The Gulf of Maine is an international watershed in the North Atlantic stretching north from Provincetown at the tip of Massachusetts Bay in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to Cape Sable on the Bay of Fundy in the province of Nova Scotia in Canada. For over 13,000 years, the Gulf has been developed around access to the coast for fishing, trading, and recreation. Today, these coastal development patterns put the cultural landscapes, economies, communities, and aging infrastructure systems along the Gulf at risk.
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Climate Futures on the Gulf of Maine uses place-based scenario planning to illustrate the risks, vulnerabilities, and plausible futures for ten infrastructure systems along the rim of the Gulf. Place-based scenario planning is a method of long-term strategic planning that creates representations of multiple, plausible futures that are used to inform decision-making in the present. While complementary to probabilistic models used to forecast future vulnerabilities, scenario-based planning shifts emphasis from statistical probability to ways of thinking about the future. The goal of place-based scenario planning is not to predict the most likely outcome, but to reveal biases and blind spots in complex and non-linear situations.
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Climate Futures uses the medium of landscape representation to surface the cultural value systems embedded in existing infrastructural systems, and position landscape as a driver when evaluating design from individual infrastructures to the Gulf of Maine watershed.
After the Storm of the Century, overwash is cleared off the runway at Provincetown Municipal Airport, revealing cracks in the tarmac. The estimated cost of repairs exceed revenues, and the Provincetown Airport Commission ends its lease with the Cape Cod National Seashore, beginning the process of decommissioning the airport. The tarmac is depaved and terminals removed, followed by heavy metal remediation. The figure of the historic runway is most clearly visible in June, when the salt-loving chokeberries planted there erupt in bloom. Limited emergency air travel to the region is re-routed to Cape Cod Gateway Airport in Barnstable.
Provincetown Municipal Airport redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
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Scenario 2
CATCHMENT COMMONS
Catchment Commons implements decentralized landscape infrastructure systems at watershed scales. The scenario proposes the proactive relocation and reconstruction of critical infrastructure systems out of highly vulnerable areas and restores and remediates their former sites in anticipation of future flooding.
Dike Bridge #2246 is removed and traffic is rerouted south to Route 92 from Machiasport to East Machias. A reinforced timber boardwalk is installed across the rivers, restoring tidal flow. A living shoreline is installed around downtown Machias as part of a comprehensive adaptation plan for which the wastewater treatment plant is relocated and business and residences are elevated.
US-Route 1 Dike Bridge #2246 redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
A riparian buffer is planted along the Salmon River after the railway is diverted north to a narrower crossing of the Salmon River. The realignment is part of a broader plan to improve Via Railway that takes three years to complete, during which time train service is cancelled while the fleet is electrified.
Salmon River Railway Bridge redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant begins to be decommissioned. The process will take over twenty years, but begins with moving the seawall inland, restoring marshland, and planting salt-tolerant trees along the former plant roadway.
Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
A terraced wetland filtration system is installed at the Saco Water Treatment Plant campus. The system captures wastewater from the nearby combined sewer outflow (CSO) outfall and purifies wastewater before releasing it into the Saco River. The Water Treatment Plant continues to serve fifty million customers in its limited footprint.
Saco Water Treatment Plant redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
After a waste-to-energy facility serving the Cape Ann region opens, the Gloucester Wastewater Treatment Plant is gradually decommissioned, decontaminated, and disassembled. While the site remains inaccessible during the long process of phytoremediation, visitors can observe the process as they walk the boardwalk over restored saltmarsh grasses planted along the former path of Essex Avenue.
Gloucester Wastewater Treatment Plant redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
Two additional cables: one broadband internet and one electric, are laid over the seabed from Stonington to Isle au Haut. The electric cable delivers solar energy installed over parking lots to the island, while the microgrid site is stewarded by the Isle au Haut Electric Power Company Land Trust.
Isle au Haut microgrid site redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
The Sears Island causeway is depaved and its fill gradually washes away, revealing a tombolo that provides access to the island at low tide. A pier allows access to Sears Island, which is declared as protected conservation land in perpetuity.
Sears Island redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
Helicopters land on the roof of Yarmouth Regional Hospital during emergencies. The helipad and parking lots are depaved, decreasing the amount of impervious surfaces on the hospital campus. A waterfront park designed to restore salt marsh and coastal forest invites hospital patients out onto the grounds.
Yarmouth Regional Hospital redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
Lubec Consolidated School is moved on a flatbed truck and relocated to higher ground in West Lubec. The School’s former site on South Street is depaved. The area is planted with a coastal buffer of salt-tolerant trees and shrubs.
Lubec Community School redesigned using decentralized adaptation strategies.
