Envision Resilience: bringing together the insights of local and national experts, the innovative research and designs of graduate students and the stories of people who call their coastal communities home.

The Challenge, by way of a Spring 2021 design studio, called on interdisciplinary teams of graduate students from Harvard, Yale, Northeastern, the Universities of Florida and Miami, to reimagine Nantucket Harbor under the current projections of sea level rise. In September 2020, the Town of Nantucket officially adopted the NOAA ‘High” Sea Level Rise Scenario for planning purposes. Under this projection, Nantucket would regularly see waters surrounding the Island rise by 4.13 feet above mean level by 2060, 6.36 feet by 2080 and 9.25 feet by 2100.

Teams were tasked to create visually impactful designs and to propose adaptations and innovations that might enable coastal communities to imagine what their future might look like with the impact of climate change. The Teams collaborated with 24 local and regional advisors with expertise in conservation, natural resources, architecture, preservation, marine biology, marine and civil engineering, transportation, economics and public policy as well as the community of Nantucket residents. designLAB founder Bob Miklos FAIA served as Co-Chair of Advisors with Marty Hylton of the Preservation institute of Nantucket for the five academic studios.