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Shoreline Adaptations: Case File

Framework Celeste LeCompte, Danielle Butler

This case file examines protocols for shoreline adaptation in cities facing sea level rise, challenging the engineering-led approach that relies on hardened infrastructure while disconnecting communities from coastlines. The authors propose alternative protocols rooted in activism and adaptive community engagement that enable vibrant, resilient waterfront futures rather than merely protecting existing capital investments.

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Paper

Protocol Pattern Language for Urban Space: Introduction

This paper applies pattern language methodology to urban protocols, examining how individuals navigate and reshape cities through literal and virtual itineraries while acknowledging different actors (residents, governments, corporations, architects) possess different toolkits to modify urban systems at various layers. Austin argues that contemporary urban environments are composed through individual daily protocols and interactions rather than fixed spatial arrangements, offering a framework for understanding how protocols govern urban life.

community design governance

Drew Austin

Framework

Fire Protocols: Case File

Fire Protocols reframes fire from a destructive force to be suppressed into an essential ecological tool by developing community-based protocols for fire knowledge transmission and large-scale coordinated action across social, political, and ecological systems in Sonoma County. The framework positions attention as an autopoietic space that allows communities to regenerate and maintain fire knowledge while resolving tensions between geopolitical top-down structures and cultural knowledge systems.

climate community governance

Nathalia Scherer, Jiordi Rosales

Paper

Protocol Pattern Language for Urban Space: Modules 5–6

This paper presents a protocol pattern language for urban governance, specifically proposing a 'Bureaucratic Recipes' system—an open-source repository that documents repeatable solutions for navigating local government interactions and institutional processes. The pattern addresses the opacity and complexity of urban bureaucratic systems by creating a crowdsourced, publicly-funded platform where residents can access and contribute knowledge about successfully resolving city-level administrative problems.

community design governance

Drew Austin