• A Strategic Vision for Panama City

    After being hit by a Category 5 storm in the fall of 2018, Panama City, Florida, is following a vision to rebuild better than before. The plan won a 2020 CNU Charter Award in the Neighborhood, District, and Corridor category for Dover, Kohl & Partners.
    Just a year after being clobbered by one of the most powerful Atlantic storms every to land in the US, Panama City, Florida, adopted a vision to rebuild that focuses on economic revival of its long-neglected downtown. The Strategic Vision for Panama City, which won a CNU Charter Award this year,...Read more

  • Building a knowledge base for sustainable urban habitation

    The Center of Territorial Intelligence in Biodiversity in Curridabat, Costa Rica, is a model for studying climate change on an urban environment. The project won a 2020 CNU Charter Award in the Emerging Projects category for Tandem Arquitectura.
    The Center of Territorial Intelligence in Biodiversity (CITBIO) is building a knowledge base on urban landscape performance that sets a model for communities in this era of climate change. The center consists of simple, well-designed buildings that are easy to construct, low in maintenance,...Read more

  • Panama City adopts recovery plan in wake of hurricane

    The Florida Panhandle city survived Category 5 Michael with most of the downtown intact—the plan looks to a more resilient future in the face of potential sea level rise.
    Panama City, Florida, approved a strategic plan for downtown recovery and resilience in early October, a year after Hurricane Michael tore through the city as a Category 5 hurricane. Thousands of buildings in the city of 37,000 people suffered roof and other damage. Panama City is a waterfront town...Read more

  • Hard lessons of disaster and recovery

    In the wake of Hurricane Dorian, which destroyed much that was good in The Bahamas, it is worth reviewing the lessons from recent natural disasters on how to build to last and recover local culture and economies.
    I spent most of my life inland before moving to Miami Beach in 2003. Where I grew up, the main disaster threats were tornadoes, which are exceptionally violent, sudden, and focused. Within 60 seconds of the warning being issued for the Airport Road tornado November 15, 1989, close to a dozen people...Read more