Van Alen Institute launches Miami ‘Sea-Level Rise Challenge’

The Van Alen Institute recently launched an $850,000 design initiative seeking innovative solutions to protect Miami and surrounding South Florida from the consequences of sea level rise.

Keeping Current: A Sea-Level Rise Challenge for Greater Miami has support from The Rockefeller Foundation, The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and The Miami Foundation. Sponsored by Target, the program invites “interdisciplinary design teams to propose implementable and replicable solutions for three sea-level rise challenges that also address regional issues of economy, ecology and equity,” per the press release.

Back on November 16, Van Alen Institute hosted a one-day research summit kicking off the project.

VAI will also create a public report “depicting the guidelines established by the research team, which will inform designers responding to the Keeping Current challenges and future design efforts to better understand their opportunities for a resilient Miami.” This will be made available to the public in February on their website.

The initiative plans to break ground on two “resilient redesigns,” one being a park in addition to another public space. Their first of three design competitions will be announced early next year and a timeline is outlined below.