Shell Center for Sustainability unveils development strategies for Galveston

BY AMY HODGES
Rice News staff

Future development of Galveston Island should focus on the east end, according to a new report from Rice University’s Shell Center for Sustainability.

The report, “Atlas of Sustainable Strategies for Galveston Island,” was co-authored by Chris Hight, director of undergraduate studies at the Rice School of Architecture and associate professor of architecture, and John Anderson, co-director of the Shell Center for Sustainability and the W. Maurice Ewing Professor in Oceanography. The publication sheds light on the island’s future and offers potential strategies for sustainable development.

JOHN ANDERSON

The report’s major recommendation is that future development move from the island’s more vulnerable west end to the east end. The west end is not protected by a seawall and is experiencing erosion at the rate of 3-5 feet per year; the east end is a higher, thicker, wider, more protected and more naturally sustainable part of the island.

“Due to a number of environmental factors like coastal erosion, sea-level rise and hurricanes, Galveston faces an uncertain future,” Anderson said. “The atlas is designed to provide the island’s policymakers, citizens and visitors with some background information on expected environmental changes to the island over the next century and offers possible solutions to the problems it faces.”

The three-part publication outlines the science behind the atlas, a summary of the island’s current urban ecology and suggestions for future development. The report also offers development proposals and calls for further protections from hurricanes (a levy to protect the island) and increased options for transportation (high-speed rail).

“Based on scientific principles at work on the island, we’ve designed urban and architectural proposals that project alternative ways of living in and developing a coastal environment like Galveston,” Hight said. “We see the potential for significant economic upturn.”

Both Hight and Anderson call the report “a step in the right direction” and hope it will bring awareness to the island’s changing environmental conditions and offer positive recommendations for future growth.

“Hurricanes and erosion won’t go away, but with careful planning we can better prepare for these issues,” the authors said. “We’re hopeful that our recommendations will shake things up and positively impact Galveston’s future.”

The study was funded by the Shell Center for Sustainability.