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Design students from eight universities, including, for the first time, the University of Toronto, will develop concepts and renderings for the communities of Portland and South Portland in Maine to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

The , a multi-university design studio and community engagement initiative developed by philanthropist Wendy Schmidt through Nantucket-based Remain, works to bring creative thinking to environmental and community challenges.

For the 2024 design studio, multi-disciplinary student teams of architects and landscape architects, designers, engineers and environmental scientists, are being asked to reimagine coastal communities and propose solutions to the current and future impact of sea level rise.

Now in its fourth year, the program brings together students studying architecture, environmental science, landscape architecture and urban planning from Cornell University, Harvard University, the University at Buffalo, University of Maine Augusta, University of Michigan, University of Virginia, Yale University and the program’s first international partner, the University of Toronto’s Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape and Design.

Richard Sommer, director of the Global Cities Institute and formerly the dean of the Daniels faculty of architecture, landscape and design, said the initiative is a great opportunity for students.

“Portland is a really interesting example because it’s actually a fairly small city but it has all of the pressures and problems that big cities face. It’s like an experimental petri dish where you can get very quickly into the issues of sustainability and resilience. For example, its infrastructure is under great pressure, split between its water/wharf-based industries (two billion-dollar lobster and fishing industries), and land-based pressures such as the increases in housing costs/shortages that gentrification and a successful tourism industry bring.”

The goal of the program, said Claire Martin, project manager at ReMain, is to generate “hopeful conversations about the future.

“By working with universities who are at the cutting edge of climate science and long-term coastal resilience planning we help elevate the research at these institutions but also create opportunities for cross collaboration.”

Previous challenges included the , the e and 2023 Envision Resilience New Bedford and Fairhaven Challenge.

Tackling the climate challenge in Maine

This year, university teams will spend the fall semester working with communities in the Portland area to understand local challenges, researching potential approaches and proposing designs for how a coastal region can adapt.

The state of Maine has experienced the ebb and flow of changing coastlines, warming waters and evolving industries throughout history, states the project website.

“The Gulf of Maine waters are warming and sea levels are rising at three to four times the global average. Winter storms this year have flooded downtowns, damaged wharves, washed away historic structures and set record high tides,” adds the website.

University teams will be tasked with tackling these challenges and addressing the intersecting issues of affordable housing, transportation, urban heat, equity, local industry and ecology.

The team has been working in Maine since September 2023 in preparation for the start of the program this fall. They have been meeting with municipal and community leaders, business owners, local stakeholders and nonprofit and science organizations to figure out what the real challenges are in the community.

As part of the program, 11 faculty members from the eight university teams were invited to Portland and South Portland to do site visits and have community meetings.

“It really gave them an opportunity to connect to the place before they launch their individual design studios this fall,” said Martin. “In September will be facilitating site visits to all the student teams, connecting the students to those same community stakeholders, leaders, advisers.”

Once the design studio wraps up next spring, final designs will be showcased to the communities through programming, events and a public exhibition.

Program has seen success over four years

Bob Miklos is the founder of designLAB architects and the technical co-ordinator of the Envision Resilience Challenge. He first got involved with the program as co-chair of the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge Advisory Committee.

“One of the things that created the most impact on the communities that we were working with is the ability for students to illustrate different ways both graphically in terms of three-dimensional illustrations, sometimes even with video, a look into the future to show what this new reality as a result of climate change might look like,” said Miklos. “For most folks in the community it’s a very threatening and scary thing to imagine the erosion of the coast and the flooding…but the ability to show folks what this future reality might be like and the positive aspects of that is a really important part of our program.”

While the work the students have done is already having a significant impact at a local level with many municipalities implementing programs, some of the teams have also been recognized with national awards.

“The program has the potential to fundamentally transform the way practitioners are working with these issues and I think that’s going to be one of its greatest outcomes,” Miklos said.

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