IoT

Homelessness
Resilient Homes
Meta-Goals:
● Pointing out what are the structural failings that are allowing some of these issues
to happen, so students can become educated and see how they’re connected and
rooted in existing issues.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Objectives for 11/18-11/22:
● Read, Read, Read
● Build out the meat around the level of tier 2
● Read, Read, Read
● Ground problems in San Diego
● Make problems more human centered

Other Avenues of exploration:

● What are the affordable housing policies in San Diego?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Question:​ How can we reimagine housing to meet the needs of all San Diegans?

Housing in the United States is a highly debated and charged topic that has been a steady
refrain since the mid-1800s. The lens of access to housing has been shifted through the decades and
has been impacted by various federal programs such as FDR’s public Housing Works
Administration, the Housing Act of 1937, the Housing Act of 1949, the “One Strike and You're Out”
in 1997 under the Clinton administration, as well as the 2012 Rental Assistance Demonstration
under the Obama administration. Each of these social programs, among more, has helped shaped
the current affordable housing crisis. In addition to the historical lens, additional lens’ of potential
solutions, and invested parties has been further mapped out to understand how these pieces
interact together to form the affordable housing landscape we have today.
Embedded among the different elements that make of the problem, are some recurring
themes. For example, there are two main categories that solutions for affordable housing can be
broken down into. The first is space solutions (ie.new buildings, housing units, shelters) and the
second is capital. How can we divert more money to the production of these buildings? Although
these are all essential to addressing the problems, they provide a rather narrow view of the crisis.
By shifting the framing of the problem, such as asking: what are the current systems in place meant
to address affordable housing, and how can non-architects, and non-civic leaders intervene in the
systems to increase efficiency and bring about some impact?
Interesting Initiatives happening in San Diego:

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 Smart Home Technology

Main Question:
● How might we do a better job of creating a sense of place and community in the face of
vacation rentals, mixed-use houses, and gentrification?
○ FEEDBACK: ​It sounds as though the issue tenant/resident turnover threatens
feelings of "community" which may be exacerbated by several factors (e.g., vacation
rentals, mixed-use houses, etc.). Rather than posing these three as the source of the
problem, I'd recommend a more direct question about how resident turnover might
affect feelings of community.
●

Drafted Summary:
● IoT refers to a system of interconnected devices -- these objects then all become
uniquely identifiable
● Def:​ ​“The ‘Internet of Things’ means sensors connected to the Internet and behaving
in an Internet-like way by making open, ad hoc connections, sharing data freely and
allowing unexpected applications, so computers can understand the world around
them and become humanity’s nervous system.”
● As technology encroaches further into our homes
● Becoming important to think about the impact that they might have on our lives
● As well what sort of behaviors they might create or promote
● The increasing use of technology should give us more time free time
● Promises increased connectivity and access, but to what
● Want people to be able to shape the future with this technology
● “​According to Caldwell, San Diego is in the process of the ​largest urban
deployment​ of IoT nodes in North America”

Themes/Ideas that emerge:

● Relationship between data collection in urban environment
Organizations/Partners/Stakeholders (w/Links)
● MJD Interactive
● iSpatial Techno Solutions
● Qualcomm: ​https://www.qualcomm.com/products/internet-of-things
● Inoxoft.
● Smart and sustainable communities in San Diego(The City of San Diego)
● http://cleantechsandiego.org/
News articles
● https://gyires.inf.unideb.hu/GyBITT/08/ch09s06.html
● https://news.arubanetworks.com/press-release/arubanetworks/iot-heading-mass-
adoption-2019-driven-better-expected-business-results
● https://www.techwire.net/news/san-diego-makes-strong-bet-on-iot-telematics-an
d-apps.html
● https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/smart-city-saturday-hackathon-sex-traf
ficking-499509441.html
● http://hackital.io/
● https://www.govtech.com/fs/San-Diego-to-Cover-Half-the-City-with-Intelligent-Str
eetlights.html
● https://www.techwire.net/news/activists-critique-san-diego-smart-streetlights-pr
ogram.html
● https://smartcitiescouncil.com/article/meet-san-diegos-new-iot-platform-and-buil
d-your-own
● https://internetofbusiness.com/san-diego-30-million-smart-city/
Relevant Tech/Opportunities:
● How to build IoT type technologies:
https://www.futuremind.com/blog/how-build-iot-product-scratch
● http://audreydesjardins.com/pdf/Desjardins-AlternativeAvenues-CHI2019.pdf
● https://www.sandiego.gov/get-it-done

