Two Pilot Programs With Howard University and UMass Dartmouth Amplify Resilience and Innovation in the 2023 Envision Resilience New Bedford and Fairhaven Challenge

UMass Dartmouth CVPA students on a recent site visit to New Bedford, photo courtesy Ann Kim.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, November 13, 2023

CONTACT:
Claire Martin
cmartin@remainnantucket.org
508-901-4149

NEW BEDFORD & FAIRHAVEN, Mass. ---Howard University and the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth are taking part in the Fall 2023 Envision Resilience New Bedford and Fairhaven Challenge as part of two pilot programs this year, ReMain Nantucket announced today. The two universities join design studio teams Rhode Island School of Design, Northeastern University, the University of Florida, the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the University of Virginia in the 2023 cohort.

As part of the semester-long challenge to develop innovative solutions for coastal communities to adapt to climate impacts, Howard University's College of Engineering and Architecture (CEA) will participate in tandem with the U.S. Department of Energy’s Solar Decathlon competition, exploring innovative approaches to retrofitting existing buildings with a focus on affordable and net-zero housing typologies in New Bedford’s historic district. Howard CEA’s team will collaborate with community partners working on the former Hillman Street Firehouse, a restoration project currently underway by Waterfront Historic Area LeaguE (WHALE) and the City of New Bedford. The Howard CEA team’s investigation will look at mixed-income housing, retrofitting and reuse practices and the zero-energy building requirements of the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.

“My teaching pedagogy emphasizes diverse collaboration and knowledge sharing across multiple universities,” said Nea Maloo, assistant professor at Howard University’s College of Engineering and Architecture. “I am incredibly excited about the learning experience to bring Howard University CEA students to New Bedford and Fairhaven as part of this year’s Envision Resilience Challenge program, which provides the infrastructure, site and community network to plug our team into as we simultaneously take part in the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon. With a team of eight graduate and undergraduate students in architecture, engineering and environmental studies, the opportunity will help prepare this next generation to combat climate change and create equitable and high-performance redesigns of existing buildings, while reducing carbon impacts and serving communities.”

With the intention of addressing a broad range of issues in climate change from the changing coastline to affordable housing through the arts, faculty from seven specialties within the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth’s College of Visual and Performing Arts (CVPA) are embedding the Envision Resilience Challenge into their courses this fall. Students will produce a variety of deliverables including original musical scores as a response to climate change; children’s art projects and lesson plans; cyanotype flags as a response to the study sites; an assessment of how to create music curriculum that is ecocentric and more sensory-based; ideas for design plans for electrical boxes in New Bedford related to nature, climate and ecojustice; activist posters and postcards in illustration and graphic design.

“The overarching goal of CVPA’s participation in the Envision Resilience Challenge is to be a bridge between the community and the conversation around resilience by highlighting the design process through a variety of creative, compelling and interactive art mediums,” said Ann Kim, associate dean of UMass Dartmouth CVPA. “With the challenges brought on by the closing of the Star Store Campus this year, the opportunity to participate is timely. It is our hope that this partnership can showcase CVPA’s own resilience as well as our commitment and connection to the South Coast.”

The Envision Resilience Challenge is a multi-university design studio and community engagement initiative that connects interdisciplinary student teams with coastal communities. Teams of students studying engineering, architecture, landscape architecture, urban planning and climate science are currently working with community members and stakeholders in New Bedford and Fairhaven to consider, develop and propose concepts for out-of-the-box ways of living under future conditions that address the intersecting issues of urban heat, affordable housing, transportation, equity, local industry and ecology. To date, initial design ideas are looking at the approach of empowering communities to play a role in resilience as well as visionary ideas for innovations like floating farms, offshore wind training centers and flexible housing integrated into coastal edges.

This year’s Envision Resilience Challenge pilot programs aim to broaden the scope of the initiative and inspire dynamic conversations and thoughtful approaches to community spaces, incorporating considerations of culture, history and place within the communities of New Bedford and Fairhaven.

The Envision Resilience Challenge
Developed by ReMain Nantucket, the Envision Resilience Challenge is a multi-university design studio and community engagement initiative that connects interdisciplinary student teams with coastal communities to envision adaptive and creative pathways forward in the face of climate change. A semester-long design studio and community engagement initiative, the Envision Resilience Challenge encourages communities to engage in hopeful and meaningful conversations about the future, inspires real action in resilience projects and fosters the next generation of leaders to think interconnectedly and holistically about climate challenges through design and innovation. The challenge was introduced in Nantucket, Massachusetts in 2021 and moved to Narragansett Bay, Rhode Island, in 2022. The third iteration of Envision Resilience is currently exploring New Bedford and Fairhaven, Massachusetts. Learn more at www.envisionresilience.org.

ReMain Nantucket and ReMain Ventures are funded by Wendy Schmidt and her husband Eric to support the economic, social and environmental vitality of the island of Nantucket. In addition to providing grants and sponsorships to support sustainable and cultural initiatives across the island, ReMain Nantucket has worked in conjunction with ReMain Ventures to revitalize the downtown district year-round through the preservation of historic buildings that are home to a mix of nonprofit and commercial businesses.

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