Large engraved natural whale tooth depicting horizontal scene of Brant Point with two three masted ships in foreground and lighthouse between them; right ship, on camels, is being towed into the harbor by a tug boat and the ship on the left is displayed on wharf (might have been taken out of the water); four other vessels are depicted in the background approaching the harbor; in the very front of image two men and a dory; one of them is seated inside the dory while the other man is pulling the dory. (Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association)

Before Brant Point was built up with dredged material, Brant Point Lighthouse was accessed via an elevated walkway. (Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association)

1940s The Nobska inbound through ice at Brant Point, with passengers on deck and a handful of spectators at the lighthouse. (Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association)

Hurricane Carol. View of storm tossed boats in Brant Point Channel. A number of people are standing in the waves near shore attempting to rescue boats. Several houses along Easton Street are also visible. (Courtesy of the Nantucket Historical Association)

Much of the land currently on Brant Point consists of dredged fill and is dominated by rosa rugosa or "beach rose", a species of rose native to eastern Asia. In recognizing that some of our most cherished landscapes are artificial, we might better appreciate the possibilities for the future. (Photo by Theo Kinsella)

From now through 2070, 2,373 structures are at risk from coastal flooding and erosion, with the cumulative expected annual damages totaling $3.4 Billion. 84% of these buildings are residential and nearly 50% are historic. Structures such as flood walls, gates, berms, sea walls, and bulkheads, such as the one in front of the home pictured here, protect against coastal risks by implementing approaches that seek to keep water out, reduce its force, or to minimize erosion. These approaches tend to interfere more with natural systems, alter existing landscapes and infrastructure, and can be costly, so they are best suited for areas that are densely settled or have critical infrastructure where the impacts and expenditure are justified. (Photo by Will Kinsella)

Nantucket has the last commercially sustaining scallop industry in the world. The Brant Point Hatchery, located on Brant Point Beach next to the lighthouse, is a Town of Nantucket operated facility that specializes in the production of Nantucket Bay Scallops, oysters and quahogs to supplement the wild population within Nantucket and Madaket Harbors. (Photo by Will Kinsella)

In contrast to the Envision Resilience projects, which are untethered to local zoning, policy and permitting regulations, the Town of Nantucket’s Coastal Resilience Plan includes a number of permittable near term strategies when proceeding through the existing local, State, and Federal regulatory frameworks. Strategy 2-3 is a third priority, structural road raising project to prolong service life of Easton Street and Hulbert Avenue for emergency and everyday access in Brant Point. It is estimated to cost $130-140M ($1.6 O&M) with a 2050 target implementation date. (CRP page 145)

In the Spring of 2021 ReMain Nantucket convened a group of more than 20 local and regional advisors to bring expertise in conservation, public works, real estate, architecture, historic preservation, natural resources, marine biology, fisheries, civil engineering, art, science, and transportation to participating university teams. This interdisciplinary group provided resources and insight as the teams moved through the spring 2021 semester and examined the complex issue of sea level rise on Nantucket. During the 2021 Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge, the student teams were untethered to local zoning, policy and permitting regulations and encouraged to design big and bold, as you will see in their visionary, out-of-the-box ideas. Though the designs may be far from shovel-ready, they created the space for our community to engage in more positive, hopeful and meaningful conversations about our future.

Global climate change will affect this current version of Nantucket, but the crucial question is whether sea level rise, altered ocean currents, and unfamiliar weather patterns will bring catastrophe or a new becoming for the island. Harvard Professor Chris Reed’s Landscape Architecture studio, “Away. . . Offshore. . . Adrift. . . Shifting Landscapes, Unstable Futures,” delved deeply into this question. Although it carefully addressed the Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge, the studio considered the consequences and possibilities of change even more broadly, both in the context of the island, and with a view toward other maritime localities that must also respond to climate change. Reed and his 10 students examined the natural and human drivers of change, in order to understand their entanglements and their mutually reinforcing influences on the island.

ReMain Nantucket has brought together island residents, scientists, business leaders, artists, and preservationists to advise graduate students and faculty from five different US design programs, including a group from the Harvard GSD led by Professor Chris Reed, as they considered the possibilities for long-term change on Nantucket. This overview of Harvard’s “Away… Offshore… Adrift… Shifting Landscapes, Unstable Futures” studio provides a glimpse of bold student designs untethered to local zoning, policy and permitting regulations. For more information about Envision Resilience, visit the Resources Page.

Students envision how human efforts, such as the creation of groins, jetties, and artificial islands, or the dredging of harbors, have contributed to natural geological alterations of the island. Modeling provided crucial insights into the problems these devices have caused, but also showed how they might be used creatively to help mitigate or even capitalize on long-term effects of climate change.. An example of Harvard University's “Away… Offshore… Adrift… Shifting Landscapes, Unstable Futures” pictured. (Courtesy of Envision Resilience)

During the final phase of Harvard’s studio, “Provisional (Re-)occupations,” the students carried this research into designs for specific sites on the island. In focusing on the vulnerable areas identified by Envision Nantucket—Brant Point, downtown, and Washington street—students developed extensive long-term proposals that could take advantage of sea level rise and shifts in tidal currents to improve habitats and accommodate evolving public interests. But Reed explains that he wanted these proposals “to go beyond the brief that Envision had given us, which was very much focused on the inner harbor and the downtown,” in order to address more comprehensive climatic and social issues that affect the whole island. So students also proposed long-term protections for and reconfiguration of other important places on the island—the collapsing bluffs on the North Shore and the barrier beach of Coatue peninsula. (Courtesy of Envision Resilience)

During the 2021 Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge, the student teams were untethered to local zoning, policy and permitting regulations and encouraged to design big and bold, as you will see in their visionary, out-of-the-box ideas. Though the designs may be far from shovel-ready, they created the space for our community to engage in more positive, hopeful and meaningful conversations about our future. "Transitional Ecologies" is part of Northeastern's design studio, "Transitional Ecologies: New Public Infrastructures for Nantucket" for the 2021 Envision Resilience Nantucket Challenge.

The University of Miami team, through their course: Envisioning a Resilient Nantucket had recommended a holistic building block approach to tackling the increasing climate stressors and shocks Nantucket will face over the coming decades. Rather than a stand-alone project, the team suggests a master plan, composed of complementary and interconnected elements, layered over time, can best serve the residents of the town, while catalyzing change to each of the three study areas. Such a plan connects strategies that in turn are part of a toolkit of tactics and policies aimed at ensuring Nantucket’s adjustment to climate change. Instead of fighting the rising seas the overarching theme of the team is one of “living with water.” (Image Courtesy of Envision Resilience)