Datasets
Questions/Topics:
● How do we prepare for an increasingly connected and data-driven urban
environment?
● How do we prepare for and create boundaries as IoT reaches into our homes?
● How can we make it easier for folks to get ahold of their data? Or least be more
educated on the matter?
● Security risks in an environment that becomes increasingly digitized
○ How might we handle large data breaches?
● What will be the relationship between IoT objects and traditional objects?
 ● Use the data being generated to better connect us to our folks in our communities?
● Personal data:
○ How can we better utilize the data that we generate in our homes to promote
the sort of activities that we want to take part in?
○ How do we create value from data?
● Other smart tech areas that intersect with the home:
○ Smart home and connected cars
○ Smart home and wearables
○ Smart home and Intelligent Shopping, etc.
● In a society that is dominated by IoT, how do we maintain our relationships...or do
our relationships with non-connected devices look like?
● How can we reimagine other solutions to some of the problems being addressed by
IoT?
● Can we imagine other pastimes that might be created once we have our smart
objects taking care of our basic functions?
● What are other ways that IoT can be introduced in the home to increase human
relations — trying to link IoT to social benefits
● So how can we use the data being collected in our homes to rethink our lives and
also link these things to potential changes that people want to introduce into their
own lives…

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Mixed-Use housing + Placemaking

Main Question:

Feedback:
● It sounds as though the issue tenant/resident turnover threatens feelings of
"community" which may be exacerbated by several factors (e.g., vacation rentals,
mixed-use houses, etc.). Rather than posing these three as the source of the
problem, I'd recommend a more direct question about how resident turnover might
affect feelings of community

Drafted content:
● Making space more multi-purpose
● Taking the sentiment of mixed use housing in trying to create diverse spaces that
centralize a lot of the needs we have
● From work, food, social interaction, exercise
 ● Speaking to rekindling what it means to have a community and what are the
constituent parts of the community and in the wake of urban sprawl, which has
been in the media in an increased manner
● And can we sort of work to remedy
● This is challenging when taking into account many of the zoning regulation and legal
hurdles which stand in the way
● Types of housing:
○ Permanent houses:​ Houses- the walls and roof of which are made of
permanent material.
○ Semi-permanent houses​: Houses in which either the walls or the roof is
made of permanent material.
○ ​Temporary houses:​ Houses in which both the walls and roof are made of
materials that needs to be replaced frequently.
○ ​Serviceable temporary houses:​ Temporary houses, in which the walls are
made of mud, unburnt bricks or wood.
● Is a highly contested realm, with critiques(architects) and practitioners often
arguing with another
● But the fact of the matter is that the placemakers are responding to something
lacking in the architecture that is being built, and are speaking to a close to the
ground of approach of linking people to place with the objective of building
community
● What is placemaking getting at -- some of the elements that make up the culture in a
city
● Placemaking is the on the groundwork to fill in the intangible gaps that are missing
in communities, the on the groundwork needed to help feel like a community
● “​Placemaking seems to comprise a community-driven process for designing public
spaces (streets, sidewalks, plazas, squares, campuses, parks, and so on) that are
mixed use, host a variety of activities for diverse audiences, and are well-connected
to the larger city or town.”

