Abstract
Anthropogenic climate change is already seriously impacting communities around the world through higher temperatures, stronger storms and more variable weather patterns. These impacts are predicted to increase especially in the coastal communities of New England. Solutions to the challenges will require engineers and designers to work alongside city officials to develop infrastructure that is both resilient to climate extremes while also providing economic development. Traditionally, engineering and interior architecture students have had little chance to work in multidisciplinary teams on real-life projects – a critical skill they will need to develop as they transition to the workforce. To address this need, we developed and co-taught two independent courses in fall 2023 which collaborated on a novel service-learning design project for the City of Fall River, Massachusetts. The first half of the combined course focused on helping students from both Civil Engineering and Interior Architecture majors understand how greenhouse gases are causing global climate change. We then moved on to study how climate change will impact infrastructure and different climate mitigation and adaptation strategies that engineers and interior architects can use in their designs. The semester-long project was to assist the City of Fall River on the Route 79-Davol Street Corridor Improvements project. Working alongside the City Engineer, students first toured the site and gathered socio-economic information about the surrounding area. Four multi-disciplinary teams of 4-5 students then developed a design plan for one section of the 19-acre site. We used an iterative approach, whereby students received weekly feedback about their designs from the instructors and periodic feedback from the Town Engineer. Students incorporated such items as green infrastructure to adapt to higher precipitation amounts and solar panels to reduce their carbon footprint. The teams worked together to make their sites aesthetically appealing and conducive to low-impact, sustainable development that can also serve as an economic boom to the city.
The culmination of the class was their formal presentations at the Fall River Government Center on December 13, 2023. Most of the city’s top planning officials were in attendance along with the Mayor and representatives from Stantech (the firm that was hired to make the master plans). Everyone present was impressed with students’ professionalism and their ideas. It was clear that many of the concepts and designs presented by the student groups will be incorporated into Stantech’s final plans. As the mayor himself stated: "This is one of the biggest redevelopment projects in the SouthCoast region. We are pleased to know that our city can depend on [the university] as a partner."
Through the course, students from both majors gained a greater appreciation for their critical role in climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. They also had a much better understanding about how cities in New England are approaching the problem of climate adaptation while also encouraging economic development. Lastly, the students gained valuable skills in cross-disciplinary approaches which they will need in their careers. Project outcomes, successes and challenges, and feedback from student reflection essays will be shared during this presentation.