Design challenge brings together art and science to help change how Vancouverites think about sea-level rise
Changing language around sea-level rise can help people think differently, says city's sustainability officer
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During an event earlier this month, writers from four coastal cities — Vancouver, New York, Mumbai and Tokyo — typed out their thoughts about the prospect of rising sea levels.
Their words were projected on a large screen in Vancouver's Olympic Village, and a youth choir sang them out to the public.
In addition, a photography project on display showed how residents imagine they may be impacted by rising sea levels in and around False Creek.
The choir and photography were part of an event marking the end of the first phase of the Sea2City Design Challenge, a City of Vancouver project that aims to look at how the city can adapt to rising sea levels — particularly in the False Creek floodplain — and address the social, economic and ecological impacts coastal flooding will have in the future.
LISTEN | CBC's Johanna Wagstaffe on the Sea2City Design Challenge
Angela Danyluk, a biologist and senior sustainability officer with the city, says art can be a great way to connect with the public on the issue of climate change.
"You don't need to know all the stats behind climate change, but you do know how you feel about your relationship with the coast," Danyluk said.
Danyluk described the Sea2City Design Challenge as a friendly competition between two design teams that began last September.
When it comes to adapting to sea-level rise, Danyluk says, designers often think in one of three ways: resist by keeping water away, accommodate by letting water in according to risk tolerance, and avoid by getting out of water's way altogether.
But changing the language around sea-level rise can help people think differently about their relationship to the water, she says.
"'Resist' became 'acknowledge', 'accommodate' became 'host', 'move' and 'avoid' became 'restore' — restoring our relationship with the water, the land and with each other," she said.
Chuck McDowell of Mithun+One, one of the groups participating in the challenge, says their designs were deeply influenced by conversations with Indigenous cultural advisers and knowledge keepers, who spoke of how the land was once akin to a "traditional grocery store" filled with plant life and sea life.
He says there are plenty of issues that need to be addressed to bring back that natural plethora, such as watershed issues and the need to implement green infrastructure.
"There's a lot of work to do to make it happen, but bringing back that idea of natural abundance is really important to us," McDowell said.
Danyluk says now that the first phase of the design project is complete, they hope to present two to three pilot projects that can be implemented in False Creek over the next four to 10 years.
She says the city can look across Burrard Inlet for inspiration.
"It's funny, we all go to the North Shore on the weekend to be in the forest and it's full of cedar trees," she said. "Why can't we have cedar trees here in the city?"
LISTEN | How ready is Vancouver's False Creek for sea-level rise?
Climate change is one of the most pressing issues of our time. In B.C. we've witnessed its impacts with deadly heat waves, destructive floods and rampant wildfires. But there are people who are committed to taking meaningful strides, both big and small, toward building a better future for our planet. Those people are featured in CBC's series The Climate Changers, produced by CBC science reporter and meteorologist Johanna Wagstaffe and associate producer Rohit Joseph, which airs Wednesdays on All Points West, On The Coast and Radio West on CBC Radio One and on CBC Vancouver News with features on cbc.ca/bc.
With files from Johanna Wagstaffe