual Conference . Philadelphia, PA November 1-3, 2010.

Pasquier, M“Standard Lives: Visualizing the Culture of Oil in Louisiana” . Department of Religion, Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida . November 2010

Dykema-Cheramie, Kristi“Measured Change: A History and Speculation on the Louisiana Long Lot” . The Planned World Conference . Vancouver, Canada . August 2010

Twilley, R“Deltas in Crisis: Mississippi River Delta in the Context of World Deltaic Systems” . World Delta Dialogues 2010 . Invited Speaker . October 2010

Erdman, JSmart Growth Conference Baton Rouge . September 2010

Carney, J"Living with the River: From Flood control to Controlled Flood" . Towards A Just Metropolis: From Crisis to Possibilities . University of California, Berkeley . June 2010

Public Lectures:

Mossop, E“In the Mississippi Delta: Building with Water” . Conference in Sydney, Australia . 2010

Mossop, E “In the Mississippi Delta: Building with Water” . Conference in Washington D.C. 2010

Exhibitions:

2010 Venice Biennale"Mississippi Delta: Constructing with Water" . Part of American Pavilion "Workshopping" . collaboration with Guy Nordenson, Catherine Seavit, and Anthony Fontenot . Venice, Italy

World Delta Dialogues 2010"Renewing the Mississippi Delta: Building Land with Water" . New Orleans, LA . October 2010

Getting Involved

The Coastal Sustainability Studio aims to provide a place for researchers and designers to come together in a work environment that facilitates col-laboration. In order to continue we are constantly looking for new members, either through projects and research or through sponsorship.

Project Submissions

Each Spring we accept submissions for project proposals, both from individuals within and from outside of the university.

To be considered for funding through the CSS projects must include the following:• participation from at least three different dis-

ciplines. (Primarily Design, Coastal Science, and Engineering)

• Engage a community partner in the develop-ment of the project

• Deal with issues of Coastal Resiliency in Lou-isiana.

Selected projects can recieve assistance in a range of ways from financial, to staffing, to the ex-pertiese of faculty in a range of fields.

Employment opportunities for research fellows, graduate students, research staff, and faculty are also available at the CSS.

Sponsorship

The Coastal Sustainability Studio has been fund-ed through a gift from Chevron and the America’s Wetlands Foundation for the first two years of our opperation. In the coming year we hope to ex-pand our funding base to enable us to engage in a wider range of activities and grow the organization to keep up with the demand for our work.

You can become involved in the CSS in many ways. Sponsorship of the CSS is possible through, but not limited to: • Core CSS funding• Fellow support• Project support• Student stipend

We invite and appreciate your interest in sup-porting the Coastal Sustainability Studio. Please contact us to discuss participation and support op-tions.

Contacts

Contact the CSS:

css@lsu.edu225-578-4990212 Design BuildingLouisiana State UniversityBaton Rouge, LA70803

CSS Advisory Board:

Robert Twilley, PhDCSS Executive DirectorVice President for ResearchUniversity of Louisiana at Lafayettertwilley@lsu.edu

Jeff Carney, LEED APLSU CSS DirectorAssistant Professor - ResearchCollege of Art and Designjcarney@lsu.edu

Lynne Carter, PhDCSS Associate DirectorAssociate Director, Southern Climate Impacts Planning Programlynne@srcc.lsu.edu

Jori Erdman, AIA, LEED APAdvisory BoardDirector and Professor, School of Architecturejerdman@lsu.edu

Elizabeth MossopAdvisory BoardProfessor, School of Landscape Architectureemossop@lsu.edu

Clint Willson, PhD, PEAdvisory BoardProfessor, College of Engineeringcwillson@lsu.edu

LSU Coastal Sustainability Studiocss@lsu.edu225-578-4990212 Design BuildingLouisiana State UniversityBaton Rouge, LA70803