2021 NANTUCKET CHALLENGE 

Nantucket Island is among hundreds of U.S. cities and towns threatened by sea level rise. By 2100, much of Nantucket’s Historic Downtown is projected to be inundated by water. 

Inspired to consider through an innovative and hopeful lens how a community may look under stark sea level rise projections, ReMain Nantucket introduced the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge.

The Challenge, by way of a spring 2021 design studio, calls on interdisciplinary teams of graduate students from leading design universities to reimagine Nantucket Harbor under the latest projections of sea level rise. Teams will be tasked to create visually impactful designs and propose adaptations and innovations that will enable coastal communities to actually imagine what our futures under sea level rise and climate impacts may look like. The teams will work with 22 local and regional advisors with expertise in conservation, public works, real estate, architecture, historic preservation, natural resources, art, marine biology, fisheries, civil engineering, science, and transportation; and will look to the insights and narratives of Nantucket residents for context and inspiration.