Organizations/Partners/Stakeholders (w/Links)
News articles
● http://www.urban-hub.com/buildings/mixed-use-buildings-for-diversified-sustain
able-sites/
● https://www.citylab.com/
● https://www.archdaily.com/886275/placemaking-movement-manifesto-tool-buzz
word-or-what
● http://jamessrussell.net/enough-of-bogus-placemaking/?utm_medium=website&ut
m_source=archdaily.com
Relevant Tech/Opportunities
Datasets
Questions/Topics:
● Can we open mixed-use housing, into other areas like climate or shelter?
○ Mixed emergency shelter, or other mixed events that take place
● How do people’s housing restrictions impact their lives? How might we open up
some of these avenues for additional exploration?
● How can our homes be more directly shaped by people?
● How can we make it so that our default is to have spaces which are multi-purpose?
● How can we make zoning prompt the creation of mixed-use spaces?
● What spaces are there for non-traditional mixed-use spaces to come together?
● How else could we think about subdividing space in the city?
● How do we centralize and better connect the areas of life that are important to us?
● How can we make the most of our buildings?
● Can we imagine all the potential uses of buildings outside their intended purposes?
● How can we get creative with offsetting costs in housing by introducing ways for the
space to make money to pay for itself?
● How do we shape the social interactions that place?
● How might we merge mixed-use housing practices with placemaking to create
community-centered spaces?
○ Potential places to explore on the placemaking side:
■ Alleyways
■ Parks
■ Waterfront areas
■ Vacant lots
● What social good do you think your community need?
○ How can you add value to the community by designing something that
sparks new forms of communication and interaction?
● Where do you feel the needs of your urban environment aren’t being met? Can you
think of alternative ways of thinking about how that space might be used?
○ This will empower participants to rethink the needs of their community and
develop a proposal around what they believe needs to be addressed

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Homelessness

Main Question:
 ● How can we create opportunities to address the needs of the most vulnerable
(shelter, safety, nutrition..)?

Tier 3 Main Page Blurb:

● There are a number ways of unpacking homeless, from the lens such as drug
addiction, job and housing discrimination, lack of economic support, the social
impacts and the trauma that is subject to groups of folks who are ignored
● As homeless continues to grow in importance on both the public and civic levels, the
people and governments are beginning to accept that homeless is a reality. And in
order to address it, it must be understood for its complex nature, and any solution
that is attempting to address this issue, should place the people who are homeless at
the center of ideas and conversations so their voice and experience isn’t lost in
trying to design solutions for them.

Brief blurb:
● As the climate continues to change, natural disasters continue to increase our most
vulnerable communities will be subject to the brute of these forces.
● Homelessness is under the lens of the housing, because as stated in a vox article by a
three time soon to be four time homeless person, it’s called homelessness not
resourcefulness, there is a shortage of homes.
● Although connecting these groups to resources is important, and will show up in the
following questions, it will be in conjugation with different ways of looking at
housing and shelter in relation to resources
● They are a number of great examples of the above, blending these two methods into
a community which centralizes…
○ Ex…
● There are a number ways of unpacking homeless, from the lens such as drug
addiction, job and housing discrimination, lack of economic support, the social
impacts and the trauma that is subject to groups of folks who are ignored
● In order to gain some more coverage of the issue, we want to open up homeless and
sketch out what are the different types and forms of homelessness so that we can
organize how we begin to address the problem (to proceed graphic)
○ homeless, it’s apart of larger framework that is affecting folks at different
stages and impacts them in a number of capacities

Historical Origins of
Work on 11/11-11/15
● Center work around people helping people and community
● “Big issues like urban poverty or inequality cannot be solved via better design
alone”
● need to also take into account financial regulation, economic support
● social effects: encouragement of social movements and brings attention to some of
the apparent disparities in a community (ie. division and segregation
● Many lens of unpacking this problem from shelters, job services, drug addiction --
mental health, loss of family
● Often hard to figure out where to get involved in this network of connected issues
● Helpful stuff being done in San Diego:
○ Rehousing pilot program
○ Offering 50 million in grants to affordable housing projects
○ Housing First​ directing $79.7 million in federal + SHDC resources into
(2018-2020) (7 different affiliated orgs)

