Comprehensive Open Space Planning in the Coastal American South: Integrating Cultural Landscapes with New Tools for Resiliency and Growth Management
- Award Year: 2021
- Award Category: Analysis and Planning
- Award Designation: Honor Award
- Client: Beaufort County and Beaufort County Rural and Critical Lands Preservation Program
- Location: Beaufort County, SC
A Land Conservation Model for the 21st-Century Coastal Southeast: Beaufort County is home to a complex cultural landscape with a dynamic past and uncertain future, as sea level rise and population growth threaten the natural and cultural landscapes. | Credits: Emily McCoy / Design Workshop
2020 Greenprint Plan: The 2020 Greenprint Plan is a response to the urgency and complexity of the moment. It draws on science, local expertise and a community-driven process to promote forward-looking land conservation with multiple and layered benefits. | Credits: Design Workshop
Ecology & History Intertwined: Beaufort County’s cultural landscape is defined by connections forged between people and environment– dating to oystershell middens raised by American Indians, waterfront fortifications of colonists, and rice farms engineered and built by enslaved West Africans. | Credits: Design Workshop
Lost Landscapes: Hilton Head Island represents what can be lost to development and environmental pressures. In 1951 the island was home to 300 people, mostly members of Gullah/Geechee communities, with distinct cultural landscapes of forest, farmland, family compounds and shared waterfronts. | Credits: Google Earth / USGS / Design Workshop
Rising Seas: As more people visit Beaufort County and call it home, there is a growing urgency to protect the remaining cultural and ecological landscapes. This conservation ethic will only grow as the climate changes and sea levels rise. | Credits: Emily McCoy / Design Workshop
Preventing Climate Gentrification: As pressures of population growth and climate change push development toward rural uplands, forward-looking land conservation and growth management strategies will be critical to protect vulnerable communities and cultural landscapes from the impacts of climate gentrification. | Credits: Design Workshop
Making the Case for Land Conservation: In the midst of these complex dynamics, the planning process was an opportunity to launch a sustained community dialogue about the multi-pronged benefits of land conservation for cultural, social, economic and natural resiliency. | Credits: Design Workshop
A Public Discussion During COVID-19: The planning team used a mix of digital and in-person storytelling and crowdsourcing tools to educate, engage, and collect local data and insights into Beaufort County's sacred and at-risk environments. | Credits: Design Workshop
An Expanded Toolkit: The Greenprint survey invited residents to weigh-in on how best to protect different types of land, giving county staff and officials valuable information about support for a diverse conservation toolkit and for conservation-oriented growth management. | Credits: Design Workshop
Informed by Public Values: The team tapped into regional expertise and data for resiliency planning, open space prioritization and cultural landscape preservation. The result is a data- and values-driven priority model that is specific to the Beaufort County context. | Credits: Design Workshop
Resilient Ecosystems: Creation of ghost forests and shoreline retreats due to climate change are happening at alarming rates in the Lowcountry. | Credits: Brandon Huttenlocher / Design Workshop
Freshwater Refuges: Drawing on data and local expertise and observation, the plan balanced preservation of future marsh migration corridors, upland forests and freshwater refuges. This balance is critical to the protection of water quality, resiliency and sense of place. | Credits: Emily McCoy / Design Workshop
A Comprehensive Plan Driven by Open Space Values: The priority mapping model also led to the development of a "Greenprint Overlay" that guides the growth management recommendations of the Beaufort County Comprehensive Plan. | Credits: Design Workshop
A Dynamic Tool for Land Management: A new Ecological Transect, used with the county’s existing Urban-to-Rural Transect, allows local and regional governments to develop policies that are tailored to each site’s specific natural and built environment. | Credits: Design Workshop
A Built Environment Informed by History and Ecology: A new Built Environment Transect draws on historical land use patterns and cultural landscapes plus forward-thinking open space conservation strategies to envision a future Beaufort County with a balanced built and natural environment. | Credits: Design Workshop
A Living Tool for Conservation: The priority mapping model, interactive maps and storytelling devices are living tools. As land areas and priorities change over time, data can be reanalyzed through the model to identify new areas for conservation strategies. | Credits: Design Workshop