Resilietn Coupling: The Systems Of Coastally Dependent Communities

As climate change becomes a more prevalent reality, rising sea levels are increasingly a threat to cities and communities in coastal regions. In light of this it is important to consider architecture’s role in the strategizing of defences and resilience. The major issue with traditionally implemented coastal defence programs, such as those considered by the US Army Corp of Engineers, is their brute force approach is repressively one dimensional, undermining the diverse, and complex realities of any community. Orienting itself in the diverse and complex communities of Atlantic Canada, this thesis operates in the face of these challenges and shortfalls. Instead a coupling of systems, activities and events in these coastal communities can make possible an architecture that accommodates, and makes visible, the realities of its changing environs at a multitude of scales, allowing the continued success of human settlement.