Work on 11/18-11/22

Summary recap:
● Some members sat in on a talk given by Fonna Forman on climate crisis and
poverty, below are a few of the take away ideas and interesting points to think on.
● Update in thinking is around maybe linking in homelessness with poverty since the
two may be more interrelated
● Highlighted notes from Fonna Forman talk on the Climate Crisis and Poverty:
○ Types of gaps to be filled when addressing the impact the devastating natural
events happen within the context of poorer communities:
■ Humanitarian Response Gap
■ Planning Gap (as in how cities are planned)
■ Development Gap
■ Transparency Gap: so educating groups on their vulnerability -- linked
to public communication + access to education + health care
○ Climate Injustice: ​how vulnerable folks are dealing with climate change
○ Climate education needs to be a big part of the effort
○ Another key idea brought up was how to take the science and repackage it in
a way that speaks to people and connects with them
○ Climate change being linked to population displacement
 ■ Question this sparked: ​How can we reimagine San Diego to
accommodate a large scale displacement of folks, what sort of spaces
would we open up to support our neighbor’s?
○ Another interesting question brought up:
■ How can we mobilize resources for public universities to better map
unto community needs?
■ Another framing of essential question: ​How do we help vulnerable
communities adapt to the effects of climate change?

General Ideas and Notes about Framing the space:

● Beginning to think that the we should be trying to tackle just homeless, it’s apart of
larger framework that is affecting folks at different stages and impacts them in a
number of capacities
● How can we utilize the skills and talents of those who are either homessless or in
rough economic situations to benefit them, and maybe aid them in their current
situation?
● If folks who are homeless don’t have the ability to advocate for themselves, then
how might we create or enhance the ability for folks to have their voices and lack of
rights now being heard?
● would be really interesting to open this space a bit much — because it would be a
sort of reimagining San Diego where everyone had the option to sleep in a bed and
have a solid bit of shelter that they could rely on..
○ So how can we get creative about creating housing, where to build and then
what sort of policies are preventing some of this work from being done
● an idea is really beginning to form here, which is that we have the instance of the
firm that is doing this, how can we enhance their efforts, what help do they need to
make this effective and then what are the policies that are preventing folks from
really being able to build these — how can we challenge developers and or hold
them accountable..call them out for not doing — how can we optimize noticing
misused land and then connecting folks to developers
● The core is that there is a lack of housing….this is the issue -- so maybe framing
things in terms of spectrum of where folks are in the process of coming out
homeless and directly questions to different folks along this line and direct
● What are the mulitierd housing approaches that allows money to generated fueling
the experience of folks in this program
● How can we create a safety network for folks who have just been rehoused?

Notes from: ​https://www.vox.com/2016/3/8/11173304/homeless-in-america

 ● “Impoverished, working single women without children do not ge top priority on
long waitlist for subsidized housing, rapid rehousing, or other government services
or benefits.”
● What are our cities policies that criminalize homelessness
● What happens once you fall off the economic leader? How can we help folks get the
services they really need when they have fallen off the economic ladder?
● Homelessness is expensive:
○ Gas money, car insurance, storage unit costs, laundromats, gym
memberships, park fees
● West cost-- tech hubs -- “population growth has outpaced new home construction,
driving up housing and rental prices faster than gains in income can keep pace.”
● Where are affordable housing located? What are they disconnected from and how
can we pull them in…
● What can you do when you trapped in a situation when you can’t relocate
● “Most jobs created post-recession are in low-wage industries, with 44 percent of
new jobs paying no more than 13.33 per hour. The same type fo administrative
work that I was paid 15 to 20 an hour to do in 2000 now pays only 11 to 12 an hour
-- without benefits, holiday pay, or sick leave.”
● “Two-thirds of all low-wage workers are actually employed by large corporations.”
○ Corporations are earning more, but these gains are going to executive
shareholders rather than employees -- response to increasing the minimum
wage
● ‘More than half of renters in American pay over 30 percent of their income in rent.”
● Landlords are often weary of renting to folks who have a sort of checkered financial
history -- and employers still have a hard time accepting folks if they don’t meet
basic social standards...discriminated by both
● Disctirmination when applying to jobs is huge in keeping folks trapped in poverty
and or homelessness
● “Poor people don’t vote, so most politicians ignore them”
● The homelessness don’t have time to advocate for their needs
● would be really interesting to open this space a bit much — because it would
be a sort of reimagining San Diego where everyone had the option to sleep in a
bed and have a solid bit of shelter that they could rely on..
● “National homeless experts figured out that the best way to end homeless was to
give the homes and a permanent roof over their heads first, rather than services.”
● How does rapid rehousing work in San Diego?

