When we visited East Palo Alto, the most prominent aspect of the city that struck us was its liveliness. The sense of community was energetic and omnipresent. Bouncy houses popped up on every street, kids played outdoors and the smell of BBQ was everywhere. It was apparent to us, despite all the seemingly negative aspects we had been researching, that East Palo Alto residents value their community as one of the last affordable cities in the Bay area. At the same time, though, about 20% of the city as residents live below the poverty line and have limited access even to jobs that require long commutes made worse by inadequate public transportation. The city has extremely high water table and low-lying topography also make it exceptionally vulnerable to flooding.
In our design, it was important to us to maintain this sense of community and lifestyle while addressing the risks that climate change has created. We propose to create floating housing on ponds fed by rising groundwater, a network of dock systems and high-density raised housing all to enable communities to live with water and promote resilience without displacement. At an urban scale, our project enables incremental change and increasing density. At the scale of the individual, we focused on maintaining the integrity of the city’s culture and open space so valued in suburbia.
