The white ribbon : mediating erosion and modulating overwash on a Lake Michigan ridge plan

• Published in: Journal of landscape architecture (Wageningen, Netherlands) Netherlands), 2023-01 (2/3), p.6-21
• Main Authors: Davis, Brian, Ruswick, Theresa, Burkholder, Sean
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1862-6033

"The erosion and protection of sandy coastal landscapes is happening across the globe and is prominent in the engineering, planning, conservation and design fields. Researchers and practitioners have identified a need for new approaches and forms that work with erosion instead of defending against it, and this paper is part of that effort. Situated on the western coast of Lake Michigan, our work offers insights into Great Lakes coastlands and sandy landscapes more broadly. Because the Great Lakes have widely varying water levels and are generally erosive over the course of decades, this region may also provide lessons for our marine coastlines. We combine physical and computational wave modelling with conventional means of landscape architectural work to develop a new form of coastal design and theorize that a landscape approach to the problem of erosion promises a reduction in control and better ecological, aesthetic and coastal protection outcomes over time." Keywords : Coastal resilience, Landscape infrastructure, Coastal aesthetics, sediment design, habitat conservation.