Notes:​https://www.nrpa.org/parks-recreation-magazine/2017/march/los-angeles-innov
ation-lab-tackles-homelessness/
 ● From LA elected city attorney --​ this approach is looking currently at the
situation, and asking what can be done on the subject matter
○ “Parks are center of our communities”
○ Increased training to get more engaged with the homeless community…
○ Looking to increase park restroom hours
○ Important to offer folks options that would be appealing to them
■ Low-barrier shelters and shelters that are open 24/7
○ Viewing homeless as apart of reality
○ When you come across someone in need, how can we consolidate the
resources to something that they can more actively take up -- bring
resources down to the ground?
Notes:
https://www.uia-initiative.eu/sites/default/files/2018-12/Urban%20poverty%20T
hematic%20paper.pdf
● Urban Innovative Actions -- combining people and place-based approaches to
reduce urban poverty and social exclusion
○ How could we support these groups without forcing them to follow a
particular lifestyle?
● “Target groups, the beneficiaries , are already part of the design of the project”
● Local residents are often involved in the design and running of particular projects
● Another theme: creating and consolidating new public-private community
partnerships
● Addressing urban poverty through urban commons -- “stimulating collective use,
management, ownership of urban assets, services..”
● How can we prepare the community for the arrival of homeless folks and or
affordable housing projects? There is a whole social dimension to this…
● How can build financially autonomous initiatives which provide shelter and
other needs? -- so we really want to try to build a sort model here
● General method: centralization and then building a community
● What are San Diego and California’s welfare policies?
● again a whole bit of the work could be centered around gathering information
to better inform the tools, policies and services being built out….
● How can we move homeless people quicker through the homeless system to
permanent housing solutions? -- their answer was one-stop-shops
● there is a social component, which has to do with folks comfortability and just
acceptance of folks not fitting well with the acceptable day to day social image
that reinforces our sense of normativity…
● How can better use the skills homeless folks have to offer to help support the
creation of shelters and moving into permanent housing?
 ○ Matching jobs in the community

List of other initiatives:

● TAST’inFIVES
● B-MINCOME
● USE-IT!
● Co-City
● 5Bridges -- one stop shop social center in a multi-purpose space
● MAC

Organizations/Partners/Stakeholders (w/Links)
● Homeless Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Programs (HPRP)

○ https://www.hudhre.info/hprp

● Townspeople, Inc. (solutions to housing needs for folks who are homeless or
at risk)

○ https://www.townspeople.org/​ | (619) 295-8802

● Housing You Matters:

○ About:
■ Lens: strategy development → working directly with SD leadership,
and the voice for the folks they’re advocating for in civic env.
■ educate and work with policy makers (developers as well) + research
○ Phone: 619.252.0295
○ Email: ​mary@lydon-associates.com
● San Diego Housing Federation:
○ About:
■ Since 1990, San Diego Housing Federation has been the collective
voice of those who support, build, and finance affordable housing in
the San Diego region. ​San Diego Housing Federation creates affordable
housing opportunities for low-income people by expanding the
knowledge, capacity, and influence of the affordable housing
development community.​ In addition to our advocacy work, SDHF
 offers professional training, networking opportunities, and provides
resources for housing policy advocates.
○ Phone: ​619-239-6693
○ Email: ​sdhfadmin@housingsandiego.org
News articles /sources
● https://www.sandiegodata.org/
● https://www.housinginnovationchallenge.com/
● https://www.citylab.com/
● https://www.curbed.com/2019/1/2/18165392/2019-cities-housing-transit-traffic
-big-tech
● https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pBB0JqxVlxs
● https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessness/sd-me-homeless-rep
ort-20181217-story.html
● https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/homelessness/sd-me-homeless-ma
p-20180618-story.html
● []
● Teddy and Fonna talk on poverty:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=11M8V81gAro0FLqRn6EQfQYVJ2L-emywb
● More on work being done in Tijuana:
https://www.citylab.com/equity/2017/01/the-urban-laboratory-on-the-san-diego-
tijuana-border-teddy-cruz-fonna-forman/512222/
● Poverty in San Diego:
○ https://www.kpbs.org/news/2017/sep/19/san-diego-poverty-rate-dro
ps-slightly-disparities-/
● Stories in other parts of the country and world:
○ https://www.vox.com/2016/3/8/11173304/homeless-in-america

Relevant Tech/Opportunities
● https://www.stand-together.org/about/
Datasets
Questions/Topics:
● What sort options are there/opportunities are there for folks who immediately
want to seek help or get into a home and getting off of the ground?

