INFRASTRUCTURES THAT THINK
Climate Resilient Networks of Energy for Self-Sustaining Communities
The term “resiliency” has been in steady rise in both popular media and academia since the early 1970’s just when the world began experiencing the economic and ecological repercussions of oil dependency. In this research, resiliency refers to a community (urban or rural) that is able to withstand and adapt to climatic shocks and uncertainties. The popularity of this term nowadays is not by chance, recent research states that 571 cities in Europe and many major and smaller cities of US are destined to face the effects of climate change . Other recent data show that our acts do not seem to improve the resiliency of our cities and our planet. The United Nations states that the earth could face unsafe and irreversible levels of temperature rise if greenhouse gas emissions do not begin to fall by 2020 . On the other hand, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports that, by affecting both average and extreme temperatures, climate change will increase the likely-hood of the weather-related disasters that we will face . The problem of climate change and the chain of disastrous events that follow it are therefore, international, multicultural and consequently pose a “wicked problem” that has to be addressed. There is no fast and easy solution to this problem. By nature, this wicked problem will need involvement from a wide array of disciplines and novel strategies. Only this way, can we propose a system of remedies, that will ultimately make our cities resilient and adaptable, both during the recovery period and for the future.
In Puerto Rico, the world witnessed what may be called a summary of what there is to come. On Sep. 20 2017, Puerto Rico’s whole power system was knocked out by Hurricane Maria and its telecommunications systems were only partially working. Already past its 160th day, power outage in Puerto Rico has become the longest power outage in US history . Puerto Rico faced this scenario due to its climatic vulnerability, but also because of its outdated and oil dependent power infrastructure. With power and communications cut, people in remote areas in Puerto Rico’s hilly landscape and tropical climate had no option but to survive on their own or wait for the authorities to repair the infrastructure.
My thesis, Climate Resilient Networks of Energy for Self-Sustaining Communities takes this extreme condition as a challenge and aims to see it as an opportunity to create a resilient, adaptable energy network model. This network model, composed of an alternative archetype for energy production and distribution will bring back these activities back into daily life of communities. This will enable energy to be governed by the communities and seen as a common good. As a result, energy becomes a common pool resource that is not supplied from a centralized infrastructure or a global corporation but supplied from local spaces, by common decision-making. Architecture as a discipline is in charge to innovate in the construction of this novel infrastructural and cultural artifact, a new archetype. The architect will contribute to this cause by bringing experts, professionals and communities together.
