Chesapeake, VA – The Hampton Roads Innovation Collaborative (former HR Tech Council) announces their agreement to host Porous City, a test lab for sea-level rise solutions.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration warns that Hampton Roads, anchored by Norfolk, is at the greatest risk from sea-level rise for a metro area its size, save for New Orleans. The City of Norfolk has commissioned several detailed studies in the past which have quantified the hazards and identified solutions. These studies form a robust basis for further detailed discussion about best solutions and implementation strategies.

The Virginia chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) hosts an Emerging Leaders in Architecture (ELA) program. ELA is a year-long program aimed at providing young designers with the knowledge and tools required to be thoughtful leaders and engaged citizens.

The AIA Virginia’s 2015 ELA class has created Porous City. Porous City is an on-line public collaboration for architects, engineers, developers, and inventors to share their ideas about the built environment and how it can be resilient in the face of sea-level rise. From this collaboration platform, knowledge can be shared about implementations, best practices, as well as financing options. The platform will draw expert opinion from across the U.S. and internationally, and will function as a resource to policy makers and private businesses seeking council on building and infrastructure issues related to sea-level rise and resiliency.

Alejandro J. Medina, ELA class member and architect at Clark Nexsen, said, “The ELA class effort was a great start, we needed to find the right organization to host our efforts and carry it forward.”

HRIC’s president Dan Bell stated, “The Hampton Roads Innovation Collaborative supports innovation of all forms in our region and sea-level rise actions are part of our regional innovation efforts.” Bell added, “We talk about growing our regional economy, but there are serious implications to people and businesses leaving. We have to build resilience into our region to overcome these challenges.”

Sea-level rise solutions do not need to be limited to an expense upon our region. With the area’s manufacturing expertise and the vitality of the port it can become an export business. Medina went on to add, “The goal is to turn sea-level rise from an expense into an economic opportunity.”

The Porous City Test Lab welcomes architects, engineers, fabricators, cities officials and investors to participate and determine feasible solutions.

Design

under construction

Build

under construction

Commercialize

under construction

At Risk Neighborhoods

under construction

Funding

under construction

Proceed to Porous City

Proceed to Collaboration (Registered Users Only)

To Request Registration for Collaboration Site, send mail to danbell@hric.email with name, all contact information, role related to sea level rise and your reason to want to be part of the collaboration efforts.