Rebuilding with Resilience: Puerto Rico Community Engagement Stories

Villa del Sol: Resilient planning framework

Villas del Sol is an immigrant community, originally from the Dominican Republic, that settled on private land. The land owner, with help from the Municipality, asked the community to leave, and the Authority of Land ultimately assigned them to their current location. There is press documentation of the community suffering excessive force by local police, including allegations of violation of human rights that led to intervention of international human rights NGOs. The community became organized as a cooperative, and a regulatory lot plan was developed as an initial framework to resettle in an organized way. The previous Municipal administration promised infrastructure that was never implemented. As a result, families have settled but are extremely vulnerable to climatic events.

Resilient planning at multiple scales

Puerto Rico faces many challenges from a climate resilience perspective. These challenges are complex—they can't be solved in a traditional disciplinary silos. The island lacks a comprehensive analysis that contextualizes risks and vulnerabilities, and, at the same time, municipalities like Toa Baja would benefit from understanding how they fit into the larger island ecosystem and region at large. They need to know potential solutions that consider the granularity of community needs.

Climatically, Puerto Rico is susceptible to atmospheric, geologic, and hydrologic hazards. Atmospheric (air) hazards include high winds, drought, fire and extreme temperatures. Geologic (land) hazards include coastal erosion, landslide, earthquake, subsidence, and liquefaction. Hydrologic (water) hazards include heavy rain, storm surge and tsunami.

This analysis is part of the Resilient Framework Plan for the Autonomous Municipality of Toa Baja.

The S-E-E in ResilientSEE

The analysis and framework presented in these panels represents the development of a scalable and replicable resilient planning methodology that considers social, environmental and economic resilience—named the "S-E-E" approach.

Social
Environmental
Economic

Community and methodology

The S-E-E framework plan is helping the Toa Baja Municipality build consensus, centralize existing information, identify gaps of date and analysis, synthesize analyses into overarching principles, and think strategically about implementable solutions.

Social
Environmental
Economic

Resilient Affordable House

This single-family prototype aims to address the very essential need for dignified, permanent and affordable housing. This design is comprised of renewable resources and infrastructure capable of sustaining living conditions while being off-grid for extended periods of time. Passive design strategies provide natural cross ventilation, heat extraction and shade. The design considers the use of locally manufactured structural systems, accesible materials and hurricane resistant components. Its modularity, interior distribution, and openings treatment provide adaptability for diverse locations and square footage needed.

House components

Water
- 1,000 gal. water reservoir
- 200 gal. rain harvesting tank filtration system
- Potable water usage off-grid (up to 2 weeks)
- Gas infrastructure for gas appliances

Electricity
- Annual power generation:
10,000 kw/hr monthly (833 kw/hr monthly)
- Monthly average home demand:
800 kw/hr
- System capable of storing power for up to 14 hours of continuous off-grid (no a/c)

Passive strategies
- Modular design
- Adaptable

Morivivi House

The aim of this proposal is to produce a minimal, affordable, ecologically-sensitive alternative to existing housing solutions. An open-source design for an expandable 'starter' house that could be self-built for $15,000 that would meet and exceed current building codes, and that would incorporate traditional materials and strategies to minimize waste while maximizing the use of natural resources. The result is a simple and accesible structure that, like the Morivivi (Mimosa pudica), also known as a sensitive plant, opens its leaves to the sun and closes them when exposed to external stimuli. A home that provides physical and psychological comfort before, during, and after a natural disaster.

Sociability and community

Sociability and community are extremely important in a time of crisis. Therefore, porches become crucial components that extend the interior living area and promote community interaction. At the scale of the site, infiltration basins and interconnected walkways provide a flood-resistant network for sharing resources, while serving as gathering areas to tie a collection of homes into a thriving community.

Functional variations

The open-source design creates opportunities and can be adapted to include non-residential uses, such as home businesses or community support facilities.

Passive strategies

Taking cues from tropical architecture, a narrow footprint and highly permeable facades guarantee maximum light and air circulation throughout. Building orientation limits western exposure while maximizing it towards prevailing northeastern winds.