The Envision Resilience: Designs for Living in a Changing Climate exhibition is open now at the Portland Public Library’s Community Gallery through March 15. A free community open house will celebrate the exhibition on Friday, Feb. 7, in conjunction with Creative Portland’s First Friday Art Walk.
Over five months, students from eight participating universities immersed themselves in the culture, values and history of Portland, South Portland and the Casco Bay Island communities, developing innovative designs that addressed challenges such as affordable housing, sea level rise, transportation, urban heat, equity, local industry and ecology. Participating institutions were Cornell University, Harvard University, the University at Buffalo, the University of Maine at Augusta, the University of Michigan, the University of Virginia, Yale University and the program’s first international partner, the University of Toronto.
The Envision Resilience Portland and South Portland Challenge brought together these graduate and undergraduate students in urban planning, architecture, environmental justice and landscape architecture to connect with community stakeholders for an iterative process of researching, developing and proposing adaptive solutions for vulnerable sites along the cities’ coastlines.
Curated by local artist Brian Smith, the exhibition features innovative architectural and landscape designs by student teams in the Envision Resilience Challenge—now in its fourth year—that emphasize nature-based solutions to sea level rise like living shorelines and green stormwater infrastructure, address challenges like housing through materiality and circular economies and reimagine infrastructure and transportation systems in a low-carbon future.
The Portland Public Library exhibition marks the first in a series of displays throughout Portland and South Portland that showcase the students’ design proposals from the fall 2024 semester.
The Envision Resilience Challenge is a multi-university design studio and community engagement initiative developed by Remain, connecting interdisciplinary student teams with coastal communities to envision creative pathways forward in the face of climate change. Remain is part of the philanthropic organizations and initiatives created and funded by Eric and Wendy Schmidt to work toward a healthy, resilient, secure world for all.
Envision Resilience has, since its inception, engaged 30 student teams from 19 universities, involving 458 students and 86 community advisors across eight coastal communities, including Nantucket, MA (2021); Narragansett Bay, RI (2022); and New Bedford and Fairhaven, MA (2023).
The Envision Resilience: Designs for Living in a Changing Climate exhibition will run through March 15, 2025 at the Portland Public Library, located at 5 Monument Square, Portland. Admission is free and the exhibition is open during library hours.