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
 Resilient homes
Main Question:
● How might we make homes and communities more resilient to the effects of climate
change, such as desertification, fires, flooding, and beach erosion?
○ Climate change continues to expose the weakness and the vulnerable nature of
human settlements.
○ Every region has it’s own unique challenges to face as it relates to this,need to
be able to create adaptable homes which can withstand and better adapt to the
floods, fires, rising seas,etc.
○ It will become essential to rethink how homes might have to perform when placed
on drastic stressers.
○ However, planning for natural disasters is quite difficult, so

Draft main page paragraph:

● Climate change continues to expose the weakness and the vulnerable nature of
human settlements. The need to be able to create adaptable homes which can
withstand and better adapt to the floods, fires, rising seas,etc. It will become
essential to rethink how homes might have to perform when placed on drastic
stressers​.​ However, planning for natural disasters is quite difficult, so we need to
think widely about how environmental threats will impact our city in as many layers
of complexity as possible.

Drafted once in the Resilient homes topic page:

● “Climate change causes vulnerability of human settlements which is related to
extreme weather events and such gradual changes in the climate to exceed the
adaptive capacity of human systems. Climate change adds to the existing stress on
the sustainability of human settlements and society.”
● “The increase in the amount of concrete and asphalt covering what was once prous
arable land means less and less rainwater can now seep into the ground. More
drains, roads and roofs in the area around the river also means rainwater now finds
its way more quickly from storm clouds through neighborhoods into the river’s
flood plain.”
● As we see increases of extreme weather and natural disasters..
● Housing isn’t meeting the needs of everyday people — not adaptable enough
● There are a number of ways of thinking about solving some of these from the
introduction of new building technologies to the actual design and planning of the
buildings themselves. There is also the legislative route, which deals with
 addressing what are the systemic ways that prevent us from reshaping certain
building practices to be more aware of the dangers our cities face.
● We also want to be aware of the spectrum with which we are thinking about these
issues such as pre-disaster, during disaster, and post disaster. What are the different
ways that we can intervene at each of these stages?
● San Diego:
○ Grounding in a particular region, so lets say housing near the San Diego river
○ Since 1985, “more than 2,000 condos and innumerable commercial buildings
have made their home in the valley.”
○ Streets typically flood during short sessions of rainfall

