The city of Norfolk has one of the fastest rates of sea-level rise on the East Coast. As part of a city-wide climate adaptation planning process, SCAPE designed a resilience park adjacent to two of the neighborhoods most at risk from coastal flooding and sea-level rise: Chesterfield Heights and Grandy Village, both predominantly African-American neighborhoods with civic leagues and strong community identity. Influenced by an extensive community engagement process, the design ties into existing programming and aspirations while restoring historic native ecosystems throughout the park. A vegetated berm ties into a neighborhood-wide integrated risk reduction system while framing views of the park, which also includes a flood-tolerant wetland walk, outdoor classroom, multi-use field, playgrounds, activity courts and more. During early design, SCAPE also advised on city-wide climate adaptation efforts—including a living shoreline adjacent to the park that is now being constructed.
Learn more:
- Visit the City of Norfolk’s project page.
- Read Leslie Kaufman in Bloomberg: “To Fight Flooding, This City Plans to Renovate—and Retreat” (2021).
Client
- City of Norfolk, Virginia – Office of Resilience
Collaborators
Arcadis (Prime)
Waggonner and Ball
Moffatt and Nichol
VHB