Social Impact
Urban Planning
Engagement
autonomous Culebra Community Plan
Working with the client, Mujeres de Islas, this studio of architects and urban planners was tasked with envisioning a sustainable, autonomous, and climate-prepared future for the island community of Culebra, Puerto Rico. The team’s collaborative studio vision aims to challenge western-centric models of design and urban development, alongside addressing the ongoing impacts of colonialism on communities and the built environment.
Context
🏝️ The island community of Culebra’s resources have been negatively impacted by a history of colonialism and a lack of autonomy
🏝️ The community faces challenges related to a lack of housing, food insecurity, coastal resilience, energy independence, and more
Challenge
☀️ Creating a community plan to address the concerns of the island’s residents in five selected focus areas, using architecture and urban planning
☀️ Working and learning from the community to empower existing resources and plans
Components
🖥️ Community engagement & site visits: learning from the community and existing projects
🖥️ Toolkits & handbooks: Strengthening technical skills
🖥️ Architectural solutions: Creating access to sovereign systems
🖥️ Policy: Increasing local climate preparedness and reinforcing infrastructure
Considerations
🐓 How do we cogenerate action plans and pathways to an autonomous future with an island community?
🐓 How can we utilize both architecture and urban planning to empower the local community?
outcome
Based on these identified outcomes, the studio team narrowed research and proposals into five areas to further create an autonomous, empowered, and climate-prepared community.
Memory
This theme includes the negative impacts of colonialism on the preservation of the island’s history and local Culebrense identity
Coastal Resilience
This theme highlights the increase in environmental challenges, particularly those that protect the island from the impacts of climate change
Housing
This theme refers to the lack of opportunities on the island to find affordable housing
Energy
This theme refers to the dependency on the mainland and Puerto Rican big island for fossil-fuel generated electricity, particularly during hurricane season
Food
This theme highlights the impacts of the Jones Act on food security and food affordability amongst the population
This project was created as part of A Studio with
Columbia GSAPP & Mujeres De Islas.
Software used include: ArcGIS, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe InDesign, and Adobe Photoshop.