Notes/Ideas:
● Pre-disaster___During disaster___Post disaster [​spectrum we we are looking at​]
● Subdividing exploration:​ SD deals with heat, earthquakes, flooding (mudslides),
and fires
● Think about subdividing into systems and pipelines that can be built out
○ General Disaster Relief Shelter:
■ https://www.dezeen.com/2015/09/15/suri-modular-refugee-housin
g-system-emergency-shelter-suricatta-systems-urbana-de-exteriores
/
■ http://www.suricattasystems.com/es/suri/system
■ http://www.tenfoldengineering.com/​ (issue -- this is too expensive
on a unit to unit basis -- empower folks and give them ability to get
access to this)
■ How can we centralize and gather all of these resources and
innovations so that when something does happen folks can get quick
access -- again what are the process and procedures around this?
■ Motivation: housing needs will continue to increase + climate crisis,
variable disaster patterns will also continue to persist
○ Heat:
■ What will be impacted by the increase in heat?
■ How much of this is actually linked to housing, and if not, is there
anything that housing could be rethought so it could help support and
potentially mitigate X?
■ Can think of how elderly folks are impacted
○ Earthquakes:
■ How are the homeless impacted -- and what can be done on a housing
front
○ Floods:
 ■ Reimagine housing near the coast -- how can we adapt to rising sea
levels?
■ How can floods perform during large amounts of flooding?
■ Resources:
● https://timesofsandiego.com/life/2019/11/28/flooding-high-
winds-experienced-in-san-diego-county-on-thanksgiving/
● https://www.readysandiego.org/flooding/
● https://www.voiceofsandiego.org/topics/news/flooded-futur
e-4/
○ Fires:
■ Resources:
● https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/local/San-Diego-Makes-
List-of-Nations-Worst-Disaster-Areas-483653601.html
● https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/05/24/us/disast
ers-hurricanes-wildfires-storms.html?hp&action=click&pgtype
=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=second-colu
mn-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news
■ Reimagining fires to be apart of a natural regional cycle-- so how can
we work with this cycle...
○ Climate and migration:
■ How will we be able to provide housing, we have to welcome folks
who are displaced by the climate crisis.
○ Rising Seas:
■ https://www.climatecentral.org/news/ocean-at-the-door-new-home
s-in-harms-way-zillow-analysis-21953
● So let's see where to begin...what are some of the needs in San Diego or better put
climate related concerns..to lay out the major environmental forces we face, this
might require looking into what makes the region a biodiversity hotspot maybe…
● How are other regions reacting to similar regional threats? -- this could even tap
into work related to...mass human migration -- also want to think about this
problem from a number of scales
● What does adaptable housing look like?
○ For different groups, poor (really)
■ Again imagining a space in which no is homeless or a society is all
homeless and we do like an inside out sort of city...nah too sci-fi, like
the first half of the line
○ What does this do to community
■ Maybe include some stuff around motivation about the importance of
community in living in an age of unpredictability how can we
 restructure things around having a community at the core of getting
through...not fully there, but a start
● How does our notion of housing change when we can’t rely on the rest of the
environment to be stable?
○ Another way of viewing this is what happens when the destruction has
already hit -- we could do something like: what can we learn from recent
disaster in a related area, and how can incorporate these lessons into
rethinking what is most important and the designing concepts for housing
around this? (not being bound by the structure -- architecture has a lot to do
with taking inputs and info and thinking through different arrangements of
said info…)
● How can we think about ecology and the land not as something to be avoided, how
do we build really a more adaptable society...through lens of buildings...but the thing
is we just adapt -- but what if folks want to reference what has been done…
○ What if emergency services were built into shelters/homes to begin with?
● Extreme Weather

Flooded Future Article:

● Grounding in a particular region, so lets say housing near the San Diego river
● Since 1985, “more than 2,000 condos and innumerable commercial buildings have
made their home in the valley.”
● How can we rethink how homes are designed in floodplains?
● More concrete means less open space to bear a storm’s brunt
● How can homes that are already situated in flooded plans work and perform during
flooding seasons?
○ Maybe thinking about this from a number of lens’ the first being from the
whatever existing data we have, the second being a more speculative
lens...thinking really about the worst case scenario and then going from there
● “The increase in the amount of concrete and asphalt covering what was once prous
arable land means less and less rainwater can now seep into the ground. More
drains, roads and roofs in the area around the river also means rainwater now finds
its way more quickly from storm clouds through neighborhoods into the river’s
flood plain.”
○ This is actually a really viable problem specific to SAN DIEGO
■ Would look to how other water heavy regions have designed their
homes and cities -- would also link this problem to rising sea levels
 ● “The last hydrology report- a measurement of how much water will flow through a
given location at a given time due to heavy rainfall-- was completed for the area 20
years ago.”
○ How will our cities and homes handle a massive flood like the one in 1916 --
how do we make it easier for the city to invest money in these problems
upfront?
● How could we reimagine the city if certain sections are cut off? -- what would it
mean to have a more open landscape and how would this work with how we
designed our homes?
● What can learn from other regions that have experienced a great deal of flooding
(New Oreleans for examples)
● Need to rethink how water is moving throughout the region and where we have
diverted to/stored?

