Design(ing) strategies for a sustainable and resilient coastal beachfront community

Coastal beachfront environments are especially vulnerable because of conflict between growing development pressure toward coastal areas, and insufficient protection from natural hazards, particularly storm events and rising tides. Much research concerning that situation has been undertaken and many proposals have been prepared by scholars and professionals. Yet, many of the coastal communities have struggled to implement new ideas on the ground. Among the challenges from the design and planning perspective have been a lack of multi-disciplinary approaches (Hamilton 2010), of applied examples, and of recognizable scale to which stakeholders can relate (Cowley, Gough 2009). The primary objective of this thesis is to offer guidance to the stakeholders in coastal beachfront communities about how to address environmental and socio-economic factors synthetically. The thesis outlines the principles of a synthetic approach to planning and design and then applies them to a specific site???coastal Harrison County, Mississippi???at a neighborhood scale. That method follows an interpretive strategy model for research, reviewing case studies and investigating site conditions to develop unique design strategies. The outcomes of the research include design strategies developed through the understanding of numerous case studies, the synthetic condition for the coastal area, and specific conditions of the beachfront communities in Harrison County, MS. Proposed design strategies are applied to the coastal beachfront area, and a diagrammatic concept is developed in at neighborhood scale. The value of this thesis comes from its potential to guide stakeholders in coastal contexts design and develop more effective strategies, plans, agendas, and alternatives for improving the overall quality (balance, resilience, and efficiency) of their communities