No Retreat From Change - A resilient Building Strategy

Climate change and, consequently, flooding risk are currently threatening our cities all around the world, urging for municipalities, urban planners, and communities to provide resilient and sustainable solutions. Numerous measures are being implemented, but the risk still awaits.

This thesis research is a composition of complex matters of concern. Addressing this obligates a team of professionals from diverse areas of expertise, for instance geologists, landscape engineers, hydrological engineers, and architects.

As a Master of Architecture student, I intend to discover the niche where architecture catalyses and aids in educating people and creating awareness about current climatic conditions. This work is based on the flood plain of Throsby Creek, Newcastle.

Rising global temperatures results in climate change, that in turn results in sea level rise and changed water cycle. The result is either draught or floods and sinking cities. It is projected that global mean sea level would increase by 1.5 m by 2100.

The result is the transition from a resistant to a resilient city that is catalysed by turning the threat into a resource; from being disruptive force from which the city needs to be protected, the water becomes an element embedded in the urban context, interacting with it.