New San Diego proposal goes beyond housing to seek ‘complete communities’
● New approach to increasing the number of affordable units
○ To have developers build more studio and one-bedroom apartments
● The proposal centered around encouraging developers to help San Diego meet its
climate action goals
○ Developers are eligible for incentives

Organizations/Partners/Stakeholders (w/Links)
● 2-1-1 City of San Diego:
○ https://211sandiego.org/resources/basic-needs/housing-information/

News articles
● https://www.researchgate.net/post/What_are_technologies_available_for_affordabl
e_rural_and_urban_Housing_Development
● https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/13/a-market-map-of-the-housing-startup-space
/
● []
● https://www.dezeen.com/2015/05/19/richard-van-der-laken-what-design-c
an-do-refugee-crisis-ikea-better-shelter/
● What was learned from New Orleans:
○ https://rh.gatech.edu/features/10-years-after-katrina-lessons-learned
-lessons-learn
 ○ https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/23/us/baton-rouge-flooding-lesso
ns-katrina.html
○ https://www.citylab.com/perspective/2019/07/infrastructure-climate
-change-impacts-new-orleans-flood-risk/594004/
● Housing in flooded regions:
○ https://www.citylab.com/design/2017/12/the-house-of-the-future-is-
elevated/540327/
○ https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/01/how-to-save-a-town-f
rom-rising-waters/547646/

Relevant Tech/Opportunities

Datasets
● Map of San Diego disasters risk areas:
https://www.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=1f35f94756bc45f996
0717cbd15488a8
●
Questions/Topics:
● How can we have housing that is resilient once sea levels rise?
○ How can we imagine San Diego downtown to minimize the car’s moving
through the city? (one that is over-run by the ocean really)
● Flexible Housing for living, but also in the course of natural disasters, how might
these spaces be transformed?
● What kind of spaces will we have here and what will that mean for having a home in
these areas?
● How can we reclaim other waste commodities and reshape them into housing?
● How can we make our homes last longer?
○ How can we inform people of when there are needs to be addressed in the
home?
● []
● What policy/city planning failures are leaving us open to these diasters? -- think
about how we might reimagine were we decide to put homes based on the risk

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Resource organization:
● News about drought:
○ During:
 ■ https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/drought/sdut-dr
ought-severity-consequences-2015may02-htmlstory.html
■ https://www.sdcoastkeeper.org/water-supply/drought
○ Out:
■ https://www.sacbee.com/news/california/water-and-drought/articl
e128876884.html
○ Long-term:
■ https://ag.umass.edu/landscape/fact-sheets/long-term-drought-
effects-on-trees-shrubs
● Migration + Refugees:
○ https://www.dezeen.com/2015/05/19/richard-van-der-laken-what-de
sign-can-do-refugee-crisis-ikea-better-shelter/
● Flooding:
○ https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/31/climate/climate-change-new-
homes-flooding.html
○ http://floodlist.com/america/usa/california-floods-san-diego-february
-2017
○ What happens to a house during a flood:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/flooded-ho
me/​ (really helpful graphic)
■ Notes/Takeaways:
● Can we use the backs of homes, and have them perform in a
ways that they were initially intended for?
● Foundation damage = common in areas when the soil is mostly
clay and where homes are mostly built on concrete slabs
○ Coastal areas fit description
● Saturated clay expands unevenly causing concrete to crack
● Signs of foundation damage -- doors and windows won’t open
because the frames have been distorted
● Water weakens drywall
● Most insulation made in fiber and foams -- absorb water
● How can we design homes that are resistant to flooding and or
take the flooding into account and utilize it?
○ Mission Valley Flooding:
■ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8HFsZgwI6Q
■ https://www.10news.com/news/local-news/sdsu-details-plan-to-av
oid-flooding-at-mission-valley-campus
● Increased rainfall:
 ○ https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/weather/sd-me-lateststorm-s
andiego-20170227-story.html
● Larger Design competition:
○ https://www.whatdesigncando.com/
● Social Innovation lab collection site:
○ https://www.crisscrossed.net/2016/03/30/social-innovation-labs-wor
ldwide/
○ Specific lab:
■ https://energyfutureslab.com/initiatives/sustainaville/
● Related to Food + Waste:
○ https://feedingsandiego.org/
● Who is tackling homelessness:
○ http://thegovlab.org/?s=Homelessness