BUOYANT FOUNDATION RETROFITS AS A CLIMATE ADAPTATION & FLOOD MITIGATION SOLUTION FOR HERITAGE SITES
Channel: European Association of Archaeologists
Date: 29/12/2020

The Buoyant Foundation Project (BFP) provides innovative, sustainable, low-impact and low-cost flood mitigation strategies that enhance community and heritage resilience in the face of flooding and climate change, focusing on retrofits of existing housing for vulnerable populations and communities. BFP specializes in a specific type of amphibious construction -- retrofits to existing pierand-beam structures that enable them to stay in place until the event of a flood, when they are capable of rising, floating on the surface of the water, then returning to their original positions on their original foundations as the floodwaters recede. In environmentally sensitive locations (often historic, as well), buoyant foundation retrofits offer a tool to sit lightly on the land and live WITH flooding, temporarily, when it occurs. This strategy works in synchrony with natural cycles of flooding, allowing water to flow where it will rather than attempting to control it. Today, many historic coastal and riverine communities are faced with increasing flood risk, often combined with sea level rise and/or land erosion. Until now, the options available to owners of culturally significant heritage properties have been limited. The buoyant foundation retrofit tool offers communities hope and provides a viable alternative to under-resourced communities to fight buyouts, teardowns, and “displacement by climate change.” This tool will not solve all challenges related to the increased impacts of climate change on culturally significant places and sites, but will offer a strong alternative to communities that have longstanding unbreakable relationships to place and home. The implementation and testing of this tool is increasing. Currently, we are working in the following communities, with growing opportunities in other climate-impacted communities throughout the United States and internationally: Wharton, TX; Princeville, NC; Canada’s First Nations; Isle De Jean Charles tribal community in coastal Louisiana; Vietnam; Nova Scotia; and Jamaica.


Author(s): English, Elizabeth (University of Waterloo) - Wiser, Jeana (Buoyant Foundation Project)