When resilience meets creativity. Art and culture to face climate change in waterfront cities

Global communities are coping with the impacts of climate change in multiple ways. The spatial configuration of waterfront cities makes them vulnerable to extreme events and natural hazards, threatening infrastructures, lives, and livelihoods. Therefore, direct and indirect effects are anticipated in coastal communities, including both material and lived aspects of culture. On the other hand, according to the IPCC, the warming of the atmosphere and the oceans is due to anthropogenic changes, i.e. the way we live on earth and occupy space, the modes of production, consumption and lifestyles. These findings highlight the cultural dimensions of the causes of climate change and, at the same time, the cultural dimension of human responses. The case of the waterfront redevelopment of the Royal Seaport in Stockholm provides an insight into the intertwining themes of sustainability, adaptation, and the critical role of culture. A new neighbourhood, the flagship project of Stockholm’s urban development strategy, is currently being developed in the port area, taking advantage of partially decommissioned industrial sites. Design proposals for the Royal Seaport site were drafted and discussed during the SOS Climate Waterfront Workshop held in Stockholm, Sweden, in May- June 2022. This paper reflects on the strategies and design tools proposed for the area by students and researchers within the frame of the workshop. The project Hazarts proposes a vision of a neighbourhood where our vulnerability to risks and hazards, as well as the many interrelations we depend upon, is displayed through art, with a focus on education and awareness. Green and blue infrastructures transform space into a flexible and multifunctional public space that absorbs disturbances while maintaining its functions, providing a safe place for cultural and artistic activities to stimulate a new attitude towards change, vulnerability, coexistence, and mutual interdependence.