Coastal Resilience by Design: Data, Landscapes & Adaptation with Keith VanDerSys (University of Pennsylvania)

What role can design play in helping coastal cities adapt to a changing climate? In this episode of Renaturing for Resilience, host Stewart Monti speaks with Keith VanDerSys, Senior Lecturer at the University of Pennsylvania and Co-Director of the Environmental Modeling Lab at the McHarg Center.Keith shares how landscape architecture is evolving to meet the demands of sea level rise, storm risk, and ecological degradation—shifting from fixed solutions to adaptive, data-informed, and justice-driven approaches.We explore:Why the concept of non-stationarity demands new thinking in design and policyThe Resilient by Design Bay Area Challenge and its approach to layered vulnerabilityThe role of data modelling and interdisciplinary tools in designing for uncertaintyThe ethical complexity of managed retreat and designing with community at the centreThis episode examines how coastal resilience is as much about mindset and method as it is about materials—calling on designers to embrace complexity, context, and change.