Natural disaster happens worldwide. In the United States, floods, drought, hurricanes, and wildfires are common seasonal disasters. And climate change has made natural hazards more frequent and severe. The NOAA center's updates have also made proof of such a phenomenon. Reducing natural disasters' impact on our lives, properties, and economies has become a high priority in many places.
Natural-Based Solution
FEMA guided us on natural disaster mitigation in its recent publication, "Building Community Resilience With Natural-Based Solution." These "Natural-based solutions" can be practiced by their operating methods, as pointed out below.
Green infrastructure and Low-Impact Development
Natural (Naturalized) Infrastructure
Engineer with Nature
Bioengineering
The "natural-based" solutions can also be categorized based on location and scale, For example, the landscape, the neighborhood, and the coastal scale. In many cases, park function as a hub in both local and regional networks. (There will be articles about “natural-based solutions” in volume 5, protection and enhancement of the natural environment. Therefore no detail description here.)
Parks' Emerging Role
A story written by Melissa May on National Park and Recreation Association highlighted a new role of the park in disaster prevention, saying their local government and park recreation agency should make the needed investment to ensure their community is more resilient to natural disasters. According to the recent NRPA 2022 Engagement with Park Report, 9 in 10 survey respondents also agree that "serving emergency shelter and distribution points for essential supplies during extreme weather or natural disasters" is an essential function of parks.
So how can our parks and recreation facilities be designed to mitigate natural disasters? We can look at the following case to further understand how our parks play this new role in an urban setting.
Natural disasters and their level of management
Taiwan has two vital disaster causes: earthquakes and hydro-meteorology (flood and landslide). An event such as an earthquake is unlikely to be predictable. Therefore, in general, there are four phases of managing them
Preparedness
Mitigation
Response
Recovery
The local authorities designate open spaces and emergency rescue roads in advance in each district as part of their preparedness plan. The disaster prevention parks then serve primarily during the mitigation and response phases. The images below show how they are placed in a local network. Each functional park is within a half-mile radius of the nearby metro station and school. While the scale of the event is significant, the nearby school can also serve as an in-network refugee shelter and dispatch center.
Because the school is part of the disaster prevention network, teachers also take advantage of the location to educate students on using their nearby park and prepare their readiness for future hazards by natural disasters.
The essential function in disaster prevention parks
From the outset, “disaster prevention parks” appear the same as typical public parks; they are usually designed for people to rest, exercise, and learn. However, the main difference between "regular" and "disaster prevention" parks is that the “disaster prevention park” provides onsite "life-sustaining” facilities.
These specific facilities are not only “short-term shelters.” They are required to provide safety and maintain basic-living conditions such as food, drinking water, accommodation, electricity, lighting, security, medical care, and means for communicating and broadcasting.
Many technologies are involved during disaster management, such as remote sensing, geographical information systems, global positioning systems, robotic aid, or even conventional telephone and radio broadcasting. Many of them are placed at the facility inside the park.
For example, a police station and a performance stage were combined as one facility at the heart of the park. During regular hours, the police station serves as a neighborhood security station and a dispatch center under extreme weather events.
Generally the shelter facility within each park reserves 4 square meter for its designed number of occupancy.
Disaster Prevention Park Basic Facility Requirements
Medical station
Equipment warehouse
Camp zone
Toilet facility
Fire/safety water storage
Life support water storage
Broadcast station
Center of commend
Shower facility
Onsite landfill
Fire hydrant
Temporary installation zone
Registration
Supply dispatch station
Cooking zone
Clothes drying area
Telephone booth
Municipal water intake station
What's the Takeaway
Parks represent the majority of our open spaces. They are not only an inducement for attraction but also resemble our civic life and pattern of activities. Their new role as a public refugee space during disaster events will only enhance the functional quality of our neighborhoods as we continue to practice [place]making.